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Sam Davidson is a 26-year-old social entrepreneur. At 
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New here? Employee Evolution is dedicated to helping the Millennial generation answer the hard-hitting questions that come with the biggest transition of our lives. Be sure to visit our about section for the full story. Since you're here, check out our best articles in the archives. We've also put together a list of some Millennial-friendly employers on our jobs page. Any questions? Feel free to contact us.
If you’ve been to a job interview, you been asked it. And if you’ve interviewed someone in a major corporate setting, you’ve probably asked it yourself. Even though it’s answerable, it offers very little insight into a candidate’s ability to complete the task at hand. And yet, it’s become an interview staple in companies and organizations the world over. But it’s time for it to go away. Never again should someone (especially a Millennial) be asked:
When I was 23, freshly moved to a new city right out of college, I sat across from a man in a suit at a Fortune 500 company and heard this question. In my head, I was thinking, “I’ve never thought 10 years into the future – at least not in the concrete way this guy wants me to answer. When I was two, I didn’t think about where I’d be at 12. When I was seven, I didn’t think about what I’d wear to the prom. And even now, I’m less sure than ever of where I’ll be in a decade.”
This is largely due to the fact that up until that point, my life had happened four years at a time. And it’s the same with most people, job-hunting Millennials included. Even though we weren’t as cognitively aware as youngsters, the first four years were spent at home with our parent(s) or in daycare. Then we did a brief stint in kindergarten, followed by grades 1-4 in elementary school. Then it was middle school, which we may or may not have gone to two different places for. After that, we tackled high school, and then spent four (or five) years in college. Thus, for most of us, all of our life’s milestones have happened four years at a time – not 10.
On top of this, we might have moved a lot as one (or both) of our parents climbed the corporate ladder. So, for some of us, we’ve never even lived in the same house for 10 years; no wonder we can’t see ourselves going to work in the same building for that long. And even if we did stay put and even if we attended the same small private school from first grade through graduation, there were still incremental benchmarks, none of which were forecasted 10 years out.
Because of the educational system we grew up in, we were taught how to go from novice to expert in four years. The daunting hallways of 9th grade became friendly confines by senior year. And that gigantic quad our freshman year of college had seemingly shrunk by the time we got our degree. So, we’ve gotten pretty good at learning the ropes and playing the game in the amount of time between Olympics.
Therefore, you need to ask us where we see ourselves in four years. And here’s why:
It’s familiar. We can see things four years out. Sure, things change fast, but even if we transferred schools or fell in and out of love, graduation was always on our mind as an immediately achievable goal.
It’s realistic. Things change quickly. A lot can happen in four years – don’t get us started on 10. We could discover our true passion and calling. We could develop a newfound love for bird watching. We could start a business or a family or become the best badminton player in the state. We need the freedom to take a U-turn, a left turn or to stop. Chances are, we changed our major a few times in college, and that was just in a four-year window. There’s no way we’re going to be the same person in 10.
It’s doable. We can stick with something for four years, if we know we’re working towards something. We’re not going to file meaningless reports for four years, but we will work towards somewhere better than where we started. Remember: we began each four-year cycle not knowing much of anything, but being sure that we’d have a lot figured out soon enough. Allow us than kind of access to knowledge and advancement at the workplace, too.
I don’t remember exactly what my answer was that day. I’m sure I tried to confess my ignorance of the future, while convincing the interviewer that I was right for the job. Nonetheless, when I quit my gig 18 months later, my supervisor told me that I was good at what I did and would be stupid to walk away. He said, “If you just put in 23 more years here, you’ll be sitting pretty and can do whatever you want.” How ludicrous. Why would anyone wait 23 years to do what he or she wants? I had barely even been alive that long.
The first four years out of college can teach anyone just as much (or more) than they learned while in school, if handled well. If you offer a millennial a chance to learn and grow at your company for the next four years, then he or she may then be ready to make that 10-year commitment.
