Staying knowledgeable on candidate motivators is essential to winning top talent to aid company success. There are 5 prime motivators that apply to all employees and the list single handedly influences the migration of talent to new opportunities.

The importance of improved work-life balance attributes to a candidate’s desire to negotiate for flexible hours or explore new career opportunities. Quality family time at home, maintaining mental health in the workplace, and ensuring physical well being are all components of the necessity of work-life balance and professional quality of life. (Example interview questions: What is the flexibility in your current position? What does your ideal schedule look like?)

People inherently want to be “good” at what they do. This transcends into the workplace by managing up for more responsibility, opportunity for advancement, or new sizes/scopes of projects. Feeding an employee’s professional ego in their current role allows the company to capitalize on an individual who has a tenured understanding of the company and will bring new perspective to projects and advanced roles. An individual who is craving an ego boost that is not being fulfilled or acknowledged in their current opportunity may seek new positions outside of the company. (Example interview questions: Have you had any promotional opportunities in your current role? What types of projects and new responsibilities are you hoping to take on?)

Location, location, location – geography in relation to proximity to the office is a key prime motivator for candidates and employees. Chances are, an individual who is currently commuting an hour to and from work is going to get burnt out by the repetition and time spent in the car. A new opportunity that shortens a commute by 20 miles and gives you the ability to go home on lunch breaks to see your family, let the dog out, etc. is going to have high appeal. However, heightened commute can be worth the travel depending on the candidate if other prime motivators outweigh the location. (Example interview questions: What does your current commute look like in the morning and afternoon?)

Attracting candidates and retaining employees are dictated by balancing the 5 key motivators. If your team is looking to expand – make sure you’re incorporating interview questions around the 5 points to identify which motivators are most important to your candidates. It’s important to check in on these points of attraction throughout the hiring process and during regular performance reviews to course correct and increase retainment of your top talent.