More than 20 years ago, University of Rochester professors Richard Ryan and Edward Deci published their findings on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.Their research was summarized in an insightful podcast showing how individuals progress from disinterest (where most of recruiting prospects start) to excitement about joining and staying with your team.Amotivated: At this stage, prospects don’t know you exist, don’t see the value in what you’re offering, or don’t trust you to deliver the value you promise.Extrinsically Motivated: Things start to change when prospects can experience some immediate gratification by interacting with you (ex. getting a problem solved) or experience some social reward by connecting with you (ex. increasing their social status). Extrinsically motivated actions tend to produce valuable, but short-term engagement.Intrinsically Motivated: Someone fully engaged on your team is experiencing intrinsic motivation. They have a genuine interest in connecting with you and your team, enjoy participating in your culture, and find satisfaction in helping others. Intrinsically motivated individuals are experiencing feelings of competence, autonomy, and relatedness.From a retention perspective, agents who are extrinsically motived are vulnerable.As soon as the benefit you’re providing changes, an agent will move on to the next person who can solve their problems or provide a social reward.The goal is to transition them from extrinsic to intrinsic motivation.From a recruiting perspective, your goal is to move someone from being amotivated to extrinsically motivated by what you offer.Find a problem to solve or provide a social reward.There is no way to skip this step and go directly to intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation only occurs after they’re hired.