How to Answer “Where Do You See Yourself in 5 Years?” in an Interview

Where do you see yourself in five years? This interview question gets people eliminated from consideration all of the time. Seriously. As a human resources leader, I have seen this be one of the top three biggest disqualifying questions you'll be asked in the interview. This is self made millennial. I'm Madeline Mann. I'm an HR and recruiting leader. Spilling the hiring secrets. You may have seen me in these places. New videos on Thursdays. Stick around to the end because I will share five things to say in your answer that are likely not in your response right now. And I will give you three examples so you can take inspiration from each of them, mush them together, and create the ultimate super response. Why do interviewers ask this ridiculous question? Where do you see yourself in five years? Well, what's really important is to understand the question under the question. Okay. With so many interview questions, you need to understand the background of the intention instead of just answering it at face value. So I've actually done this for nearly every single one of the top interview questions. I made a playlist of why they're being asked and how to answer it the right way. So I'll link that playlist in the comments and in the description. Now there's a sneaky little gremlin behind this question. The interview is asking this question to understand your long term goals and see if your goals actually align with the company or if you're just using this position as a placeholder. Because let's be real, if you're interviewing for a clerk role at a law firm and then you tell your interviewer that your goal is to work as a production assistant in the entertainment industry. Come on. They aren't going to be too keen on hiring and training you for a role that you are bound to leave as soon as a better opportunity arises. You just got yourself eliminated. Now you don't need to convince them that you will be this company for the rest of your life, but you do need to make it clear that this position is the next next logical step for your long term career goals. This is just one of so many classic interview questions that I see people mess up all the time. The other one that people mess up is where they talk way too long for tell me about yourself. So I'll link a free worksheet that tens of thousands of people have used instead. It's been a big help for them to sketch out their answers. What not to do. Okay, These mistakes will end your interview before it begins. First, do not talk about your personal goals. Sure, maybe your goal is to have a house, a horse and a new head of hair in five years. And sure this role will help you to achieve that personal goal, but your personal goals will rarely be important information for the company to know when determining if they should give you a job. Second, don't talk about working in a different industry again, that just tells them that you are a short term hire and probably are not worth the time and effort to train. Third, don't say you want to own your own business or freelance full time one day. This will make most interviewers assume that you're less invested in the job and you're more interested in your own projects, so you don't want them to think that you got one foot out the door at all times. Lastly, do not tell your interviewer that you want their job or you want a higher position. This might feel like a super cool, confident move in the moment, but it actually comes off as a bit impatient. Like maybe you are overqualified for this role and you're more concerned about titles or rather than the work itself. These four mistakes are so common, almost to the point where I never heard someone not make one of these mistakes when answering. So if you're feeling a little called out right now, don't sweat it. Put in the comments called out if you've ever made any of these mistakes how to Craft the Perfect Answer now let's be real. The world moves fast and most of us don't know where we'll be in five years from now. Five years ago I would have never guessed that I quit my successful career in HR to be a full time YouTuber and career coach. But I guess dreams you never had really do come true. So there's no need to get hyper specific in your answer. Instead, I suggest that you change the way you think about the question in your head. Next time you're asked where do you see yourself in five years? I want you to pretend they asked. How will this role help grow your career in a direction you're proud of? I'm going to say that again because I see you scrambling for a pen and notebook right now. How will this role role help you grow your career in a direction you are proud of? This mindset shift will help you avoid unnecessary information like personal goals or specific milestones, and instead focus on how you would like to grow. With this new question in mind, here are five things that you can mention in your answer. You don't need to mention them all, but mix and match depending on your situation. Your interest in deeply learning the industry, your focus Focus on making a name for yourself at the company as the Go to person with X skill. A drive to learn or improve specific skills that are emphasized in the job description. Your desire to mentor others Notice I said mentor, not manage. This is a great approach to take since you're not assuming a manager title or anything like that, but rather showing an authentic desire to grow and help other people. You see yourself taking on bigger projects. This is a great way to say that you're focused on new challenges and improvement rather than telling them you want a promotion. All of these five things illustrate how you see yourself reaching your own career goals while also growing within the company and adding value as you go. Here are three example answers the first example is how one of my clients transformed her answer. She initially got rejected for a role in a sales at a tech startup and when she said in five years she was going to be getting herself back into a creative role since she loves design, she thought her answer still implied that she could grow within the same company. But all her interviewer heard was I don't actually want the job you need me to do and I don't plan on spending too much time and effort getting very good at it. So when she joined my coaching program she changed up her answer and it sounded something like this. My goal is to obtain this role and gain a deeper understanding of how this company operates as I'm very passionate about growing my long term career in the edtech space. As I get to know everyone on the team, I want to be able to use my experience in both creative work and sales to reach new clients and communicate your products in the best way possible. Further down the line, as I grow at the company and work on new projects and product launches with the team, my goal would be to challenge myself to take on larger projects, whether that means reaching bigger clients, working closer with the creative team, or all of the above. See how much better that sounds. This answer made her interviewer feel confident that she was a team player who would stick around and grow with their company. If you don't quite know what your long term career goals are yet, don't worry. This is an example of how someone might answer when interviewing for a junior level position over the next five years, I want to gain a deeper understanding of this industry and get to know my strengths as a sales professional. That starts with obtaining this role and learning the ins and outs of this company, how I can exceed quotas, and what it takes to become a top salesperson on this team. I'm eager to find new opportunities to learn and level up my skills both in sales and the industry overall. If there are any training programs or mentorship opportunities in this company, I would love to hear more about them. You'll notice how this answer implies a commitment to the company while still leaving room to grow and figure out what works for you. It also puts the ball in their court by following up with a relevant question about training opportunities. And let me throw a third example your way. If you're interviewing for a more salary senior role, I would try to craft an answer that sounds like this. I'm very excited by the prospect of taking on new challenges and honing in on my expertise in sales. After gaining invaluable experience over the past 12 years, I'm ready to deepen and truly define my strategy, and I think this position offers a great opportunity to do that. I'd love to spend the next few years building a strong sales team where I have the ability to both mentor and learn from my colleagues. From there, I see myself taking on larger projects and bigger clients as we grow. You'll notice each of these three answers are taking those five ingredients and sprinkling them into their answer to make a scrumptious recipe. And that's what I want you to do. Where do I see you in five years? Absolutely loving your career and still subscribe to this channel, right? Go ahead and subscribe. Give this video a big thumbs up. You've got this wi fi high five.