I’ve got one question in mind, but if other people would like to hijack it with other interview questions they wonder about too, fine by me.
There’s one question that people ask during interviews that puzzles me: “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” Nevermind that I was first asked this in my early 20s and wanted to ask them where they saw themselves in 1/4th of their lifespan… What exactly is the desired answer to such a strange question? Or answers as the case may be. If you could give us a sample acceptable response, that might be enlightening.
Seriously, what is that getting at? They want to make sure you’re not planning to move overseas in the forseeable future, get a grad degree in another field, or have three kids in rapid succession? How does someone answer this without sounding either goal-less (or a like a suck up) or goal-oriented in directions that won’t put them still at that company in five years?
They are trying to gage if you are too ambitious for the job, not ambitious enough for the job, not really interested in long term, or not properly teathered to reality.
i.e.
Too ambitious - being hired for a job in a call center: “I want to be the sr. manager of call center operations in five years.”
Not ambitious enough - “I just want to come to my desk and do my job and get a check”
Not interested in the long term - “I hope to spend a year biking through Tibet.”
Not properly teathered to reality (I interviewed this guy once): “I want to be CIO of this company” (it was a Fortune 100 and we were interviewing him to be a PC Tech - he didn’t have a college degree. Our execs all had Ivy League equivalent MBAs)
Oh, my successful dodge has been to say something about “taking opportunities that are presented to me.” I usually illustrate (easier to do at 40 than at 20) using one of the successful and surprise turns my career has taken because I was open and flexible.
They want to see that you have ambition and that the ambition will fit well–or at least could fit well–with the company. Hence you should answer that question not with a vague answer such as “I intend to get promoted” but rather with specifics: “I intend to become regional manager”, “I see myself participating in strategic planning”, etc…
I flubbed an interview last week. The deer in the headlights question?
“What are you looking for?”
Simple enough, right?
The people interviewing me must have seen little puffs of smoke come out of my ears before I came up with some stammering reply. For some reason that question caught me off guard. With a VP no less, and the first of five people I had to interview with that day.
I had a steady job for nine years so I’m just getting my feet wet with interviews. I had three with my old company and three with new companies. No offers. I think a big problem is that I’m a pretty mellow guy and I simply like doing my job. I don’t have a genuine desire to climb the ladder at this point so I imagine a certain lack of ambition comes across. I seem to establish an easy rapport with folks who would be my colleagues or direct supervisors but the higher-ups and HR people are a mystery. It’s tougher than I thought it was going to be, that’s for sure.
The goals and future question can be really tricky to answer correctly, and it’s a pit that is easily fallen into. When I ask this question, I want to hear that someone is seeking stability, but has enough embition without going over the top. Basically, if someone says that they want to do what they are interviewing for until they have moe or less mastered it, then is willing to take a look and see what is available within the company for growth opportunity, that is usually a good sign. Furthering their education works well too. Basically if you don’t go way off of the map, you are pretty safe. I recommend not mentioning being interested in a different field, or anything that may lead the interviewer to think that you are a flight risk.
As an HR person, I think that last post was a pretty good summary. It is more a question that gives people some rope to hang themselves than one that generates useful information.
In a really “good” interview (by which I mean a person with good skills interviewing for a good, but competitive, job with a company that’s a good fit) the best thing is to show that you really know what is realistic for someone in that job, with that company, in that time frame. These are the jobs where there is true opportunity at stake, and the interviewee is expected to have done homework on the company.
For example, if a good PC Tech with the skills to advance, doing a good job, would typically get promoted twice in 2 years, say to Senior Tech, then Tech Team Lead, that would be great to know. It would also be great to communicate that you know what it takes to get there, if there are additional certificates you need and plan to get, etc.
If the HR person is asking this question for something like Receptionist, they are probably on autopilot or just fishing for people to shoot themselves in the foot, with something like “retired by then, no doubt” or “in Nashville following my boyfriend’s band.” In these cases anything generally positive about the job and the company in question is a good answer.