“So, where do you see yourself in 5 years?”
I’m willing to bet every person reading this has had that question posed to them at some point, most likely in a job interview, but possibly during an appraisal, or if you’re really unlucky, by a potential father-in-law at a dinner party. I’m going to call it out right now – it’s one of the stupidest questions you can be asked. It’s a test, of course – does this person have a plan? Are they committed to their career? Or, more accurately, can they make something plausible up on a whim, by accurately judging the kind of crap that I, the questioner, want to hear?
OK, so maybe there are some people out there who genuinely plan their career out 5 years in advance, but I also imagine they’re rather dull people to be around. I can’t recall for sure, but to my regret I think I may have asked this question myself in interviews many years ago, embedded as I was in an environment of conformity and convention which demanded certain inexplicable behaviours handed down from forefathers whose underlying reasoning (such as it was) was long forgotten. If I asked this question of a recruit now (and I wouldn’t, but if I did), I’d only be asking it as an ironic anti-question, since I now believe the only honest and vaguely correct answer is “How the hell should I know?”. At which point I’d probably give that person the job just for being honest and we’d figure out what to do next on the fly, which is what we’d have done anyway of course.
Because when it comes down to it, plans (of any kind) are one part fairy tale and one part straight-jacket. Not only are things not going to turn out the way you think now on any time scale beyond the life of your average housefly, leading to the very real expectation of self-abuse for not delivering on ‘The Plan’ (choral accompaniment), but by being fixated on past expectations you’re very likely to be less adaptable to change, and to pass up alternative opportunities that you didn’t expect. And that’s not a minor issue: the best opportunities I’ve ever had have always been unexpected, and my primary successes have been universally unplanned. Looking back, choosing and setting a direction in life at any point in time was important, but planning specific goals was not, because all the best stuff just kind of happened along the way.
So, if you do interviews, please stop asking this question, it’s meaningless. Everyone has a current direction, but let’s not kid ourselves about the immutability of that vector, or that the destination is knowable. If it was, life would be pretty boring anyway, right?
August 17th, 2011 at 3:07 pm
I got asked that at a job interview but in a different way.
“Do you plan on working here in 5 years?” to which I answered “No, I plan on keep evolving”
I got the job, even though the answer was as dumb as the question
August 17th, 2011 at 3:26 pm
5 years? With notice periods in the USA being 2 weeks I’m not sure where I’ll be in 5 weeks.
[)amien
August 17th, 2011 at 3:30 pm
I actually think this is a good interview question. For example, when hiring for a dev position, I have numerous times been told, “Oh, I don’t plan on being a programmer that long. I hope to be in management.”, then I’ve learned something.
One of my favourite responses was someone who outright told me “I plan to go into game development, but I need a year or so of general development experience first.” That person did not get the job.
So it’s useful as one of many sources of information about a person that you’re trying to get a grip on in a very short period of time.
August 17th, 2011 at 3:40 pm
@Nick: I think that only demonstrates that these candidates weren’t smart enough to know what you wanted to hear. In practice anyone with sense knows what the ‘correct’ answer is, which bears no necessary resemblance to reality.
August 17th, 2011 at 4:07 pm
The best answer to The Question I’ve ever heard was on an internship interview on my last year at the University. The interviews were done in a room, and you waited inside it, so you could hear all the interviews of the guys before you.
- Where do you see yourself in five years?
- I’m going to traverse Europe with two friends in a van, all hippie-style!
The interviewer wasn’t amused. She rolled her eyes and sent him out. It was my turn then. When I got asked The Question, I gave her the full “politically correct” answer.
I got the job, he didn’t.
It turned out to be a pretty shitty job. Mainly because the the interviewer was also the team leader. And she was as good in team leadening as in job interviewing.
I wished I had had the courage to answer.
- I’ll be driving the hippie van, madam.
I sometimes wonder when did he end up. I really hope he fulfilled his half-joking dream, and traveled through Europe in a van. Hippie style.
August 18th, 2011 at 11:03 am
@kikito: Much of corporate IT recruitment seems aimed at filtering out the exceptional / unusual and to take in the average / predictable. Maybe that’s best if you’re hiring for a fairly boring job – maybe you want the people who will put just enough effort in to get the job done, who won’t rock the boat, and who are ‘career men’ looking for the next rung on the ladder. I think the guy with the hippy plan will have ended up far happier elsewhere
September 10th, 2011 at 2:19 am
Here are some answers my friend gave on purpose, thought out after great deal of thinking, the company was a cheapshot sowtware startup, started y people only having a bit money, not knowing anything about software looking for fresh graduates for exploitation, like you earn the money for me and I will pay you later, actually never, like many other startups in India. One of our friends was previously unpaid by this company for six months and then left. –
Q – What is your name ?
A – Please read it in my biodata, that is why I gave it to you.
Q – What are your qualifications ?
A – Please read it in my biodata, that is why I gave it to you.
Q – Why you choose this company ?
A – Because others are asking for work experience.
Q – Where will you see yourself in next ten (indian variant) years?
A – Heck, I donot know of after ten minutes after. How can I tell of ten years after. And seriously If I could tell that, I would have made a lot of money from horoscope reading, teling future, and horse races.
Q – Why should we take you ?
A – Because I have a revolver with 2 bullets, oe for you an done for me.
Q – Your sense of humour is very good and you are very confident. You can come from tomorrow and start making websites for us. Wish you good luck.
A – What about salary ?
Q – First we will see your work, then you wll be paid as per your skill. Donot worry about money at this stage try to lear and get experience.
A – ok.
See.
October 9th, 2011 at 12:45 pm
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