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Drawing out your motivations

This lesson focuses on the types of examples you might want to raise regarding what you learned (point 2 in the previous lesson) and why you found this appealing (point 3 in the previous lesson).

As mentioned, it’s important that you distinguish between your career motivation (i.e. what you want to do) and your skills (i.e. what you’re good at doing). Many candidates say things like “I want to be a lawyer because my skillset aligns with the career”, but the former doesn’t necessarily follow on from the latter. For example, I’m good at writing, a confident communicator and very well organised, which means I would probably make a very good administrative assistant. However, just because I possess these skills doesn’t mean that, by default, I would want to carry out that role. 

In addition, if you’re linking previous work experiences to your motivation to become, for example, a lawyer or banker, don’t focus solely (or predominantly) on what you did during those work experiences. It’s less about what you did, and more about what you were exposed to and how you felt about it. The fact that you have carried out some basic legal work might demonstrate your competence (which could be helpful when answering a competency question). However, it doesn’t in and of itself convey that you enjoyed the work and would like to continue doing such work throughout your career. By all means mention your previous work experiences and explain how these exposed you to certain aspects of the career. But don’t then forget to explain how these aspects have cumulatively contributed to your desire to pursue your chosen career. And be sure to relate each motivating factor back to your personal experiences, ambitions and interests. I cannot stress this enough: it’s a key feature that distinguishes distinctive, personal, credible answers from generic and unconvincing answers. So always explain why you care!

With this in mind, I’ll now give examples of some of the aspects that you may want to consider when trying to convey your personal reasons for pursuing your chosen career (these examples are the types of points you might want to make in step 3 of the structure proposed in the previous section). Note that this list is by no means exhaustive – these are just a handful of examples to guide you – so it’s imperative that you think about your own personal motivations so that you can then relate your answers back to yourself. Moreover, some of the considerations mentioned below relate to multiple careers, whilst others do not. It’s fine to mention factors that relate to multiple careers (e.g. you want to work in a team, or in a client-facing role), as long as the combination of factors you choose to mention cumulatively point only to your chosen career path.

The career aligns with your interests

One reason for pursuing a career is that various aspects of that career align with your interests. It might be your interest in the business world, current affairs, the subject matter, the wider industry, or a combination of these. If this is the case, then explain what your interests are, how you developed them, and how each interest aligns with the role for which you are applying. To put this into context, I have included some examples in the blue box below.

Interest in the commercial world

Are you attracted to the business-centric nature of the career, or the opportunity to work with businesses throughout the various stages of their life cycles? Are you interested in carrying out work that could have a broad commercial impact on clients’ businesses more generally? Or do you feel the career is at the intersection of a number of your interests (for example, commercial law is arguably at the intersection of business, finance, law and politics)? If so, explain how you developed your interest. Does your interest in business stem from growing up on the periphery of a family business, or from running your own side hustle? Or is your interest based on the fact that finance affects many aspects of everyday life, or that the law governs everything we do?

Academic interests

Does the opportunity to carry out work that involves the practical application of the concepts you have studied in an academic context appeal? If so, why? Did you particularly enjoy studying school subjects or university modules that relate to your chosen career (e.g. Economics, Business, Finance, or commercially-oriented Law modules such as Contract)? If you did, perhaps take your answer even further. You could explain why you enjoyed the subject matter from an academic standpoint, then elaborate on why you think utilising that knowledge will be even more interesting in practice.

Interest in the industry

Do you have a longstanding interest in the relevant industry? Do you want to work in an industry that’s facing constant change and disruption? Or are you interested in the trajectory of the industry? If talking about the industry, explain how you learned about the industry, what you learned, and why you find it so interesting (note that this can also subtly demonstrate commercial awareness). Do you avidly read the commercial news or subscribe to industry newsletters? Do you feel that the constant change and disruption suggests your career will be dynamic and stimulating?

The nature of the work appeals

You could also consider the nature of the work you’ll be carrying out on a day-to-day basis, as long as you take the time to explain why you feel that the nature of the work will personally appeal to you. You could also elaborate on why this suggests your career will be fulfilling in the longer-term. To put this into context, I have included some examples in the blue box below.

The intellectual challenge

Are you likely to carry out unique, interesting work that provides a constant intellectual challenge? Linked to this, will there be unrivalled opportunities to continue learning and developing, perhaps with a steep learning curve? If so, why do you care? Does the potentially challenging work suggest you will rarely find yourself clock-watching or feeling intellectually unfulfilled? If the learning curve appeals, can you give an example of where you have enjoyed a particularly steep learning curve in the past?