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I’m on the cusp of Gen-Y/Gen-X and I recognize how much the 10-year question sucks.
When I do interviews I usually ask what the person’s ideal job looks like. Sometimes I’ll retreat to a “What career milestones would you like to achieve in the next 5 years?”
I’ve actually found many millenials struggle to answer it for four years too. I’ve found a better way to get at the information I really want is to ask “how does this job fit in with your larger career goals?” That tells me what I’m looking for — is it a placeholder job until the person goes back to school, is it the next rung that will move them forward on a logical career development progression, etc.
Frankly, I don’t ask the “ten years” question of anyone, regardless of generation. I break it down to what I’m actually looking for, which is the question above.
I’m doing the co-op interview rounds right now. And I can thankfully say that no one has yet asked me this questions. In fact, the woman that I interviewed with at the job I’m really hoping I get offered, asked me what I wanted to do with my journalism degree and then looked me in the face and was like, “It’s okay if you don’t know. I still don’t know what I want to do…” Interviewing with her felt like talking to a real person instead of being the target of a barage of pre-written, HR-approved questions.
I’m going on my third interview in 3 days in about 20 minutes. And then even more next week. Let’s hope I get a call soon and this will all be over.
Great article, Sam! As usual. I’m not positive where I will be in 4 years either, and I always answer such questions with, “In whatever opportunities arise, I’d like to make a difference and be in a position of power/influence.” It sounds arrogant and vague, but it must work because I’ve always gotten the job… and it’s the truth!
I like Ask a Manager’s question too.
Sam’s right. The “where do you see yourself . . .” question becomes a dumb one when the time frame given is 10 years, for exactly the reason Sam states. In my experience (now past) of hiring people, while working for a small company that gave me next to no coaching on how to do so, I did find the “Where do you see yourself” question useful in two timeframes, however.
I would always ask them “one year” hoping they would give something along the lines of “still learning the ropes of the job I’m interviewing for right now.” If they thought they would already be promoted to something else, or would be moving on to somewhere else, that showed a lack of commitment to the job I was hiring them for, and unrealistic expectations of what it entailed. A wrong answer here wasn’t a deal-breaker, but it was a definite, and important, minus.
I would also ask them “three years” because by then, they should be expressing some interest in moving up or moving on. While this wasn’t an entry-level job, neither was it one you would expect to make a career out of. Just a good, stepping-stone job to bigger and better things. The “right fit” employee was one with some ambition and aggressiveness. We didn’t want any dead wood.
But 10 years? Good God, what was the guy hoping to hear?
I normally use the 5 year marker and you can ask it many ways. If the interviewee has to have you spell it out by how does this fit into your larger career goals instead of where do you see yourself in 5 years then that is someone that I hope I am not interviewing for a job that has some undefined parameters assigned to it. It is the same question asked differently. The longer term question - 10 years - is more a career couseling question I use with employees and it normally goes where do you see yourself in the future.
To the original post - if you as a potential employee have to be asked in 4 years blocks and you can’t forecast out any beyond that - then you as a potential employee have a problem with any professional position I have available and to somehow suggest gen x and Y can’t contemplate themselves in various time frame is either a crutch or an indictment of them. OK - ten years to a kid fresh out of school is probably pretty steep - but to move from that reasonable thought to what has also been thrown up there is problematic.
With the change in employment expectations I realize much as changed from the employee’s perspective as well. But the young don’t know as much as they think - and there are industries that take a long time to develop expertise. Some work can lend itself to project freelancers - but some of it needs be done by people who would like to stay in that profession and company for awhile.
I think each generation has alot of overgeneralizations attached to them which are unfair and not as accurate as people think. Thinking that we have to deal with young adults as if they do not have the ability to think beyond a fixed time frame or that they all have the attention span of about 2 minutes or that they need constant stimulation just isn’t right. Because if that is true, employers will eventually figure out that the college degree, which is now a screening tool to get you through the door, should be a block to many jobs which they need done.
