Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years?

By Rebecca R. Hastings, June 2007

[ From SHRM's HR Careers Articles ]

Although many interviewers favor behavioral interview questions, many job seekers still encounter the perennial standbys, such as "Where do you see yourself in five years?" The question may be a cliche -- but it still can be a useful question for a hiring manager to ask. And, your answer can, in some cases, determine whether you will be hired...or not.

Why ask the question? Prospective employers like to know that individuals have plans and goals, and that they are thinking beyond what they are doing right now, says Abby Locke, president of Premier Writing Solutions LLC, an executive resume writing and personal branding services company in Washington, D.C. But she says interviewers will also be trying to determine if candidates are really committed to the line of work for which they are applying.

"Employers are trying to get at how focused [candidates are] and what kind of thought they have put into a particular position," says Kimberly Schneiderman, owner of City Career Services, a New York-based career services firm. The interviewer will be looking for passion for the job and the company in question, and evidence that the position being discussed fits into the applicant's five-year plan.

But interviewers aren't typically looking for a specific job title as a response to this question, says Lin Blair, SPHR, HR project leader for Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Little Rock, unless the individual is an internal candidate. Instead, she says, hiring managers want to know if applicants have specific goals and clear plans for their career. "For example, if someone is pursuing a degree, we want to know if they are going to finish the degree and what they want to do with it," she adds.

"We also look for awareness of what people like and dislike," Blair says. "They should be aware of the organization and where they can best use their skills."

"As a general response, the candidate should talk in terms of future effectiveness and acquired knowledge, not title," says Jim Kennedy, president of Management Team Consultants Inc., an interview training company in San Rafael, Calif. After discussing possible contributions that might be made and experience that might be gained during that time period, he says, a candidate could turn the question around to ask what those contributions and experience might translate into with regard to title from the company's perspective.

Kennedy says it is more realistic to focus on three years and suggests that applicants try to narrow their response to that timeframe.

Candidates should resist the temptation to bare all, however. "Our tendency is to want to be as honest as possible when confronted with this question," says Laura Labovich, HR consultant at Employer Services Corp. and a member of Career Directors International. But she says hiring managers don't really want to hear what someone wants to be doing if it doesn't apply to the company's needs. "They want to know your commitment to HR and your long-term goals," she says, particularly if those goals suggest that a candidate would not be happy with the company over a long period.

Awareness of a company's structure and career paths is ideal, but this type of insider knowledge might be hard to come by. At a minimum, Locke says, candidates should make sure they understand the career progression within a particular industry so they know the next logical step based on current qualifications.

Experts say the focus should be on what the applicant can do for the company, rather than on what the company can do for the applicant.

"You never want to give the impression that you are just there for the next promotion," Schneiderman says. It's acceptable to make it clear that promotion is desired, she says, but the focus should always remain on what's best for the company, not the individual: "They should talk about what they are going to accomplish for the employer so they can get farther in the company."

Labovich says HR professionals are generally seeking one of two main outcomes from a job change: expanding the breadth of their experience with all aspects of HR, or the depth of their experience in a specialty area of HR. In other words, candidates should at least know if they want to be an HR generalist or a specialist, she says.

Blair, who teaches career planning courses at Webster University, says candidates who are unclear about what they want to accomplish in a five-year period should use the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and other self-assessments to hone in on what they are good at. After all, she said, quoting Lewis Carroll, "If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there."

Rebecca R. Hastings, SPHR, is online writer/editor for SHRM.