Mutual Perspectives on the Importance of Understanding People's Professional Motivations and Interests

In a constantly evolving work environment, understanding people's professional motivations and interests has become essential to ensure their fulfillment and performance. This article delves into the topic through an interview with Yves Duron and Zwi Segal, creators of the MOTIVA solutions (Which Career For Me – Professional and Student). These experts share their insights on the importance of exploring the deep drivers that energize individuals - whether young people seeking their first career direction or professionals in transition. Discover how MOTIVA solutions help align personal aspirations with labor market demands, integrating advanced technologies like artificial intelligence to offer tailored development paths and enhance support in this area.

How do you view the evolution of the world of work in recent years?

We are undergoing a profound, rapid, and irreversible transformation. The world of work has experienced an unprecedented structural shift, accelerated by three major forces: 

• Technological Revolution and AI: Automation, artificial intelligence, and digital platforms are redefining jobs, required skills, and even the concept of “work.” Hybrid technical profiles are increasingly sought after, and continuous learning has become a core skill. 
• Changing Individual Expectations: New generations - and even seasoned professionals - are no longer just looking for a job, but for meaning, flexibility, and recognition. This is the era of “motivation fit”: aligning deep individual aspirations with the professional environment is now a performance driver. 
• Erosion of Traditional Reference Points: Linear careers, lifelong permanent contracts, vertical hierarchies - all are fading. Work is becoming more fragmented, agile, and personalized. This calls for new, individualized support tools like Which Career For Me powered by MOTIVA, which go beyond assessing skills to explore each person’s deep drivers. 

We’ve shifted from a world of qualifications to a world of mobilization. The key today? Understanding what makes people want to engage, learn, and contribute meaningfully. 

Why is it important to consider people's professional motivations and interests? 

This is a crucial question, touching the very heart of sustainable performance, well-being, and professional fulfillment. For decades, individuals were mainly evaluated based on their skills or experience. But research and field observations now show that it’s not what people can do that makes them perform and engage - it’s what they want to do. 

Here’s why motivations and interests are so critical: 

1. Engagement Cannot Be Forced A person may be competent but disengaged. Conversely, someone who is motivated will strive to grow, invest, and contribute beyond the minimum. Motivation drives involvement. 
2. Professional Interests Guide Perseverance When tasks align with our true interests, effort becomes enjoyable, and obstacles are easier to overcome. Interest is a lever for resilience and longevity in a role. 
3. Key to Adapting to Change As careers become less linear, sustainable transitions require internal motivation. Self-awareness enables better rebound. 
4. Source of Workplace Well-being When people are aligned with their work, they are calmer, more focused, and more satisfied. Motivation supports psychological health.
5. Foundation of a Winning HR Strategy For companies, understanding individual drivers improves recruitment, retention, and talent development. Teams are no longer managed with job descriptions but with real knowledge of people. 

Considering motivations and interests is not a “soft” option - it’s a strategic necessity in a world where skills evolve, but meaning remains the individual’s compass.

Your MOTIVA solutions address motivations and interests for both adults and youth aged 16–25. Is there really no age limit to exploring one’s key motivational drivers? 

Absolutely. There’s no age limit to questioning what deeply motivates us. From thousands of coaching sessions using MOTIVA, we’ve seen that the quest for meaning, desire, and personal alignment spans all generations. Whether it’s a 16-year-old wondering about their academic future or a 45-year-old professional in transition, the question remains: What makes me want to get up in the morning and act with energy and conviction? 

Which Career For Me powered by MOTIVA serves all ages, for different reasons: 

• For youth (16–25): It lays the foundation. Understanding professional interests and discovering true motivations helps clarify choices in education, training, or first jobs. 
• For adults: Motivations evolve with time, responsibilities, and life changes. MOTIVA helps reassess and realign choices with internal drivers, sometimes reinventing career paths.

Motivation is a lifelong thread - not a fixed trait. It’s a living energy that must be listened to, nurtured, and adjusted throughout life. Which Career For Me powered by MOTIVA is a powerful self-awareness tool for making more informed, lasting, and satisfying decisions. 

You say “Motivation is a skill that can be developed,” which is also the title of your book published by Pearson France. How is it a skill, and how can it be developed? 