Great post. I totally agree with the 4 year plan. Since I was 14 I can clearly point to major shifts every 4 years - 14, 18, 22 and 26. 10 years is too much of a leap. In ten years I’ll be thinking about turning 40! That seems unimaginable at all of 28.
I will say that the personality/behavioral interview questions are even less desirable than the 10 year plan:
“You can have lunch with 3 famous people. Who are they and why?” (Oh great - this is clearly going to point out some major personality flaw…)
“What was the last book you read?” (I’m in IT, is this important?)
“If you were a fruit, what fruit would you be?” (K, this is a joke, but I actually had an interview where had they asked this question I would not have been shocked)
Interesting point. It’s true that four years is both comfortable and doable. That’s exactly why I stretch it a little and go for five. That’s the question I ask when interviewing candidates.
From the perspective of the interviewer’s chair, you want to know that the person can think ahead somewhat beyond their comfort zone. You have to realize that interviewing isn’t just to serve the candidate. Soft pitch questions just aren’t that valuable in making a hire decision - unless you totally flunk those. As an employer, I want to ask challenging questions to how you handle them.
The question behind this question is whether or not you can have a vision for something, because that’s a critical skill for pretty much any job. Employers want to know you can think a little outside your comfort zone. They want to see how you respond on the fly about something that should be important to you (ie your career). It’s not solely something to tell the employer where you are going, but also something that tells them your ability to think and stretch yourself.
I’m not a fan of the 4, 5, or 10 year question, however we all need to understand why it can be important in business. Business leaders do look 10 years out, it’s important for them to have one eye on the future and not just in the here and now.
I agree most millenials (or any college grad) are not in the habit of thinking in these terms, but if we’re looking for success in business we need to start. I don’t think most interviewers are looking for anything specific, just that you can show an eye towards the bigger picture. As we move through our careers it’s important to begin planning for the future both from a career and a life perspective.
I read somewhere that most business aren’t even around for 21 years and a business looking ten years out at anything more than demographics doesn’t much happen. A five-year plan is about the most a business can go because too much stuff changes.
I suppose the 10-year question is really asking if you have thought about your career and where you want to be, but at a Gen-Y age, all you can do is provide pretty standard responses….”I want progressively larger challenges and then begin to manage people” or some such thing.
If someone 10-years ago would have told me that I would leave my career in the Bell system, get laid off at the next company I work for, then work in a completely unrelated business, get re-married and move 1700 miles to a state I had never been to….well, I would have laughed at them to their face.
I feel fortunate if I can see where I will be six months from now. Quarterly earning targets by companies…quarterly goals by their employees.
I agree, it’s a worthless interview question.
Great post, and great comments.
I’ll try not to repeat too much here, because the issue to me isn’t whether or not I can answer the questions, it’s how accurate the answer is going to be. Obviously length of time forecasted and accuracy are inversely proportionate. That’s really all it comes down to. If you want an answer 10 years, I can give it to you, but it might only have a 1 in 5 chance coming true. Obviously I can answer a 4 year questions and it’ll probably have a 3 in 5 chance. So it really depends on what is worthwhile to the interviewer. If 1 in 5 is worthwhile (and I can’t see how/why it would be) then sure, ask the question.
When I sat down almost a year ago to the day, I was asked where I saw myself in 5 years. I had just moved to a new city (one I’d only been to a few times) and somewhere where I had very little ties, and was trying to get into an industry I had no experience in. I was honest in my answer, that I really wanted to instead focus on learning the industry, gaining experience, and with my history, they knew management skills wouldn’t be a problem.
These are all great comments! I love the collective wisdom of the community, and feel like whether you’re being asked questions or you’re the one doing the asking, we can all learn from each other.
Yes, it’s important to ask about th future, and perhaps even more important to be thinking about it.
