How To Answer “Where Do You See Yourself In Five Years?”

Chances are, you’re not a fortune teller. And if you were, you probably wouldn’t be here seeking career advice. So what’s a job seeker to say when an interviewer asks, “Where do you see yourself in five years?”

This common interview question isn’t meant to be answered with a full, detailed life plan. And if there’s anything we’ve learned from the pandemic years, it’s that anything can happen in life. Instead, it’s vital for the aspiring job seeker to understand just what is being asked and answer in a way that aligns your goals with the value you can bring to the role. We can’t determine the future, but we can guide you toward a successful answer!

What is being asked?

You don’t need to be a Type A person with a full outline of your future to nail this question. What an interviewer is really looking for is an assessment of your overall goals and level of motivation.

Career coach Tara Goodfellow says an interviewer wants to know that those goals and motivations align with the role and the organization. Top Resume’s M.A. Smith adds that asking this kind of question gives an interviewer insight into your thought process and how this role will fit into your overall plan. Recall that an interviewer is looking for the value you can bring to a role. Keep that in mind as you craft your answer.

“They also want to know what kind of person you are and will become. What’s most important to you: being proud of the work you do? Becoming a great team member? Learning how to be an awesome manager?” –Eloise Eonnet, career coach

How to answer

Connect it to your career goals

With a better understanding of just what is being asked, make sure that your answer conveys the value you’d bring to the role.

You’ll first need a clear understanding of what your goals are. Indeed says to think about the types of accomplishments you’d like to see on your resume in five years. Are you looking to gain the experience needed to obtain a senior role? Are you trying to get a start in an appealing industry? Find ways to connect this role to those goals.

“You don’t want to say, “I see myself in the same position doing the same work five years from now.” –Biron Clark, Career Sidekick

Consider the skills you have and the skills needed to succeed in your career path, and use specific skills from the job description if possible, according to Glassdoor. Expressing a desire to utilize and grow those skills clearly demonstrates value to an organization.

Express sincere interest in the role

Ambition doesn’t always pay the bills. Sometimes, you’ll need to take a job that might not be your dream job. That’s okay, but you need to find a way to make this role fit your ambitions without sounding uninterested.

Career Sherpa Hannah Morgan says you don’t need to make up something you think the interviewer would want to hear; that’s a good way to NOT get the job. Instead, find a way to connect the role to your goal without saying you don’t want to be there long. As mentioned above, focus on the skills you could gain and how this role could get you to your dream job—without implying that may be with another organization.

Be open ended

Remember that this is not a legally-binding life plan. Adaptability is one of the key skills employers seek, and too rigid of a plan can be unappealing.

Hiring managers want to see ambitious but realistic goals according to LinkedIn. You don’t need an exact title or role in mind as long as you can adequately show that you understand the work and skills involved to achieve your dream.

Avoid humor

Don’t do what I did and open with a joke about seeing the future. Everyone knows the future is malleable and that twists in the road happen. Potential employers are looking for sincere answers so they can gauge whether you’re a good fit. Using humor may make you seem insincere or it can look like you haven’t put thought into the answer. Cliche answers like “I’ll be coming for your job!” are equally unappealing.

“Interviewers want to hear that you have thought about your long-term goals in relation to their company. Responding with a joke indicates that you may not be committed to this opportunity” –MasterClass

How NOT to answer

Other topics to avoid include talking about other industries, your personal goals outside of work, the desire to open your own business or go freelance, saying you expect to be CEO in five years, calling the role a stepping stone, or saying you haven’t considered a five-year plan. These types of answers show a lack of focus and preparation or will make the interviewer think you aren’t interested in the company long term. It’s expensive and time-consuming to bring in a new worker. The company wants to know they’re getting the right person for the job.