Day-to-day tasks

Does the work involve specific tasks that you believe you’ll enjoy? For example, are you attracted to the prospect of problem solving on a daily basis, carrying out in-depth research, producing reports, delivering presentations, or contributing to the commercial decisions of large corporate clients? Do you particularly enjoy the challenge of identifying and mitigating risk, analysing the nuances of language, or processing vast amounts of data? 

If so, link your statements back to your own experiences. Have you previously enjoyed carrying out similar tasks, for example during your studies or whilst undertaking extracurricular activities? Did you enjoy carrying out these tasks whilst participating in workshops designed to simulate the type of work in which the firm engages? If so, what specifically did you enjoy? The detail-oriented nature of the work?

The variety

Will you be exposed to a broad variety of work, and have the opportunity to work for a range of interesting, perhaps high-profile clients? Does this appeal because you’ve previously enjoyed roles where there has been real variety on offer? Does this suggest the career will remain stimulating in the long-term? If you want to work for high-profile clients, is this because you feel this work will be more interesting and rewarding? 

The nature of the role appeals

You could also consider the role you’re applying for more broadly. What does it involve? Who will you be working with? What is the day-to-day like? And so on. Just make sure you explain how you found out about the role and why certain aspects interest you. 

Ways of working

Are you attracted to the prospect of working in a client-facing role, with a focus on building client relations? Do you want to work predominantly in teams? If so, explain why these aspects appeal. Have you worked in a client-facing role in the past, and if so, what did you like about it? The social aspect of building relationships with clients (aka customers)? The skill involved in dealing with different types of people? Why do you prefer working in teams rather than independently? Have you thrived in the past when working collaboratively with others, perhaps at university or as a member of a club?

The working environment

Do you think you’ll thrive in a highly pressurised environment? If so, how can you back this up? Have you particularly enjoyed working in a similar environment in the past (e.g. spending long hours undertaking challenging work), for example when working on group projects or undertaking work experience? If you have, why did you enjoy it? Did the pressure keep you absorbed and engaged? Does this suggest the career will remain fulfilling? If you have not accumulated such experiences, have you experienced the opposite type of working environment, with no stress, few working hours and little intellectual engagement? If so, did this make you realise that you would prefer to work in a more pressurised or dynamic environment? To give a personal example, I had taken on a variety of jobs throughout my education, including a paper round, a job pushing trolleys in a supermarket and a job lifting wooden planks up staircases on a building site. I compared these experiences to my chosen career, explaining that although my previous jobs typically involved favourable working hours and little stress, I had not felt intellectually engaged, or that there were opportunities to significantly develop my personal skills and capabilities. This meant that I lacked a sense of personal fulfilment and achievement, which is why I wanted instead to pursue an intellectually challenging career and work in a dynamic and pressurised working environment.

Working in an international context

If you are interviewing at an international firm, you should also consider explaining why the international element of the career appeals. Do you have a real interest in working on cross-border matters, potentially for high profile global corporations? If so, how can you back this up? Have you chosen to study abroad, attend international study programmes, travel, or learn other languages? If not, do you simply feel that the opportunity to engage in complex, cross-border transactions will provide the greatest possible intellectual challenge? Or does the prospect of working with other employees and clients from a variety of countries and cultures indicate your career will remain interesting and varied? To substantiate such a claim, you could relay any positive past experiences you may have had when working in a team with people from a variety of different backgrounds.

To summarise, make sure you support your statements by providing personal examples to illustrate that certain aspects of the career genuinely appeal. Tie everything back to your personal experiences, ambitions and interests! 

Discussing other careers

Discussing other careers that you have considered can help to validate your answers (although this might be more appropriate in an interview, as you’re not limited by word count). If you have explored alternative careers, perhaps explain how those other experiences have helped to confirm what you really want from your career. As part of this, you could mention the elements of those potential careers that appealed less, and highlight the aspects of your chosen career that appeal to a greater degree. 

For instance, if you decide you want to be a commercial lawyer but have previously undertaken an investment banking internship, explain what you liked less about investment banking (perhaps the focus on numbers?), and then explain the elements of a career in commercial law that appeal more (perhaps the focus on language?). If instead you were explaining why you would rather be a solicitor than a barrister, you could mention that solicitors tend to work more in teams, barristers don’t generally work on transactional matters, solicitors might have the opportunity to carry out a variety of work for a client throughout its business journey, whereas barristers only tend to be brought in when something goes wrong, and so on.

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