Monday, April 24, 2006

Rant on Motivation

so this thought starts as i was sitting at a table down on the concourse at umass and a girl walks by talking loudly, and enthusiasticly into her cell phone. she says something to the extent of "I called and this woman answered and it turns out that she is the president of the company and they're actually looking for someone like me who is a recent graduate and has motivation." This is not exactly what she said but you get the point. i've heard thousands of conversations like this one, relieved people gushing about the job they might get hired to. I've been that person, blabbing into the cell phone to a far of person of significance in my life. What has never struck me before is the emphasis on motivation that people place in job application titles etc. For Kripes sake! Who would not want a motivated person? Isn't that a stupid question? If you're 'lazy' and someone tells you, "hey we want to hire motivated people, are you motivated?" aren't you going to lie and say yes unless perhaps you're either a brutally honest person or you like shooting yourself in the foot? I don't mean to sound completely cynical but it was really funny how that comment stuck out to me, the weirdo hunched over his technological baby eavesdropping on passersby.

3 comments:

Carol Soules said...

yeah...interesting rant....good point.

What jumps into my mind is motivated to do what? Motivated to climb some corporate ladder at any cost or to cut others off at each turn or motivated... meaning to work hard and to do one's best at a task or...motivated to earn money so one can buy that BMW or whatever.

That reminds me.... I recently heard of a young woman who was asked during a hiring process....what her top 3 goals were. One was to earn enough money to pay off her Victoria's Secret charge card. Can you imagine someone stating that as part of a hiring process?
Right...motivation??? Ha! Anyone wonder what her's was in her male dominated field??? The only sicker thing is she got hired!

Strikes me that most all people are motivated to something...or by something. The question of import is... WHAT?

Maybe other characteristics like industrious or creative or focused or ambitious or...something...gets to the point better?

Anonymous said...

I am motivated. That is why I am at work on a beautiful Friday covering for the upper level managers with enough vacation to STAY HOME.

What are my top 3 goals?
1) To retire before I am 65
2) To make money doing what I love
3) To pay off my Victoria's Secret Charge card...kidding! To fix my heat pump before it blows in my condo.

greenezo said...

Spicey! how are you? ...watch out for that heat pump. explosions are better when they happen on tv.