How To Answer The What Are Your Career Goals Question

How To Answer The What Are Your Career Goals Question When it comes to job interviews, it goes without saying that preparation is key. OK, so youre never going to be able to predict every question but if you can prepare answers for some of the most common job interview questions, youll be able to walk into the interview room knowing that youll be able to answer at least a couple of questions confidentially. Now, weve covered a lot of the most common job interview questions and how to answer them before (you can find these in our Interview Advice section) so today I thought Id look at one weve never looked at before the What are your career goals? question. On first glance, this question looks a bit similar to the Where do see yourself in five years? question but its actually pretty different so you need to tackle it in a completely different way. With the career goals question, the interviewer wants to see how much youve thought about the future direction of your career and what youd like at the end of it and, most importantly, where the job youre applying for fits in. This question is all to do with your long-term aims and ambitions, whereas the five years question is all to do with your shorter term aims. With this question, the interviewer wants to hear that youve got ambition and drive and you have a clear desire to progress along a clear career path, rather than just float through your career moving from one job to another. If youre at the start of your career, the career goals question can be a bit of an overwhelming one because youve probably not really thought about what you want from your career long-term so preparing for this question gives you the perfect chance to take a step back and really consider what you might like to achieve. When considering your career aims, its always a good idea to try and break it down into more sizable chunks and consider what youd like to achieve from each section of your career or job. Think about what youd like to achieve in 5 years (if youre at the start of your career this could be to learn lots and establish yourself within an industry, in 10 years (this might be take up a senior management position) and in 20 years (this could be to become a company director and/or start up your own business). Common career goals can include things like taking up a management position, completing certain training, starting up your own business, doubling your salary within 10 years and becoming a key spokesperson within your industry so its a good idea to bear some of these things in mind when trying to plan out your answer. At the end of the day, there isnt a right or wrong answer because its all to with your personal aims and ambitions that said; its a good idea to try and keep your career goals realistic. So for example, while you might quite fancy yourself as the Prime Minister one day, if you have no interest or history in politics, this might come across as a completely unrealistic career goal and might put the interviewer off. Whatever answer you give, its important to clarify how this role would fit into your long-term career goals and how you see yourself fitting into the company. That said; its important to emphasise that you do really want the role and can bring a lot to it, rather than mentioning that you see this role as a stepping stone for your career. Why? Well Like I said earlier, the right answer will depend on your personal aims and attributes but whatever you come up, be sure to have reasons for why you want to achieve these goals because its highly likely the interviewer will ask so you need to be able to qualify your answers. So there you go; a few things to consider when trying to plan an answer for this tricky question. Think Ive missed anything out? Feel free to leave a comment below