Professional qualification, subject matter knowledge, methodological teaching skills, dedication to teaching, enthusiasm and commitment in teaching are essential keys in determining teachers’ competency and teaching efficacy. The purpose of the article is to explore motives for choosing a career of teaching English. Research methods used: theoretical analysis and systematization of pedagogical works, which made it possible to identify conceptual considerations on main motives for choosing a career of teaching English; observations and practices of author’s teaching experience are also used and included to reveal the main aspects of the issue under analysis. The study findings suggest that for many teachers, the career of teaching is more than just a job. The «performance gap» that these teachers experience between their ideals and the reality of the classroom, suggests that teaching is a calling. Research indicates that one strong motivation for choosing teaching career is that women are influenced by their parents slightly more than by their teachers in their decisions to become teachers. The data suggest that parents encourage their daughters more to choose teaching as a perspective career than their sons. In fact, career choice usually involves a difference in motives. On the one hand, there are a lot of teachers without an initial vocation who find themselves enjoying the work and becoming very committed. On the other hand, there were teachers who had an initial vocation who found their enthusiasm and motivation waning over the years. So it was revealed that teachers in both these categories may in time have to deal with de-motivation.