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Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Interview question answered · Enhance.training

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: In this podcast, I take you through how to answer the Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years interview question and talk you through the pitfalls to avoid.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Jess Carles, and if you're new to this podcast, Enhanced.training provides online business courses to help professionals, managers and business owners improve their performance.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sharing my knowledge and experience of sitting in over a thousand interviews as a hiring manager and being recruited into many top companies like Innocent Drinks, EY, Fosters and others.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: If you like this podcast, please share it with others and visit us at enhance.training.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, where do you see yourself in five years is a tough interview question to answer, and it definitely pays to plan out your answer in advance.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: When we are job hunting, most of us are focused on landing the job we want today rather than thinking about what we might want in five years.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: There are several different ways to successfully answer this question, and which you choose will depend in part on your situation and the job you're going for.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: It can be easy to talk yourself out of a job with this question, so keep your answer short, more on this later.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Before we start answering this interview question, it makes sense to understand what the interviewer is wanting to find out.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Firstly, the interviewer wants to know that you are going to be focused on making sure you do a good job in the role that you're applying for.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: After all, if you don't do a good job with a current role, promotion will remain pretty unlikely.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Include in your answer a section talking about your focus on doing a great job first and foremost.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: The interviewer is looking to hire a person to solve current problems first.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Next, the interviewer is looking to get a sense of your ambitions and if the company can realistically meet them.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: This part of the question can be hard to answer without ruling yourself out of a job.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go through a number of pitfalls first before answering this part of the interviewer's question.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: The first pitfall, as mentioned before, is not being focused on the role you're applying for.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: You must not fall into this trap if you want to get a job offer.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Do talk about making sure you are going to do a good job in the role that you're applying for before anything else.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: The second pitfall is talking about unrealistic ambitions.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: For instance, if you're a couple of years into your career and you talk about being CEO in five years' time, the interview is probably going to cross you off their list.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: The safest approach in answering where do you see yourself in five years is not to talk about a specific position.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Keep what you do say fairly general in terms of where you want to get to.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: After all, five years is quite a long way off in anybody's career.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: There are times when you may want to talk about specific positions.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: For instance, if you're entering a training contract and you need a certain amount of practical experience, a chartered accountant's qualification is a typical example.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: In this case, talk about getting your qualification as your goal alongside doing a great job.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: The third pitfall is talking about ambitions that don't align with what is required for the role that you're applying for.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: If you do talk about a position or a general level of role, then make sure that the role you're applying to is considered a normal role on the career journey to that position.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: If there is not a clear connection, the interviewer will be left confused, doubt your commitment, and you'll be ruled out of the running.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: For instance, if you're going to go for a supply chain manager role and you say you would eventually want to get to a supply chain director role, this makes sense and will probably be viewed as fine.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: However, if you talk about your love of marketing, you probably won't get any further with this job application.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: The fourth pitfall is not showing enough ambition.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: This pitfall is more common in the management ranks and in fast-growing or fast moving companies and sectors that need to innovate and develop to continue succeeding.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: These positions often require a desire to learn and develop skills.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Selecting people with some ambition keeps the workforce relevant and valuable.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: Your research is important to discover what sort of approach to staff development the company you are applying to has.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: And also ask yourself what is considered normal in your sector or function for the role that you're applying to, and obviously tailor your answer accordingly.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: As a very broad rule of thumb in the professional to mid-manager ranks, I'd expect high flyers to change roles, but not necessarily companies, every one to three years, and a more typical worker maybe every two to five years.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: Talk about the wrong level of ambition or display too little ambition, and you'll probably be out of the running.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: And the last pitfall is to come across as being a threat to your line manager's role.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: I mean few managers are looking to hire individuals that want to take over their roles before they have gained their own promotion.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure your answer takes account of this important point.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever you do, don't threaten your potential manager's position or give any indication that you'll not provide full support to your manager.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: So coming back to how much of your ambitions to talk about in an interview depends on what you know about the company, what is considered to be normal, a normal level of ambition for the role that you're applying to, and the clues that you get during the interview process.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: If in doubt, play it safe and keep your answers fairly general about the future.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: That said, interviews are a two-way street.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Ask the interviewer where your career might progress if you do well in the role that you're applying to.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: I mean after all, taking the role that gives you the best prospects over the next five years makes sense for your career.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Provide the interviewer your answer and then finish by asking, if I were to be promoted in the future, what would be a typical career path in this business?
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: You could also follow up with this.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: How do you ensure that individuals with potential are developed within the business?
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: And this helps you find out what priority the business puts on training and development.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: We're often asked how long should I take when answering this question?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: If you spend a lot of time answering this question, you are likely to give too much information away and this is unlikely to help your application.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Keep your answer short and to the point.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: We suggest answering in 15 to 20 seconds and certainly no more than 30 seconds.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, keep this answer short.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Here are a couple of example answers for where do you see yourself in five years?
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: For a professional or junior manager role you might answer Firstly, if I'm offered the position I would want to focus the next year on making sure I deliver on all aspects of this role.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: I know I will need to prove my value to the company before I can be considered for any promotion opportunities.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: I am keen to progress my career.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: How do you develop and promote talented staff members here?
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: For a senior manager role it might be My first priority is to work with the team to meet your goals of doubling the turnover in the next five years.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: I recognise that this is a very important goal for the business success.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: And with the business success comes more opportunity for my career development.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: So to answer your question, if I join your team, I would want to be looking back, having achieved the growth goal and gone on to set new challenges to drive the company's success.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: What career opportunities do you see coming available over the next five years?
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you keep your answer short, clear, and focused on delivering first.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: End your answer with a question so that you can get the hiring manager's perspective on the opportunities at this company and what the company does to support your development.training for more podcasts and advice on how to ace interviews.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks very much for listening, and I look forward to speaking to you again soon.