What are your professional goals for the next five years?
Jeff Bezos once hired an employee he was interviewing after only asking her two questions. One of the questions he asked was what her career goals were. She answered that she wanted to be surrounded by ambitious and passionate people to learn from. One of Amazon's Leadership Principles is to 'Learn and Be Curious.' Leaders are never done learning and consistently seek to improve themselves. They are curious about new possibilities and act to explore them. Describe your professional goals in the next five years, including educational advancement, leadership development, and personal development.
"My professional goals over the next five years include obtaining my master's degree in innovative leadership and putting the new skills I will learn to use with your company. After I gain a few years of experience within the company, I would like to advance to the Senior Continuous Improvement Expert position."
"I would like to move through the rank in management, being provided many opportunities to showcase my talents and hopefully catch the eye of senior management. I would eventually like to be on a first-name basis with Jeff Bezos and Andy Jassy."
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
I am focused on improving my leadership skills so I could grow into a Lead / Manager position in the next couple of years. On the education side, I am looking into specializing even further on HR Management topics throughout a Master's program at a Belgian University.
Amanda's Feedback
I see where you're going here. Make your response even clearer by talking about the specific actions you're taking to improve your leadership skills such as advanced training, mentoring others, or taking on new responsibilities or challenges. If possible, you can also share the timeline for starting and/or completing the HR management master's program.
