4 ms·

Why should I tell you about my vision and plans? What are you really looking for in that. These 'where do you see yourself in 5 years' questions sound like str

by zalew 15y ago

Why should I tell you about my vision and plans? What are you really looking for in that. These 'where do you see yourself in 5 years' questions sound like straight from a 'HR for dummies' book. I would really appreciate if an interviewer reading this post explained me what such cliches are trying to test, other than BS skills. Cliche question => cliche response.

gk1 15y ago
I'm not from HR, but my guess is that a question like that is for learning whether the candidate is goal-oriented or just goes by living day-to-day. I agree that it's a cliche question, and could be phrased more originally and/or specifically in most cases, but it is not _totallt_ useless.
- astral303 15y ago
  It's a great question and I ask that question all the time. However, unlike the blog writer, I am looking to weed out those that are looking to become managers soon. If you are looking to get a development job as a stepping stone to a management position in 3 years, then you're probably not a software engineer I am looking for. (One of many factors, of course...)
  - Xurinos 15y ago
    This is what I fear. I fear that some hiring manager is going to make a career choice for me. I chose to interview with his company for a specific position, my choice of career path.
- ntkachov 15y ago
  Well, I think it's a bit of loaded question. What do I say? If I reach to high I endanger my own prospects at being hired. A buddy of mine answered the "see yourself in 5 years" question with "Probably working at Google". Needless to say he wasn't hired. If I reach too low I sound like a deadbeat. If I answer with something like "Working at the position you are hiring me for" I sound like I have no vision and no drive. There isn't a right answer to this question. Because the only right answer is "cliche".
  - analyst74 15y ago
    That's funny, I gave similar answer when interviewing with my current company, and I got hired. Turns out it's been the best company I've ever worked for. The question is a test for you, but the answer you give, is also a test for the employer.
asolove 15y ago
(This post is not defending the original article, just discussing this specific comment.) Having never read an HR for Dummies book, and as a pure technical interviewer, I still frequently ask this question. The point is to not think of it as an adversarial question, like I'm going to mark you off for a bad answer. It's simply to know how you want your career to proceed. Do you want to be an expert at some specific part of the programming world, an experienced generalist (consultant?), an architect, a manager or product lead, start your own startup, ... ? This is a very important question for you and your manager to be on the same page about. It helps your manager know how to motivate you and what kinds of work will excite you to move your career forward. And it helps you evaluate via small experiences whether your vision matches up with your skills and what you actually enjoy.
- zalew 15y ago
  I am glad that there are people like you for whom 'running your own company' isn't a bad answer. I think most people are afraid to tell the truth and choose the cliche path about climbing the ladder of success in company X, being afraid of rejection. And to be honest: how many companies out there want someone who tells them right away that experience and money obtained during their job is only to quit on the first moment they feel it's enough to run something on their own?
  - matwood 15y ago
    I am glad that there are people like you for whom 'running your own company' isn't a bad answer. I answered this way in a recent interview (and got the job). The company owners response was "I think working with us will help you learn a lot about starting your own company." At that point I really wanted to work with them. And to be honest: how many companies out there want someone who tells them right away that experience and money obtained during their job is only to quit on the first moment they feel it's enough to run something on their own? Lots of people say it, few do it. It also depends on the job. A job at a small company/startup needs self starters, jack of all trades kind of people. These same people are often the ones who want to do their own thing one day.
  - asolove 15y ago
kls 15y ago
These 'where do you see yourself in 5 years' questions sound like straight from a 'HR for dummies' book. Many of these open ended questions came about from large companies hiring physiologist to help build and identify a profile of an individual that the company would like the hire. Organizations such as the FBI use similar strategies as well. The problem is that many smaller organizations that did not want to spend the money or simply did not know to spend the money on professionals started to emulate the larger companies, but they did not posses the answer keys once they had the answers they just left it up to the interviewer to divine whether it was the right answer or not. Read that last sentence again and then read the definition of a Cargo Cult. you will laugh at the mental image I promise. You see, these interviewing practices are simply the same mentality that created Cargo Cults, somewhere along the way they lost the intelligence and are just emulating the process in ritual and then divining the results.
- zalew 15y ago
  haha, exactly. Mostly that's why I fail to treat these HR questions seriously. In our branch a similar cult would be companies blindly going social - without proper expertise and assets, not knowing what value exactly they want to bring, but it must be social, because everyone big does social. And in the end - they count followers and likes, but are clueless which data and how affects their business.
- Natsu 15y ago
  When asked the stock question "What is your biggest weakness?" I have actually answered it with "Answering standard interview questions." And I still got the job.
triviatise 15y ago
I ask this question to better understand whether we can provide an environment that will be right for the candidate in 5 years. I dont want to hire someone that wont have a shot at achieving their long term goals with us because it wouldnt be fair to them. On the flip side, I just hired a new finance person. I wanted someone who can eventually become a controller then CFO. I have no idea if they are really capable of it, but I want them to at least want it and to have demonstrated some activities to have tried working towards it.