Yes, in our book Motivation is a Skill That Can Be Developed, we assert that motivation is not a passive state or fixed personality trait - it’s a skill. Like any skill, it can be learned, cultivated, and strengthened.

Why is motivation a skill? 

Because it meets three key criteria common to all human skills: 

1. It’s Based on Identifiable Mechanisms Motivation isn’t mysterious: It’s structured around clear factors: professional interests, values, psychological needs, and perceived enabling or blocking contexts. 
2. It Can Be Influenced and Developed: You can learn to motivate yourself, just like learning to communicate or manage time. 
3. It involves knowing your internal drivers, activating them, and implementing strategies to create engagement-friendly conditions. It Produces Measurable Effects Well-developed motivation leads to more energy, perseverance, resilience, and direct impact on performance and well-being. 

How can motivation be developed? 

The MOTIVA method supports this through three main steps: 

1. Identify Deep Motivations: Using rigorous psychometric tools, Which Career For Me powered by MOTIVA reveals professional interests, core values, sources of satisfaction, and demotivating situations. 
2. Understand the Gap Between Self and Current Context: Many disengagements stem from a mismatch between who we are and what we experience at work.The tool highlights these gaps, revealing frustrations and action paths. 
3. Build a Development or Adjustment Plan: This could involve job adjustments, career changes, skill development, environment shifts, or even posture evolution.

The goal is to make the person the active agent of their motivation. Motivation isn’t luck - it’s a dynamic that can be built. And like any skill, the more you work on it, the more natural, powerful, and lasting it becomes.

Your career development solutions also incorporate AI. At what level? 

AI is profoundly changing our relationship with work and naturally integrates into career guidance and development tools.  MOTIVA uses AI in a targeted way - not to replace humans, but to better serve them. 

How does MOTIVA use AI? 

To Enhance Matching Between Motivations and Jobs: MOTIVA’s AI is trained on psychological and motivational models. It doesn’t just match skills to jobs - it cross-references deep preferences (motivations, interests, values) with a database of over 2,870 coded professions. This enables: 

• Fine-tuned profile-job matches
• Personalized suggestions 
• Prioritization based on motivational alignment  

To Contextualize Career Choices with Market Reality: Connects in real time: 

• Compatible jobs
• Current job offers 
• Market trends 
• Required skill levels 

In short, the tool links desire with feasibility - crucial for realistic decisions. 

To Build Tailored Development Paths Once gaps are identified between a person’s profile and job requirements, the tool uses AI to recommend upskilling or reskilling (training, certifications, experiences), considering: 

• Current level 
• Target job value 
• Motivational drivers

AI Serving Humans, Not Replacing Them 

At MOTIVA, AI enhances human intelligence. It helps individuals and coaches gain relevance, personalization, and efficiency - while respecting what we consider central: motivation, self-awareness, and freedom of choice. 

What advice would you give someone to stay motivated and engaged at work?  

Motivation isn’t a permanent or magical state. It fluctuates, requires maintenance, and can be consciously cultivated. Here are 5 key tips for staying engaged long-term: 

Regularly Reconnect with What Deeply Motivates You: Ask yourself: What gives me energy? What tasks stimulate me? When do I feel useful, alive, aligned? Motivation comes from within. The better you know your personal drivers, the easier it is to activate or rediscover them. 

Align Your Tasks with Your Interests and Values: Even in constrained roles, there’s often room to evolve: Ask to contribute to a passion project, suggest new approaches, reorganize priorities around meaningful tasks, alignment between self and environment fuels daily engagement. 

Cultivate a Sense of Progress: Stagnation is a major demotivator. Progress - even small - gives momentum. Learn something new, seek feedback, start a micro-project. Motivation grows when you feel you're advancing. 

Surround Yourself with Positive, Stimulating Relationships: Motivation is also relational. Working with inspiring, kind, or simply motivated people is contagious. Nourish your human environment as much as your tasks. 

Take Control of Your Career Path: Sometimes, demotivation signals the end of a cycle. Don’t ignore or endure it. It may be time to reflect, consult a coach, or reconsider your aspirations. 

Motivation is reborn when you become the active agent of your journey. Being motivated isn’t luck- it’s clarity, meaning, autonomy, and direction. That’s exactly what we aim to restore for everyone through the MOTIVA method.