"Where do you see yourself five years from now?" Who else breaks into a cold sweat... - Page 2

Momzie · 11-09-2012, 08:41 AM

It may be that this question is more useful in terms of ruling out people who give bizarre answers than it is for anything else. (For example, you might find someone admitting that they're only going to college to meet a husband or something who might answer something like "I hope to be married and hanging up curtains in my house.")

lmkh70 · 11-09-2012, 10:12 AM

I had definitely knew exactly where I saw myself in 5 yrs back when I was 17 yrs old. Of course, when I was 22 yrs old, I was no where near where I saw myself at 17 yrs old.

Just make something up that sounds good and let it go. I am 42 now and have no clue where I will be at 47. I will see where life takes me. Hopefully, it will be good. Life is a journey. And excessive planning ruins lives. When the plans do not work out, many people do a tail spin and feel less satisfied with life. I think it is good to have a general direction, but be open to changes and go with the surprises life throws at you.

But for a college interview, I just tell my children to say stuff like graduated and employed type answers....or going to grad school...stuff like that.

3togo · 11-09-2012, 10:38 AM

Quote:

then why do interviewers ask this useless question?

Wow ... I've been very surprised by most of the answers in this thread. As an alumni interviewer for my school I really like this question. On CC there are about 1000 threads complaining about holistic admissions and essentially advocating for some form of quantitative admissions based on GPAs and SATs. As an interviewer well over 75% of the applicants were very qualified for the school and lining the applicants by the numbers would have been just about the worst way to rank the applicants. In my experience, the applicants with "it" typically had a strong an energetic answer to a question about where they would be in 5 years. I did not say they knew exactly where they want to be but they had strong feelings about next steps, the direction in which they are headed, a couple possibilities, or some passionate statement of what's next. To be honest when I read a student say they have no idea how to answer this question I think they probably are not one of students top school want to pull out of the huge pile of qualified students.

ThisMortalSoil · 11-09-2012, 03:12 PM

Guarantee 70% of those students end up not doing whatever it is they say they'll be doing five years from now.

spectastic · 11-09-2012, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Wow ... I've been very surprised by most of the answers in this thread. As an alumni interviewer for my school I really like this question. On CC there are about 1000 threads complaining about holistic admissions and essentially advocating for some form of quantitative admissions based on GPAs and SATs. As an interviewer well over 75% of the applicants were very qualified for the school and lining the applicants by the numbers would have been just about the worst way to rank the applicants. In my experience, the applicants with "it" typically had a strong an energetic answer to a question about where they would be in 5 years. I did not say they knew exactly where they want to be but they had strong feelings about next steps, the direction in which they are headed, a couple possibilities, or some passionate statement of what's next. To be honest when I read a student say they have no idea how to answer this question I think they probably are not one of students top school want to pull out of the huge pile of qualified students.

you are not addressing what the students will be ACTUALLY be doing in 5 years; you are addressing whether or not they can speak with confidence and conviction. They are two totally different things. If I were a good liar, I would say whatever it is that you want to hear in a good applicant. But the truth is people's lives are boring; they just want a job, or they just want to be happy. Sure, some people today had a 5 year plan, and are living it, but most people who had those plans probably reflect upon those plans as naive and uninformed. Then again, only a dimwit would truly admit that in a formal interview. It's all about how you present yourself, not about who you actually are. That's why I think most of these interview questions are dumb. You're talking to new college graduates, not people who have 5+ years experience in the field. Ask the questions that are commensurate to our level of experiences!

marvin100 · 11-09-2012, 10:36 PM

The best answer to this question I've ever heard:

I see myself celebrating the five-year anniversary of you asking me that question.

Philovitist · 11-09-2012, 11:23 PM

meh kind of long-winded and then why would the anniversary be celebrated and yeah

3togo · 11-10-2012, 06:46 AM

Quote:

you are not addressing what the students will be ACTUALLY be doing in 5 years; you are addressing whether or not they can speak with confidence and conviction. They are two totally different things. If I were a good liar, I would say whatever it is that you want to hear in a good applicant

Still totally disagree.

I interviewed about 100 applicants and about 10 had "it" and it came through on this question and other questions. Among the applicant pool there are applicants who are not living boring lives and checking off boxes they think schools want to see. I did not say they had definite plan ... I said they had a great answer to the question.

These kids all had something about which they were very excited and the natural and honest answer to this question will come back to their interest/passion. The incredible shy and introverted math/science geek who came alive when talking about chemistry and how he wanted to do something that involved chemistry ... the social activist who knew they wanted to do social support work in a 3rd world country when they graduated although they had no idea about where or what cause ... etc. Could they have been faking ... I guess so ... but I'd bet big bucks they were not faking ... to me all the top applicants lit up when we hit the right topic (even if they had been flat until then). For me the top applicants were pretty obvious and had NO problem answering question like this ... that internal drive in a direction is one of things that sets them apart.

There are two possible errors while interviewing. I doubt many of these folks were faking interest that was not real. That said the other error may have occured ... kids who had a lot to offer who did not show that to me at the interview.

PS - Of the 10 applicants I thought had "it" 9 of 10 got in ... and the one who didn't I knew was at risk because of really low SATs ... given the school had about a 25% acceptance rate when I was interviewing what I saw in interviews came through in their overall application package.

spectastic · 11-10-2012, 07:03 PM

all I'm saying is instead of asking "where do you see yourself 5 years from now"

ask "what are you passionate about" "what do you want to achieve in college" "what made you develop these interests?"

this is much more open ended, and allows the students more opportunity to open up. Saying that students fake answers is a stretch, but there are students who have had the resources to be developed and coached beyond their years, while others aren't so fortunate. They knew what to say before you even asked the questions. On the other hand, most of these kids probably never had an interview before, and they are sure to stumble if you ask them a loaded question that requires a lot of experience, as well as self-reflection. those wily ones who can think on their feet might be able to come up with something clever, but I doubt it would be the same answer after they chew on the question for a while.

rbouwens · 11-11-2012, 12:28 AM

I will end up either

A: living in my parents' house with no job
B: slaving away for a graduate degree at a crappy school
C: working at Micky D's
D: Living in a box

My future doesn't look too bright. Oh, well....

wwlink · 11-11-2012, 12:30 AM

I think that "HR" person might have just wanted to give you guys a bad time, since the whole thread so far has been discussing how they dislike that question.

While having some sense of goals is a very positive thing, if I was interviewing someone and they gave rather vivid details of where exactly they'd be in 5 years, I'd be pretty worried about their expectations and how they'd react if things stopped going to plan.

SerenityJade · 11-11-2012, 10:52 AM

This thread reminds me of a news story where a girl said in her Valedictorian speech that people always ask her what she wanted to do with her life giving the response "How the hell do I know?" The school tried to hold her diploma until she apologized...

Oklahoma Valedictorian Denied Diploma After Using 'Hell' in Her Speech - ABC News

ThisMortalSoil · 11-11-2012, 11:01 AM

lol, classic Oklahoma.

Philovitist · 11-11-2012, 12:10 PM

Not that I was applying to an Oklahoma college before, but...

SinkOrSwim123 · 11-11-2012, 10:56 PM

i can't even see myself a semester from now ):