The next question is, “How can Millennials plan for their future in a way that is honest to who they are, but also gives them an advantage in an interview?”
Thanks for the post, Sam. This is some great discussion.
As for your last question about planning for the future, I think the best answer is the honest one. First off, we need to figure out what our future dream job or career would be right now. If you know this you can honestly tell an employer something like
“When looking into the future at this point, my ultimate goal is to be a successful entrepreneur. That being said, I don’t have any concrete plans and I take my life and career as it comes.”
If an interviewer is to naive to understand that you’re probably not going to be there in 10 years, you don’t want to work for them anyway.
Just my two cents….
-Ryan
Sam, I certainly get your point, and I like Ask a Manager’s version of the question better (“how does this job fit in with your larger career goals?”). But I have to admit that I’ve asked the 10 year question before, and I will ask it again. I don’t know what other interviewers are after, but when I ask the 10 year question, I’m not trying to underhandedly get the candidate to somehow commit to staying with my company for 10 years, which is the tone I’m reading from your post and from several of the responses. What I want to know is simpler than that. What are your longer-term career goals, whether with my company or some other? Do you see yourself managing projects or project teams or a staff? Is there additional education you’re striving to achieve? If I wanted to know about your immediate future, I’d ask the 4 year question you recommend, but that’s not what I’m after
One of the best responses was from a woman I interviewed last year. I asked her where she saw herself in 10 years, to which she bullet-pointed for me a few key items (just 2 or 3 but with remarkable detail), and at the end she said, “and I sure hope I’ll still be working here when I achieve all that.” That’s a very fair statement, and it puts the onus on me to support her goals if I want to keep her, by providing opportunities and training.
At 2 you may not have thought about what your life would be like when you turned 12, but Sam, you’re not 2 anymore. At 20-whatever, it isn’t unreasonable for you to have thought about what your life and career might be like when you’re 30-whatever. To decide that you are incapable of thinking that far ahead is unfair to you and unfair to the person conducting the interview.
I’ve engaged in turnabout on the 10-year question by asking my interviewer where he or she sees the company being in 10 years. Sometimes the response has been “Ah…*smirk* well we’re poised for growth blah blah blah.” But I have garnered a few “Good question. We’d like to position ourselves as this, that or the other.”
If what you believe what you read on some Gen-Y sites, you’re interviewing the company as much as they’re interviewing you. If you don’t like what they think they’ll be doing in 10 years you have just as much right to turn them down.
Again, all great thoughts here.
The best answer I’ve heard so far has been from my friend Adam, who is a little quick on his feet at times. When someone asked him this question, he answered:
“Celebrating the 10-year anniversary of you asking me this question.”
All silliness aside, there are better and more authentic ways to ask about someone’s long term career goals, if they have them. Again, many recent grads may have far-off ideas about what they want to do in a decade, but they lack concreteness. And they should.
The first four years out of college should be as exploratory as the four (or five) years in it. If your company can provide that exploration as 20-somethings search for the skills, talents, and work they find most meaningful, you’ll keep them for longer. If you just want them to conform to a job description while you wait for them to get married a start a family, people will run as far away from you as they can.
Having a child (or children) changes the way you hear this question.
When we’re young and dreaming about days of independence, eagerly awaiting college and the beyond, it’s fun to *imagine* what life will be when we’re all grown up. My 13-year-old self might be disappointed in me that I’m not, in fact, an architect or famous actor of stage and screen.
As we age, those future dreams start to take a more concrete shape because we need to start doing something in order to achieve those dreams. Graduate high school. Find a college perhaps. Learn a trade. Buy a guitar. Whatever it is, we can’t just sit an imagine it any longer. We have to take action. As such, we’re able to think out only so far. And it’s likely not 10 years into the beyond. So much can change, and frankly, we’re kind of hopeful that it does.
