Ok. I just have to vent. I hate the interview question – “Where do you see yourself in five years?”
In addition to being a lazy question, it is just a ridiculous one. I’ve never had an answer about my career, and if I did, more than anything it would have limited me. I am not talking about lawyers or accountants, for whom this may be an appropriate (albeit obvious) question if they are on the partner track. But for most of us, careers are not developed on an obvious, straight line trajectory.
What could I have really answered?
When I was 30, I could only easily and honestly have answered that I wanted to meet my life partner in the next 5 years, have a child and make more money. Any other answer would have been folly.
I could not have anticipated that within a year I would have met a mentor/supporter that would offer me the chance to work on the new issue of climate change in the wake of the newly installed Clinton Administration. Climate change was a vast and as yet not well understood multidisciplinary field … bringing together science, technology, economics, and diplomacy. There are few people that could have given this as an answer prior to 1992 (the year of the Earth Summit in Rio)!
I raise this to give you permission to think differently about this question. Rather than a lazy HR person’s question, use it to think about your life.
[Right now, we’re all focused on the sudden and drastic changes to our lives. Please try to remember how you would have answered these questions even a week ago or whether you now have a new perspective.]
Do you want to find a spouse, buy a house, have children, develop a hobby, move, volunteer more, develop a skill? What aspect of your current job do you like and want to expand? Can you live with the dreary but often necessary parts of your job? Are you developing skills that will help you along the path you’re on, regardless of whether you like this aspect of your job?
The Unexpected Job Skill
I once held a job in a budget and analysis office that required developing annual Congressional budget requests. Lucky for me, I did this for the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Wind Technologies office, so I loved the content and the people that I worked with. I wasn’t enamored with developing budget language or going through the motions of changing text and formats based on the whims of our DOE and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) masters. However, I came to understand that the budget is THE most important policy document in government, as it’s almost impossible to make an impact without funding.
Understanding the sausage making of developing budgets – and knowing how to read them, analyze them and research old budgets – came to be very powerful at later points of my career. In fact, in more recent years, I was able to challenge a superior’s funding decision about a large project I was working on. Because I knew what Congressional intent had been from reading several year’s worth of federal budget and Congressional passback language, this very worthy project ended up being fully funded.
What I originally thought of as daunting was not nearly so once I got into it. This was a big lesson to me. This job was not in any way a favorite post, but it was key to being strategic and effective down the road. It also gave me a huge appreciation for the folks that worked in this area, including those involved in executing and processing current year budgets. Knowing these folks and who to ask for help was invaluable down the line.
The Evolving Career
It is always hard to know when to jump ship vs just dealing with the mundane or unsatisfying aspects on one’s job. Rather than freak out when you’re stuck doing an aspect of your job that you don’t like, consider whether it is building necessary skills. Are there ways to widen your perspective and make it more interesting? Or are there ways to learn new things or meet new people, once we’re allowed to go back to normal life?
Connecting Once We get to the Post-Coronavirus Age
What about attending brown bag lunches with interesting speakers? If you’re really feeling stuck, find folks you like to go to lunch or coffee, or take a walk, with. Start talking to the person on the next machine at the gym. Expand your horizons. You never know where these efforts will lead, but at least you’ll make your day that much more pleasant.
So, if you’re really asked this question in an interview, answer it with what skills you’d like to build, the impact you hope to have or the challenges you hope to conquer. For my example above, while I could not have anticipated the climate change policy job I would soon have, I could have answered that I wanted to work to stop the “global warming” issue that was starting to percolate. [Actually, that’s exactly what happened with my first interview at DOE – to be covered in a later blog.]
I also would never have said I wanted to work on budgets. Yet, being roped into a budget role would ultimately be a big benefit.
Careers evolve for most of us in ways we could not have predicted. If you’re antsy, it’s more important to evaluate – every quarter or so – what is working for you and what isn’t. I recommend this not to continually question how you are doing in your job but to give yourself credit for where you are and the small, less intimidating steps you may need to achieve the next step (or goal).
While we should all think about and be intentional about the skills we need to cultivate, I hope we use this “five-year” question to think about our lives beyond simply our jobs. Also, please reconsider working in an organization that would have someone asking such a lazy question.
As we all have to hunker down for the next few weeks, please take time to reassess and maybe recalibrate your views about your daily life. Appreciate what you have, take a walk if you can easily leave your home, and most of all — be humane to yourself and others. Be safe and stay healthy!
Recommended article about really unique and revealing interview questions:
“After Giving 1,000 Interviews, I found the 4 Questions that Actually Matter,” by David Walker https://www.inc.com/david-walker/after-giving-1000-interviews-i-found-the-4-questions-that-actually-matter.html?cid=search
I found these helpful to provide some good perspective for getting through this pandemic:
https://gretchenrubin.com/2020/03/10-tips-for-staying-calm-during-coronavirus/
What book have you read that impacted your life the most, and it what ways!!
Love this question. For me — Outwitting History. Shows how one person can save an entire culture – unwittingly. Michael, I would love to know how you’d answer that.
Thanks Linda – a super presentation of very important insights about the career journey. My career has also taken me to some very unexpected roles and I am now looking for new challenges. Even though meeting for coffee is not available for the time being, I’m making an effort to call or Skype a couple of people every day.
Another insightful blog entry! I must say I’ve asked the 5 year question many times…I love the suggestions from David Walker, I’ll use those next time!
Great thanks – important perspectives that I shared with my three daughters!
Being in the early-ish stages of my third career—acting—I found your insights and recommendations right on point. As for finding ways to connect while we manage through the coronavirus, all 14 members of my acting class used Zoom and discovered that it was even better than in-person classes and mid-week conversations with classmates. Keep sharing, Linda.
Recognize that it is always hard to move to a position that you don’t know much about from a position that you are knowledgable about. But every time I jumped, I found that it was clearly worth it!
Linda, I’m really enjoying your blog. You are a wonderful writer!