How long should my answer to the motivation question be?
Nov 3, 2026
Short answer
A short, practical answer with the length, the evidence and the follow-up in mind.
Sixty to ninety seconds, or about two hundred words, and no longer. The interviewer still has three or four questions to get through, and a long answer usually repeats the same claim in different words. If you have prepared six sentences and the room is short on time, keep the role line and the direction line, because those are the two the interviewer cannot guess.
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