Job interview questions can be quite jarring, make so many thoughts to cross your mind at once. One of such question is the classic “where do you see yourself in 5 years?’
Now you wouldn’t want to say something that will sound like you have come to displace the executives, or later abandon the job and start up your company or give an impression of being cocky.
So how do you answer this question? well, career expert Lily Zhang tells us how to answer the ‘where do you see yourself in 5 years?’ question;
So, how do you answer, “Where do you see yourself in five years?”
This can feel like a bit of a trick question, because sometimes the answer is, “not in this job,” or, “in your job,” or something like, “at a bigger better opportunity elsewhere.” But none of those are things you actually want to say to a hiring manager.
The good news is you can be honest while still telling them what they really want to know. Do you have realistic expectations for your career? Are you ambitious? And does this particular position align with your growth and goals overall?
For example, one way I like to think about it is: Think about where this position could realistically take you, and think about how that aligns with some of your broader professional goals.
So, for example, you might say, “Well I’m really excited by this position at Midnight Consulting because in five years, I’d like to be seen as someone with deep expertise in the energy sector, and I know that’s something that I’ll have an opportunity to do here. I’m also really excited to take on more managerial responsibilities in the next few years and potentially even take the lead on some projects. I’ve been lucky enough to work with some amazing managers, and so developing into a great manager myself is something I’m really excited about.”
So, what if this position is not a one-way ticket to your professional aspirations? It’s okay to say you don’t really know what the future holds, but you see how this experience could really help in making that decision.
So you can deduce from Zhang’s words that you should be honest about your ambitions in a rather tactful way.
