Where do you see yourself five years from now?
If you have a job interview coming up, your interviewer is going to ask you, “Where do you see yourself five years from now?”
Your answer could mean the difference between getting the job and losing it.
If want to learn how to answer this question in a way that brings you closer to landing the job, then let me know by hitting the link button and we’ll jump it.
If you are here today, you’ve probably been asked this question before and perhaps you’ve been struggling to come up with a good answer.
Well I want to give you the ultimate formula for successfully answering this question so employers are more likely to offer you the job.
For starters, employers only ask this question because they want to understand your vision. That’s right, they want to know that you will be here in the long term.
When you can off them a vision of where you see yourself going, and it’s aligned with their company and the position at hand, then they will have greater reason to believe you’ll be a long term employee.
This question is also used to weed out the wrong people. So if your 5 year goal is to own your own company, then that response will signal to the employer that you don’t plan to work here for long.
You want your response to be aligned with where this job is going. And maybe you don’t know that, but I urge you push yourself to think about the next logical steps for yourself as it’s aligned to your occupation.
This is not a commitment and no one is going to hold you to your 5 year plan, this is just an outlook of where you think you might be going.
So we just covered the reasoning behind this question. Now let’s look at a simple 2-step formula to crafting your own answer to, “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?”
First part, it kind of goes like this…
In the first two years I see myself getting my CPA as a {insert job title}. Then I plan to enroll in auditing coursework and perhaps some self-study programs until I become very proficient with internal auditing procedures and then I’ll start working towards getting my CIA certification.
Then in the second part of your answer,
Part 2 takes it even further and expresses a genuine love of what you do.
”In my third and fourth year, since I love teaching, I plan to start teaching auditing classes here at {insert name of company} and mentoring other junior auditors to help them achieve their CPA.”
And that’s all there is to it. Were you expecting more than that?
You can use this simple two step answer for any profession. Just talk about growing, helping and serving the company in any order you want. That’s the secret ingredient that must be in your answer.
To create your own answer, just model what I did in the CPA example and apply it to what you do, and viola. You have your response to, “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?”
With an answer like that, interviewers will love it. Companies like to hire people who enjoy sharing their knowledge and mentoring others. It’s such a rare employee characteristic today, but one that is immensely valuable.
So now you know how to answer, “Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?”
It’s not that hard is it?
That’s all I have for you today.