But once you add a child into the mix, the ability to think about your future self can really change. No longer is it as imperative what you see yourself doing, being, making, knowing, etc. in the near-term future. Instead, you begin to think about your kids future as the important factor in the “next 4 years/next 10 years” equation and whatever it is that ensures their happiness, educational opportunities, health, etc. drives the answer to the question. Whether you’re a 23-year-old single parent or a 36-year-old parent of triplets, the idea of a “singular future” dissolves and one is more willing to commit an answer to the hard-to-answer question Sam writes about above.
If I walked into a job interview tomorrow, and was asked “Stephen, where do you see yourself in 10 years?” I’d be comfortable in knowing that while I had no idea as far as my career goes, I’m certainly looking forward to taking my 13-year-old to dance class or soccer practice or play rehearsal. Of that much I’m certain.
It’s interesting to hear what managers are looking for when they ask this question.
Here’s a wild idea: Why not just ASK the interviewee what you want to know?
Ask them if they want to manage teams. Ask them what they want additional education. Ask them if they want to be CEO.
If you are just interested in their career goals, then ASK “What are your career goals?”
If you want to know if they will stay with your company, then ASK “How long do you plan on staying here?”. You might not get a honest answer, but then again, that might lead into a discussion of expecations on both sides.
JUST ASK!
Being vague never helped anyone.
when i worked in computer companies i was often asked this stupid 10year question. later i found out the reason why. after 37 interviews the co. had already picked the canditate cos thats the rule they use,after 37 people being interviewed, the person they are looking for is among the 37. as for rest ask them any stupid questions. regards pat
Scott M: I appreciate your point. To clarify, I’m usually not looking for specific answers when I ask the 10 year question; the questions I noted were just examples of the kinds of things I have my ear out for. As you point out, if I’m looking for the specific answer, I’ll ask the specific question. But with the 10 year question, it’s less about facts and data and more about the relevant intangibles: personality type, optimisim, knowledge of the industry. As Erin correctly points out, in an interview, we’re getting a feel for each other to see whether we might make a good fit. These kinds of “vague” questions help me determine the answer.
I describe them as “relevant” intangibles because what I don’t like and will never encourage are those ridiculous off-topic “monkey wrench” questions that I understand are also supposed to help me understand personality type, etc.: if you were an ice cream flavor, what kind would you be, and why? If you were a pair of socks, would you be tube socks, argyle socks, or the kind with those little puffs on the ankle, and why? How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop? And why? (I’ve heard them all.)
Sam,
The 10-year question is a worthless one. Really, who but a few of us really thinks that far into the future with any specificity? And if one genuinely wants to learn about a person’s intangibles: optimism, personality characteristics, conceptualizing…just ask “Tell me what you hope the future holds for you” or a variation of that.
I’ve been consulting to companies for 30 years and usually find it useful to ask things like “What do you hope/believe that you can bring to Company x? Have you done anything similar in your life/career so far ?(depending upon age and experience)
You get the idea.
I’m a Boomer and just have to share my all-time fave interview question. At an initial job interview with the President of a financial services firm, he invited me sit (normal enough). Then, he looked at me and said, “So, how much weed do you smoke?” I laughed, figuring he was trying to be funny and lighten up the atmosphere. He got ticked off because I laughed, became stern, and asked the question again in the most serious, trying-to-intimidate manner.
What did I do? Stood up, excused myself, and went home. Still trying to figure out the deep meaning behind his question and how it related to financial services. My conclusion? He was a bona fide jerk. (So maybe the 10-year question isn’t so bad after all!).
When it comes to interviewing, do whatever is going to create the most relaxing atmosphere for an in depth discussion about what is important to both people. That’s where the magic lies.
Good topic!
Even more important than what the manager asks you is often times what you ask them. If they ask where you see yourself in ten years, whether you think about it or not, it often depends heavily on what the company’s strategy is and where it’s product’s are in their lifecycles. Here are a couple the questions that Dan suggests you ask the interviewer that can at least help when you have to answer the 10 year question.
