Interview Question: Where do you see yourself in next 5 years?
by Venkatesan, on Aug 26, 2019 5:28:33 PM
"Where do you see yourself in next 5 years?", is a tricky HR round interview question. Often you may struggle to get a line between honesty, confusion and reality.
The good news? There’s an easy way to outwit this question by talking about your future plans or goals. Employers ask "Where you do see yourself in the next 5 years?" to understand if the role fits into your overall career aspirations. Their basic aim is to test your commitment to the role because they want to hire someone who is enthusiastic and likely to stick around in the organization. Also, they want to assess your confidence, goals and ambitions, and career outlook.
Do’s :
• Emphasize your interest for a long term career – this is important since your employer wants to know whether you are looking to grow with the company.
• Be convincing – Try to give a truthful answer
• Give a relatively general answer – Give a broad answer like “ I would see myself acquiring new skills and improving my knowledge to advance in my career, I’ll work towards achieving a managerial role”
Don’ts :
• Be overconfident – Something like “I would be love to be CEO of this company”. This sounds so immature and unrealistic.
• Overthink –“Hmm..well... I don’t know what I ‘ll be doing in the next 5 years”. Saying “I don’t know” would be the worst thing
• Too specific – Some says “I plan to become a Manager with at least 8 direct reports and a salary package of “XYZ” “. If you’re too specific it simply means you are not the best fit for the job.
• Raise red flags – Saying the interviewer that you have plans to start your own firm. You need not share these details with your interviewer, as this may hinder your possibilities for the job.
When you answer to ”Where do you want to see yourself in the next 5 years?”, you need to create an impression that you’re focused, ambitious and have a plan. Think about a realistic answer on how current role will align with your broader professional goals. Companies prefer hiring people who are genuinely interested in the job and look like prospective employees to the business.
