Track 18

Track 18

Education

Do you think science subjects are more useful than arts subjects?

Are students mature enough to choose what to study themselves or should their parents decide for them?

In your country, does having a university education help you into a better career?

Motivation

Do you think older or younger workers are more motivated?

How can managers increase motivation among their workforce?

Are people more motivated if the ir job involves helping others?

Sample answers:

Education

Examiner: Do you thi nk science subjects are more useful than arts subjects?

Candidate: I think they are more useful because they are primarily concerned with practical matters. If you study science, you might, for example, go on to have some kind of technical role in the production of a device, like a computer or a car. However, all great leaders have studied more arty subjects, such as philosophy, history and economics. This makes them better leaders because they have an understanding of human nature.

Examiner: Are young people mature enough to choose what to study themselves or should their parents decide for them?

Candidate: I think success in studying comes from being highly motivated to study a specific subject area. Therefore the student should choose which subject they’re interested in. By way of an example, I had a friend who studied science A levels because his parents pushed him down that route, but he hated it and so didn’t get very good results. He still graduated and managed to get a place at university where he studied law, and he became a top student because law was what he was interested in.

Examiner: In your country, does having a university education help you into a better career?

Candidate: Yes, it does, as all top companies recruit graduates for their top positions. Therefore you get a better start. However, it’s fair to say that a university degree is not everything and it’s what you do with it that matters. You can have a degree yet still get overtaken by somebody who isn’t university educated but who gets promoted over you because they work harder.

Motivation

Examiner: Do you think older or younger workers are more motivated?

Candidate: Younger workers should be more motivated because everything in their job is new to them and therefore exciting and they have to build their career, which is all ahead of them. Older workers have a tendency to think they’ve seen it all and very often just wait for retirement. I do know of at least one older person who’s made a point of retiring on a high and is therefore highly motivated to get a project delivered to a very high standard before he retires. But no matter how fascinating your job is, when you reach the end of your career, I suspect you mainly focus on your impending retirement.

Examiner: How can managers increase motivation among their workforce?

Candidate: Allocating the right tasks to the person with the right skills, but making every task slightly different so that they learn every time. That can lead to an increase in motivation. Irs about making the job interesting, but without drowning staff in too much new information each time. If they see that they can progress steadily and meet the challenges set, then they’ll stay motivated.

Examiner: Are people more motivated if their job involves helping others?

Candidate: Although my job doesn’t really involve helping people, just training them, I’d hazard a guess that youth workers, for example, find it very rewarding helping a young person to achieve their personal goals or overcome a personal challenge. I can imagine, too, that it gives a counsellor tremendous job satisfaction to know that if they weren’t there to listen to their patients’ problems, things would probably not turn out as well for them. So, yes, although it’s impossible for me to know for sure, I’d say people with those kinds of jobs take more pleasure from their work and are motivated by something more profound than just money.