Where do you see yourself in five years?

Following my previous article, someone asked me "Where do you see yourself in five years?” This reminded me of my first interviews as a candidate when other recruiters have asked me exactly the same thing. It was one of the questions I hated the most and I have always tried to do my best in giving answers as general as possible.

Later I understood that the intention behind it was to see if I had a career plan and how the job I was applying for would fit in my plan.

Whoever started asking this question didn't realize that mentioning an exact time frame forces candidates either to give answers out of the blue or general answers that were well prepared prior to the interview. Not everybody has a 5 years plan but that doesn't mean that they don’t have a plan at all.

How can this phrase be avoided and still find out what one’s career plans are? There are many other questions that can be asked around this topic. I believe that questions like "What is the next step in your career?" or "How do you see yourself evolving professionally?" are much more efficient. This way the other person has the comfort of not having to think at an exact time frame.
There are lots of people saying that this question makes no sense, that it’s a stupid question to ask and it forces people to say what they think the recruiters want to hear.

However, most interviewers ask this question one way or another. If you find yourself in the situation of answering the famous “Where do you see yourself in five years?” always have in mind that the real question is “What is the next step in your career and how the job you are applying for will help you get there?”. The answer will then be easier. What we should always have in mind is that we must emphasize how the job that we are interviewing for is integrating in our career plan. This is also a good opportunity to ask back the recruiter or the manager about the career potential in the company. It’s always a good idea to show your interest in developing your career in the company.