Interview Question of the Week: Where do you hope to see yourself in five years?

photo credit: jurvetson

The Interview Question of the Week series is designed to help job seekers apply critical thinking to their interview preparation.  The full list of IQOTWs can be found here.

So, where do you hope to see yourself in five years?

It’s really that simple.  Honest.

If you don’t know, start thinking.

Now, many interview guides will tell you to say something like this:

I hope to see myself as a productive member of the XYZ company team.  In five years, I hope to have progressed within the organization to a [team lead, Vice President, Director] position, where I can make a stronger impact on the company’s success.

This is a perfectly valid, white-bread answer to the question, and in most cases won’t rule you out of contention.  But it’s not going to dazzle an interviewer either.

As a recruiter, here’s what I want to see from your answer:

• Understanding of strengths and weaknesses. Show me that you understand where your talents lie and where they can best impact the organization.
• A strong direction. The white-bread answer simply indicates you want to head “up.”  Up where?  By which path?  Do you want to stay in the same department, or move to another?
• Ambition. Always, I want to see ambition.  And the more concrete your answer on this one, the more ambition you show, because you’re showing that you have seriously considered how the position in question could lead to your career goals.

So, here’s a suggested answer for the question:

I greatly respect XYZ company, and I see this role as an opportunity to join a successful, growing firm and learn all about your business practices, market position, and customer base.  I hope that after I’ve gained a good understanding of your culture and the business, that I can put my management skills to work as a divisional manager.  I’ve always been interested in and shown success in the operations area, so a move there could be a great fit, but I know that there will be many great internal opportunities that could be a good fit for my skillset and interests.

Here’s what I like about this answer.  The white bread answer says, “I want to be promoted.”  This answer says, “I want to better use my established skills and move in a direction where I know I can be successful.”

Of course some will ask, “What if there aren’t any opportunities in management in the next five years?  Or what if a move to operations is out of the question?”

Well, isn’t that something you’d like to know?

If you’re looking for any job — and in this economic climate, that may be the case — the standard answer will serve you just fine.  But if you’re looking for the right job, the job that you see as a great career move, that provides all the growth opportunity that you want to see, then you’re well advised to be completely open about your ambitions.  Otherwise, you may be looking at that five year mark and wishing you had known then what you know now.

Related posts:

1. Interview Question of the Week: What has been your greatest success?
2. Top 10 Interview Questions You’ve Gotta Be Ready For
3. Interview Question of the Week: Communication and project success
4. Interview Question of the Week: Would your supervisor be surprised to learn that you are seeking new employment?
5. Interview Question of the Week: What can you do for us that others can’t?

Tagged as: Career, interview, interview prep, job change, job hunt, job search, preparation