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Motivation and values assessments

Find out what gives someone energy at work and what drains it. Motivation says little about what a person can do, but a lot about the kind of work and environment that suits them.

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Time
About 10 minutes
Format
Online questionnaire, no right or wrong answers
Evidence for
SelectionDevelopment
Languages
Interface in 5 languages; each test lists its validated language versions

What the questionnaire measures

Drivers

What gives someone energy in their work, such as autonomy, achievement, learning or security.

Work values

What someone finds important in an organisation, such as collaboration, clear structure or social impact.

Fit with the role

How someone's drivers compare with what the role offers and what your organisation values.

How organisations use them

  • Career and development talks

    Give employees words for what motivates them, as a starting point for a career talk, a coaching programme or a move to another role.

  • Selection

    See where what the role offers and what drives a candidate differ, and discuss it in the interview. Use it next to ability and personality tests, not as a cut-off.

  • Teams

    Talk about what drives each team member, for example when roles change or work is divided differently.

Reading the scores

The report lists someone's drivers from strongest to weakest, next to what the role and your organisation offer. When a questionnaire uses forced choices, the scores compare drivers within one person: they show what drives someone more than something else, not that one person is more motivated than another. Where a norm group is used, the report names it.

The evidence behind each questionnaire

Every motivation questionnaire on Match.hr gets a psychometric label that shows:

  • the intended use: development, selection or both
  • reliability per scale, such as internal consistency
  • the size of the norm group, per country and language
  • whether a fairness analysis has been done
  • the date of the last analysis

Our review criteria follow the structure of the COTAN and EFPA test review models. Match.hr is not affiliated with or endorsed by either organisation.

Explore the Lab

Numerical reasoning

Example
Intended use
Selection, development
Reliability (ω)
0.89
Norm sample
12,482
Languages validated
EN, NL, DE
Fairness analysis
Completed
Last analysis
October 2026

Example questions

These questions show the format. They are not taken from a live questionnaire, and there are no right answers.

  • Rating Example

    How important is it to you to decide for yourself how and when you do your work?

    • Not important
    • Somewhat important
    • Important
    • Very important
    • Essential
    How this is scored

    A higher rating counts towards autonomy as a driver. A scale combines several questions like this one. There is no right answer: a role with little freedom suits someone who rates this lower.

  • Forced choice Example

    Which would you rather have in your next job?

    • Colleagues you work closely with every day
    • Freedom to organise your own work
    How this is scored

    Both options are attractive, so neither answer looks better. Across many pairs like this one, the choices show the order of someone's drivers. It also makes it harder to rate everything as important.

  • Work values Example

    How important is it to you that your employer explains how decisions are made?

    • Not important
    • Somewhat important
    • Important
    • Very important
    • Essential
    How this is scored

    This question counts towards a value such as transparency. There is no right answer: the report sets the result next to what your organisation values.

Good to know

  • Motivation shows what gives someone energy, not what they can do. When you select, combine it with an ability or skills test.
  • Drivers can shift with life stage and circumstances, more than personality traits do.
  • A difference between candidate and role is a topic for the interview, not a reason to reject. A person makes the decision.
  • Practice tests on our candidate platforms, such as Assessment-Training.com, are never used as selection tests.

Frequently asked questions

How is motivation different from personality?

Personality describes how someone tends to behave; motivation describes what they want from their work. Two people with the same personality profile can be driven by very different things, and the same driver can show up in different behaviour. Used together, they give a fuller picture than either one alone.

Can candidates steer their answers?

To some extent, especially when they know what the role is. Forced choices between two attractive options make it harder to look ideal on everything. Still, treat the result as a way into the conversation: ask candidates for examples of work that gave them energy and work that drained it.

Should we use motivation questionnaires in selection?

They are most useful for spotting a mismatch early, for example a candidate who values variety applying for highly routine work. Discuss that openly in the interview. We advise against using motivation as a hard cut-off: motivation also depends on the role and the team, and what candidates say they want is not always what keeps them.

How long does a result stay valid?

Shorter than a personality profile, because what drives people changes with circumstances such as a new role, a move or a new stage of life. For development, a fresh result before an important career talk is worth it; in selection, use a result from the current procedure.

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