Wrap up

Hopefully, we’ve demystified this common question a bit and provided clarity as to what an interviewer is actually looking for. You don’t need a total picture of what your life will be in five years, but having an idea of what you’d like to accomplish and how this role can help you get there goes a long way. Be sure to express the value you can bring to the company and avoid any indication your goals will take you away from that company and you might find a great new job in your future!

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How To Use The STAR Method For Interview Questions

Interviewers are looking for specific examples when they ask about your work history. Don’t be caught off-guard and meander. Instead, be prepared to answer with the STAR method!

The STAR method is a helpful tool for framing your accomplishments for behavioral and situational interview questions. By thinking in terms of situation, task, action, and result, you can quickly and efficiently express your achievements and impress your interviewers. Be ready to shine by embracing the STAR framework and be prepared to excel in your next interview!

“These questions are easy to spot as they focus on actions that you have or have not taken and often start with phrases like: “Give me an example of a time…”; “Describe a moment when…”; “What do you do…”; “Tell me about a moment when you…”” –ResumeHelp

Situation

You’ll start with the situation, or the broadest stroke of what happened. This is where you set the scene and clearly establish the problem that needed solving. Think of the situation as the overall plot or the “fade in” moment—the big picture.

“Be brief in your setup. Give just enough background or contextual information for your story to make sense.” –Duke Career Center

While context is important, don’t go overboard with the details. A STAR example should quickly get to the point and show what you accomplished. The situation can clearly be as simple as “I had a customer who was upset,” according to Chris Drew of Helpful Professor.

Task

Next, you’ll need to show what your task was. What is the specific challenge you, the protagonist of the story, need to address? If the situation was the overall plot, the task is the surrounding details. In the above “upset customer” example, the task would be that you needed to appease the customer and would include any barriers that prevent you from accomplishing that goal.

Zety’s Roma Kończak uses the example of someone needing to lead a project after the original manager was unable to. The task then is that the worker needed to take over the project with no extra time given because of the circumstance. This shows where you come in, what you needed to do, and what obstacles were in your path.

Action

With the plot of our tale set, we move into the action step. What did we actually do to resolve the situation and the task at hand? This is the part where you really get to shine and leave your mark.

Here, you’ll explain what you did and what your thought process was, according to Forbes’ Lidija Globokar writes. Just like how teachers in school wanted you to show your work, you’ll show your work here. Simply lucking into the solution isn’t particularly impressive.

In the “upset customer” scenario, the worker apologized to the customer for a delay while offering an alternative. They acknowledged the customer’s frustration, and, while they couldn’t go back in time and prevent that delay from happening (which would make for an interesting story), they offered a different sort of deal to make up for the issue. This action clearly shows how the worker processed the situation and then took action to resolve it.

Result

Finally, what were the outcomes of your action? The result is the finale, and it’s where you can stick the landing and impress your interviewer.

“Don’t end your story with a cliffhanger! Share the results of your actions – what was the outcome?” –Lidija Globokar

At the end of the “upset customer” example, the worker’s acknowledgment of the customer’s issue and finding an alternative option did enough to leave the customer pleased and satisfied. Instead of losing a customer, the day was saved. This climax shows your interviewer how you processed the problem, found an appropriate solution, and reached a successful conclusion. Because you used a specific example, they’ll know that you can achieve similar feats with their organization.

“Be sure to quantify your results if possible.” –Sam Maiyaki, Linkedin

The results part of the framework provides you time to provide any lessons you learned along the way. Generally, you’ll probably use a story where you found success at the end since you want to impress. But we can learn a lot from our mistakes and failures, and they provide good opportunities for growth.

Wrap up

That’s how simple using the STAR method can be! The “upset customer” example told a full story, including ending with tangible results, in just a few moments. While we jazzed up the language for fun, a STAR story doesn’t need to be a cinematic experience. It merely provides a detailed and organized way for you to take your work accomplishments and frame them in a way that best expresses the value you can bring to an organization. Practice telling your stories within this framework so you’ll be comfortable regaling your interviewer, and soon you’ll feel like a STAR!

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