I’ve been asked this in just about every interview I’ve had in recent memory. I don’t know to answer that. Ideally I’d have won the lottery and I’d be living at my summer home on the Lake of the Ozarks. That’s my dream outcome for August 27, 2028. But we all know that’s not happening, but why now? I have no interest in being in management or having the interviewer’s job. Is it bad form to just answer, “if I get the position, in three years I see myself doing really well at it”? Is there a platitude that I can use that sounds meaningful and satisfies the interviewer?
“Mass grave or climate refugee.”
It’s just one of those stupid HR questions like the old “describe your biggest weakness.”
“I’ll be in your place and you’ll be in your bosses’ place.”
“I treat people who ask stupid unanswerable trick questions with the withering contempt they so richly deserve.”
I think the most appropriate answer would be a dismissive chuckle followed by “…Oh, you’re serious?”
But since you don’t want to do that, my thought (without any particular insight except having been the interviewee in my fair share of interviews) would be just that anyone asking that question doesn’t have a specific “right answer” they’re looking for. They just want to see if you can give them an answer they consider reasonable-ish as opposed to sitting there looking like a deer in the headlights. That is, assuming they’re someone you’d actually want to work for. Now, asking about “x years” might cast doubt on that, but there you are in the interview anyway.
In any case, another thing not to say is “Banging your daughter.”
Or, “Why do you want to work here?”
In most cases, the honest answer is “Because I need a paycheck.”
That one I’ve been asked and I usually had a real answer.
I feel like no one ever asks that question at any of the tech or consulting firms I’ve worked for. Probably because statistically speaking the answer is usually “at a different company”.
I guess my question (not knowing what industry you are in or what sort of work you do) is what does 5 year’s worth of “being really good at your job” look like to you? I think it’s fine to remain an individual contributor instead of going into management. But I think companies want you to show you don’t intend to just plant yourself at your desk doing the same thing until you retire.
Same thing with questions like “what is your biggest weakness” or “why do you want to work here”. The intent (assuming the interviewer knows what they are doing…which might not be the case) is to show you have the wherewithal to identify areas you need to approve and are talking steps to do so or that you actually want to work at the company because you have an interest in (or at the very least know) what they do and how they do it (you can collect a paycheck anywhere).
And as a primary healthcare provider we don’t ask or get asked that either for the opposite reason: the answer clearly should be here doing this job.
I get that some industries are looking for ambitious people who want to climb on up. But some positions are THE position you’ve been working to get to, and are best filled by someone who is honestly seeing this job as where they want to be forever.
That’s not necessarily a bad answer, but it needs more.
The interviewer may really want to find someone who wants to move up the ladder, or they may not. But what they really want is a return on their investment in you. It’s fine to just really want to be good at what you do and just keep doing it. But maybe you’re also smart enough to be an asset at making that position more efficient. Or becoming a resource for the company that makes that position (and you) indispensable. Or you really like working as part of a team, and over the next 5 years see yourself helping to cultivate an environment where people with your skillset can thrive.
“I want to do the same thing over and over every day for the next 5 years” is both unrealistic and unattractive in a candidate that isn’t applying for a job on Henry Ford’s assembly line.
“Everybody’s got to be somewhere.”
I answered that question at an interview thusly:
“Where do I see myself in three years? On a nationwide tour of Barnes & Noble autographing copies of my best-seller.”
Yes, I really did say that. It got an appreciative smile. The interviewer didn’t take the question seriously either.
Someone once told me that they were asked “If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?”
I replied that if I were ever asked a question that inane I would make like a tree and leave.
And some other jobs. Really. I suspect lots of professionals stay in the same position for their entire careers. And are hired hoping they will root there long term.
“I don’t know where the company will be at that time, but I hope to be in a position that allows me to do the most good for this company. I plan to learn what is needed as (or before) the company needs it.”
Don’t blame HR for that stupid question. A lot of us don’t like them any more than you do.
I can’t remember the last time I was asked that question during an interview. But then the last interview I had was in 2022 for an employer I was working for with people who I had been working with for years. I wouldn’t say it’s a completely stupid question though.
It’s okay to be an individual contributor. A lot of individual contributors are valuable employees who make bank because their skills are in high demand. Giving an answer along the lines of, “I’d like to improve my skills in this area, perhaps get some accreditations, and learn more about X” is a perfectly fine answer. You probably don’t have to tell them you want to be on a management track.
The definitive answer was given by Broncos defensive end Walter Bowyer in 1988:
A cheese tree.
I’d like to be Pando. That specific tree. Debatably the world’s largest living organism. Ancient. Fires come and it sprouts back up like a Phoenix. It is a very fascinating tree.
(Of course I could answer in a buttering up way: “I want to be yew!”)
But I didn’t say anything my response that contradicts that. The answer to the question posed in the OP simply shouldn’t reflect monotony or boredom - it should display optimism for the new job, and the potential for growth. That does NOT necessarily mean a promotion - it means becoming proficient at the job. At becoming an important cog in the machine that is reliable - and more importantly, that the candidate wants that to occur.
xkcd did this.
