What are your professional goals for the next five years?

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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.

"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."

"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."

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.

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Anonymous Answer

"Five years is a very long time period and the world is in a very rapid process of change, so it would not be right for me to give a clear answer to this question, but I would like to see myself as a respected manager in the next five years."

Amanda's Feedback

Employers often ask this question auto gain a clearer insight into your future goals and how those goals match up with the position you're applying for. While you may not know exactly where you see yourself in 5 years, can help ensure a productive interview. However, it doesn't mean you have to name a particular role you want to be in. It could be as simple as naming skills you want to gain, the path you see yourself taking to becoming a respected manager (Is there another role you need to advance to first?), naming a particular committee or project you'd like to work on, or talking about any additional training or certifications you'd like to earn that would help further your career. Where possible, draw connections between your career goals and the skills or traits required by the job description for the role you're applying to.

Anonymous Answer

"I want to further polish my go-to-market (GTM) skills and progress to become the GTM leader for the APAC region."

Marcie's Feedback

Awesome. Can you talk more about why this is your goal? What about becoming the GTM leader for the APAC region appeals to you? What do you enjoy about being involved in the GTM aspect of a business? Also, don't forget to reiterate why you can only achieve this goal of yours at Amazon (and not at another company).

Anonymous Answer

"To expand my horizons. To learn and be curious. To think big and expand my ecosystem. Become a leader again."

Marcie's Feedback

While your goals sound neat, they sound a bit rhetorical. Can you also include some goals that are more concrete by nature? Like, what job title are you aspiring to within the next five years? Do you have the goal of growing within the same company during the next five years? Are you planning to take any specific courses in order to expand your horizons and learn? Do you want to manage a large team again and why? Avoid sounding vague. Being specific will show the interviewer that you're truly dedicated to these goals. Good job!

Anonymous Answer

"Over the next five years, I would like to see myself develop as a successful technical leader with a track record of building long-term trust relationships, leading by example (principles), and giving back to the community. Measurable achievements could include number of public speaking engagements, number of customer contract renewals, happy memories, and friendships."

Marcie's Feedback

Awesome! These are great professional goals that you have set for yourself, and the interviewer will no doubt be impressed. Mentioning relationship building, leading by example, and giving back to the community are all positives, as is listing the ways in which you plan to measure your progress in this area. Great answer!