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Mastering The ‘Where do you see yourself in 5 years?’ question

Article Date | 11 October, 2024
By Harvey Mehmi, Careers and Employability Officer, LSST Birmingham
 

To ensure students at LSST have the best chances to progress onto the next chapter of their journey they must be able to ensure they are showcasing all their potential and what they want to achieve as their long-term goal. Understanding how to answer questions that can so easily be steered in the wrong direction when you don’t understand yourself as an individual. Yes, this means understanding your strengths and weaknesses and showcasing your ambition as a potential candidate. Questions like ‘Where do you see yourself in 5 years?’ is an example of a question that an employer asks to gain more of an insight to what your drive is, understanding what is your passion and how you want this to be shaped for your future.

 

‘Where do you see yourself in 5 years?’ 

This is a question that employers may ask you during the interview, this is not a question that is asked so that you can inform them of the next fancy holiday that you want to book or that you want to be the richest person on the planet (even if it is true). This is a question that enables you to showcase your ambition professionally. What are your next steps in your career? What is your drive and passion? Are you someone that wants to be able to lead a team? Do you enjoy analysing information, data, numbers and statistics to implement changes to increase performance? What are your career goals? This is your time to shine and present this to your future employer. This enables the employer to see if your future goals can be aligned with what the company can provide!

Understanding yourself!

Answering this question is down to understanding yourself as a person and how you want to move forward in your role and, more importantly, understanding your key strengths. What comes to you so naturally that you don’t even have to think about it? Do your team members naturally gravitate to you when they are in need of support? If so, this means you have natural leadership skills! Are you keen to take on extra responsibility to move into management? If so, do you have a plan of where you can potentially see yourself in the next 5 years!

An example of how you could answer this could be as simple as highlighting your 2-3 key strengths and summarising them with a long-term goal of where you want to take these key strengths into your next career goal. For example:

‘In the next 5 years, I want to see myself being a valued member of this organisation. I see myself being an excellent team player supporting my co-members, and overcoming challenges as I am someone that individuals naturally draw to when in time of need and support. I would like to be someone who can help provide an appropriate solution for any challenges within this organisation as I am always seeking new ways to resolve problems to enhance performance. I can see myself using these skills to develop my leadership skills and take on extra responsibilities within the organisation to push myself out of my comfort zone. I see myself doing further training and seizing every opportunity as I aspire to move into a senior position within this organisation if given the chance to do so.’

 

This example has outlined key strengths, being a team player and supporting co-members while also being able to effectively problem solve to enhance the company’s performance. This has been summarised by the long-term goal of where this person would like to see themselves. It shows ambition, self-awareness, key strengths and skills of what it is you want to achieve out of your current situation and your next steps in what your future may hold. Employers want to see what your drive is, if you are an ambitious individual and whether you understand yourself in all of this. Additionally, how can the organisation play a part in supporting this dream of yours?

What to take away:

> “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” is not a trick question, it is about telling the employer about your goals.

> Ensure you understand what your strengths are, these strengths are the reason behind your next career step and why you can see yourself in that position in the next 5 years!

> Ensure you are keeping the answer strictly to your professional goals!

> This shows character and the employer will be able to see instantly what type of individual you are based on your response, your character will show through what you say.

> Show proactivity and mention skills that you would want to learn as you are keen to enhance your current skillset.

 

Book in with your LSST Careers Officer now to practice answering this question and others to help you ace your next interview!You can book your appointment via Handshake here: https://app.joinhandshake.co.uk/edu/appointments/new

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