1. How will my performance be judged? How will I know if I am getting better, staying the same or getting worse? what can I do to establish myself as a top performer?
2. Where is your industry/product in its lifecycle? Are we currently innovating, or are we supporting something on its tail end?
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This question is right up there with “What’s your biggest strength/weakness.” The biggest problem with the “Where do you see yourself” question is that none of us (excluding a few psychics) know where we will be in a few years or if the company will still want to have us. I know a lot of companies are looking to hire “future leaders”…I get it. But for most of us, any response will just be an educated guess.
When asked where you see yourself in 4 or even 10 years, an effective response can begin with “Ideally with you.” The company wants to hear you’re not going to bolt after they spend a ton of money getting you up to speed and the “ideally” takes into account either party may decide to go their separate ways.
The biggest problem with the “Where do you see yourself” question is that none of us (excluding a few psychics) know where we will be in a few years …
I believe this speaks to the fundamental misunderstanding here. I don’t think anyone expects you to answer this question with perfect accuracy or even any accuracy, necessarily. Nobody is going to follow you over the next decade to make sure you keep doing what you said you’d do. What we’re looking for is some evidence of a goal or a plan. The only real way to answer this question “wrong” is to decide ahead of time that you can’t answer it and not to even try.
When I’ve asked this question, an educated guess is what I’m looking for; what else can I expect? Questions like this shouldn’t befuddle anybody unless you really haven’t bothered to give it any thought, which, to me, is also very telling.
This “fundamental misunderstanding” is the fault of the manager asking the question, not the job candidate. I’ll say it again; Why not actually ask what you want to know?
If you’re looking for “some evidence of a goal or plan” then ASK “What are your career goals and plans?” You see? It’s straightforward and unambiguous. It clearly states what you want to know. There’s no interviewing code language to decipher.
By being vague, you are doing yourself a disservice. A job candidate is going to respect a hiring manager who talks straight and doesn’t make the candidate guess about the true meaning of his questions. Perhaps this kind of question will be a black mark against you in the candidate’s mind. He may think “If this employer asks such silly questions, do I really want to work here?” Of course, I’m exaggerating. But why take the chance?
And if you are just trying to get a ‘feel’ for the candidate, do it though small talk, not vague questions like these.
Unless you’re looking for an employee who can shovel a lot of BS. Then go right ahead and ask away!
Scott M, we’re starting to go around and around. Again, I really do get your point, but I think you and others may still be misunderstanding the intention of the question. If I asked you about your goals and plans, you’d tell me about your goals and plans, and that would be the end of the discussion. If I asked you a question like, “where do you see yourself in 10 years?”, you might tell me about your goals and plans, or you might tell me about your interest in teleworking, or educational opportunities you plan to pursue and complete. You call the question “vague,” and I call it “open ended.”
My real concern is that some folks decide a question like this is impossible to answer. It shouldn’t be. Are people really going to interviews without having given any thought to where the position or their careers might lead?
I’ve been in recruiting for 30 years…all levels, Accounting/Finance, Legal, Management, mostly IT…and can’t remember when I’ve asked either the 10 or 4 year question…neither make any sense to me.
These days, particularly with younger candidates I’m more interested in being sure: that the job is understood and of interest, this includes content, environment, schedules, work options; that a learning curve is made available, or maybe multiple options; that the job is challenging and viewed as creative; that, assuming the above are real, then you will be willing to commit to staying 2 years or more (used to be 5 yrs)…and why that kind of committment is appropriate (ie ROI…).
I’ll concede the point about the difference of opinion between “vague” and “open-ended”.
Now, do people give some thought to the direction of their careers? Yes.
However, do they necessarily want to share this speculation with the key gate-keeper to the job that is going to put food on their table in the coming year? Especially someone who asks “open-ended” questions where they aren’t really sure what the interviewer is looking for, and a ‘wrong’ answer could slam the door on their opportunity? Eh, I don’t think so.