You may be trying to find a new job, creating career goals, and preparing yourself for job interviews from hiring managers from any career path you wish to go to. More often than not, you would have a foreseeable chance to encounter the question ‘where do you see yourself in 5 years?’ This question should not be answered literally. If you have vision problems, Dr. Anton Van Heerden offers LASIK surgery, but that’s way past the topic.
‘Where do you see yourself in 5 years?’ The answer to this simple question may show a facet of your outlook in life and your vision of the clear career path you want to take. Not really about your visual acuity (go to an eye specialist if that’s your issue). Your answer gives your hiring manager a brief understanding of how you can contribute to the company and what relevant skills and personal career goals you wish to achieve during your stay. So how should you answer this specific question?
Job Interview: Why Ask Such Questions?
The whole job hiring process requires different stages that you need to pass. some may require you to go to a clinic near you first for a medical evaluation to see if you are physically fit, while some would test your knowledge and capacity related to your job description (customer service skills for a sales position, for example.)
Your employer, well, at least the hiring manager, isn’t expecting you to pull out a crystal ball for a fortune teller stint and predict where you’ll be in five years. The question is intended to select applicants who are inexperienced or inappropriate.
Employers and hiring managers seek candidates who are driven, dependable, involved in their work, and have comparable aims and beliefs. Hiring is time-consuming and costly, and prospective employers want to know that you want to remain.
‘Where Do You See Yourself in 5 Years?’
You may wonder why job seekers need to answer this somewhat tricky question, even if you are only applying for an entry-level position. What you have to understand is the fact that your answer to this interview question sheds light on your long-term career goals and future aspirations. It shows how you plan on achieving your career mindset and what role you would want to be in so you can contribute to your and your company’s growth. So, like most job seekers, you want to have a piece of reliable career advice on how to answer a pretty crucial interview question.
Preparing a list of questions as an interview guide such as ‘where do you see yourself in five years?’ is a good idea before you get to your job interview itself. This guarantees that you give thoughtful responses and effectively communicate the information you want to attempt and get through to the recruiting manager.
Here are steps to help you prepare for and answer any interview question:
Make a list of your professional objectives.
Spend some time thinking about your exciting projects for the next five years. Do you wish to have a better understanding of your career plans and improve your skills? Are your new and exciting projects a way for your to work your way up to a career changer? Did you make sure that your career goals align with your job position?
Look for links between your objectives and the work requirements.
Examine the job requirements and position for any qualities and talents you currently have, including those you wish to gain more experience in, to help relate your objectives to the position you’re looking for. This will help you to tie your objectives to the position you’re interviewing for.
Ask yourself if the job can propel your career.
Consider whether the organization can help you achieve your professional objectives. It is critical to be truthful as to whether the organization you want to pursue applying with can help you achieve your five-year professional goals. If it can’t, you might want to rethink the employment or tell the company upfront that you won’t be staying with them for at least a year.
Answering your Interview: What Not To Do
Although we cannot give you straight example answers, we can help you curb out your reply. When answering during your interview, especially for this specific question, here are things you should not do:
- Crack jokes about how in 5 years you’ll be first on the opposite side of the fence.
- Specific plans for advancing your career inside the firm.
- Voice out fantasies about being recognized, starting a company, or returning to school.
- A slew of “Hmmmms,” “Ummmms,” “I don’t knows”, and “It’s difficult to say.”
Other Questions like This
In your interview, whether it is for a sales job position or job titles that can define success, you may be asked other variants of the “Where do you see yourself in five years?” career ambitions question. These queries feel the need to ask the same thing at first look. Even if they are sometimes but they aren’t all the time, and knowing how to tell the difference is crucial.
The following are several versions of this question that ask the very same thing:
- What are your long-term professional objectives?
- What do you want to be doing in five or 10 years?
- Have you set a long-term professional objective for yourself?
- What are your career goals?
- How would this position assist you in achieving your long-term professional objectives?
References:
How to Answer the Interview Question ‘Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years’ Like a Pro.
https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/guide/where-do-you-see-yourself-in-5-years/
How to Best Answer “Where Do You See Yourself in 5 Years?”
https://zety.com/blog/where-do-you-see-yourself-in-5-years
Where Do You See Yourself in 5 Years?
Answering the Interview Question: “Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years?”
Top 10 reasons employers want to hire you.
https://edition.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/worklife/11/02/cb.hire.reasons.job/