by zalew 15y ago

gk1 15y ago

I'm not from HR, but my guess is that a question like that is for learning whether the candidate is goal-oriented or just goes by living day-to-day. I agree that it's a cliche question, and could be phrased more originally and/or specifically in most cases, but it is not _totallt_ useless.

astral303 15y ago
It's a great question and I ask that question all the time. However, unlike the blog writer, I am looking to weed out those that are looking to become managers soon. If you are looking to get a development job as a stepping stone to a management position in 3 years, then you're probably not a software engineer I am looking for. (One of many factors, of course...)
- Xurinos 15y ago
  This is what I fear. I fear that some hiring manager is going to make a career choice for me. I chose to interview with his company for a specific position, my choice of career path.
ntkachov 15y ago
Well, I think it's a bit of loaded question. What do I say? If I reach to high I endanger my own prospects at being hired. A buddy of mine answered the "see yourself in 5 years" question with "Probably working at Google". Needless to say he wasn't hired. If I reach too low I sound like a deadbeat. If I answer with something like "Working at the position you are hiring me for" I sound like I have no vision and no drive. There isn't a right answer to this question. Because the only right answer is "cliche".
- analyst74 15y ago
  That's funny, I gave similar answer when interviewing with my current company, and I got hired. Turns out it's been the best company I've ever worked for. The question is a test for you, but the answer you give, is also a test for the employer.

asolove 15y ago

(This post is not defending the original article, just discussing this specific comment.) Having never read an HR for Dummies book, and as a pure technical interviewer, I still frequently ask this question. The point is to not think of it as an adversarial question, like I'm going to mark you off for a bad answer. It's simply to know how you want your career to proceed. Do you want to be an expert at some specific part of the programming world, an experienced generalist (consultant?), an architect, a manager or product lead, start your own startup, ... ? This is a very important question for you and your manager to be on the same page about. It helps your manager know how to motivate you and what kinds of work will excite you to move your career forward. And it helps you evaluate via small experiences whether your vision matches up with your skills and what you actually enjoy.

zalew 15y ago
I am glad that there are people like you for whom 'running your own company' isn't a bad answer. I think most people are afraid to tell the truth and choose the cliche path about climbing the ladder of success in company X, being afraid of rejection. And to be honest: how many companies out there want someone who tells them right away that experience and money obtained during their job is only to quit on the first moment they feel it's enough to run something on their own?
- matwood 15y ago
  I am glad that there are people like you for whom 'running your own company' isn't a bad answer. I answered this way in a recent interview (and got the job). The company owners response was "I think working with us will help you learn a lot about starting your own company." At that point I really wanted to work with them. And to be honest: how many companies out there want someone who tells them right away that experience and money obtained during their job is only to quit on the first moment they feel it's enough to run something on their own? Lots of people say it, few do it. It also depends on the job. A job at a small company/startup needs self starters, jack of all trades kind of people. These same people are often the ones who want to do their own thing one day.
- asolove 15y ago

kls 15y ago

These 'where do you see yourself in 5 years' questions sound like straight from a 'HR for dummies' book. Many of these open ended questions came about from large companies hiring physiologist to help build and identify a profile of an individual that the company would like the hire. Organizations such as the FBI use similar strategies as well. The problem is that many smaller organizations that did not want to spend the money or simply did not know to spend the money on professionals started to emulate the larger companies, but they did not posses the answer keys once they had the answers they just left it up to the interviewer to divine whether it was the right answer or not. Read that last sentence again and then read the definition of a Cargo Cult. you will laugh at the mental image I promise. You see, these interviewing practices are simply the same mentality that created Cargo Cults, somewhere along the way they lost the intelligence and are just emulating the process in ritual and then divining the results.

zalew 15y ago
haha, exactly. Mostly that's why I fail to treat these HR questions seriously. In our branch a similar cult would be companies blindly going social - without proper expertise and assets, not knowing what value exactly they want to bring, but it must be social, because everyone big does social. And in the end - they count followers and likes, but are clueless which data and how affects their business.
Natsu 15y ago
When asked the stock question "What is your biggest weakness?" I have actually answered it with "Answering standard interview questions." And I still got the job.

triviatise 15y ago

I ask this question to better understand whether we can provide an environment that will be right for the candidate in 5 years. I dont want to hire someone that wont have a shot at achieving their long term goals with us because it wouldnt be fair to them. On the flip side, I just hired a new finance person. I wanted someone who can eventually become a controller then CFO. I have no idea if they are really capable of it, but I want them to at least want it and to have demonstrated some activities to have tried working towards it.