Is it okay to not know where you see yourself in 5 years?
How to answer the question, "where do you see yourself in 5 years?" when all you want is a paycheck & to spend time with your kids.
Good morning. Today we’re talking about how to *not* move up in your career! I love the wide range of questions you guys send me, they’re so relatable. Keep them coming! I also had a great time picking pics for this one. Let’s go:
Hi Aleen,
Thoughts on hating the whole “whats your goal/what are you interested in” when discussing career growth at work. Some backstory to why I mostly hate this question is that I had my first child very young and I’ve never really had the opportunity to be choosy when it comes to my jobs. I immediately had to stop going to school and support myself, so in that way, I’ve always just sought jobs that paid enough and also had a good schedule for my daughter. I’m at a different place in my life now where I’m more stable and can be choosy, but I still have this mentality of I just want to make money and feel stable and be able to pick my kids up from school. But I’m hitting a point in my career where I am being asked this because there’s some different paths I can go down and I just can’t articulate what I’m actually interested in because my interests are mostly just supporting my family. I’m not sure if this makes sense, but I can’t be the only person who feels this way.
Hi!
Thanks for your honesty. It’s refreshing for many to hear that it doesn't always have to be about moving up. Though you say you’re not sure what you want, it actually seems like you have a really clear perspective on what you’re doing and even more importantly: why.
Working is not optional for the vast majority of people, just as it wasn’t for you when you started. And even though you hear that work is about fulfillment and following your passion in the advice columns, that’s actually not the case for most. People are looking for paychecks more than personal growth or deeper purpose. I’m saying that to say that you’re so right, you are definitely not alone. But I do understand that when you’re being asked where you see yourself in 5 years all you want to say is, “uh, getting a paycheck… one that is hopefully bigger than today?!”
So at the most superficial level, if you’re being asked that, say - tomorrow, here’s what you could say without forcing yourself to discover an interest or finagle some deeper sense of mission just for the sake of having an answer to this highly open-ended question.
What if you tried the shiniest version of an honest answer: My goal is to do the best work possible in my role, help the company hit its metrics, so I have some flexibility with my next step. I have a wide set of interests and believe I could succeed at multiple paths but my main priority is strong performance. Can you help me better understand the future needs of the company and how my current skill set could potentially bring more value and financial success to all parties involved?
As the conversation develops, you may be asked what your strengths are and skill set is as well as more about that aforementioned wide set of interests. Your response doesn’t have to be specific or tactical like, plugging in spreadsheets or whatever. Can be more high level like, “I like solving complex problems or I love pitching creative ideas to clients.” These are random, as I don’t know what you do! Basically find an answer to the question: what is your favorite way to use your brain?
There’s no need to state plainly that you aren’t passionate or lack a deep connection to what you’re doing. If I were your manager, I would rather hear about your “drive to win” than your personal connection to the tasks of your work. News flash: your manager needs to hit their targets too! If you want to mention your family, it’s ok to talk about supporting your family as your “why,” because that’s most likely the case for most people. I’d bet that if you asked 100 people what they would be doing for work if money were no object, very few of them would say that it’s what they’re doing now, and a majority of them would say they prefer spending time with their family over working!
One thing I’m wondering is, do you have a desire to work in a role that you could feel more passionate about? Your interests and your goals can be two different things. You may want to keep your current position but still want to spend your time on something you enjoy more than what you do now. We started thinking about your interests earlier but perhaps you could do a bit of a deeper dive. Do you like spending your time on what you do now? Are there parts of your role that you like more than others? Are you slightly more intrigued by any element of your company or industry? Or maybe another industry? It might be easier to answer these things once you let go of the idea that you *need* to feel passionate about any of it in order to advance into a more lucrative position.
Honestly, you’re in a great position to start thinking about this. You have flexibility and therefore you have leverage. You can afford spending time to think about how to best enjoy the time you spend making that paycheck. Doesn’t have to be a deep soul search, just some light evaluation. And in the end, if you decide you like being where you are and have no desire to move yet because you either like what you do or you don’t yet know what you like, then great! Just frame your goal like we talked about earlier. Timothée Chalamet said it best: “I’m really in the pursuit of greatness.” You can pull the same card. Your answer can be: I’m pursuing excellence in my current area. Please let me know how I can improve. K thanks, manager.
Aleen
Dm me @aleen or email me hi@aleen.co to submit a question!