Where will you be in five years?

Hello friends!

A trick question that we can hear in a job interview is “What do you expect for the next few years?” or even “Where will you be in three, five years from now?” It’s a kind of joke for interviewers, whether they are psychologists, administrators or human resources technicians, because the future is always unknown, it’s a world of possibilities, many of which do not depend on our effort or willpower.

However, what this question wants to insinuate is someone’s expectations about their plans, dreams, desires, wishes. It’s not a mistake, it’s not a lack of character or a mental illness not knowing for sure. But, depending on the type of response, we will be able to know not only how someone deals with time (past, present and future) but also to know if there is even a minimal idea of ​​what the ideal is.

As I said in this other text – Psychologist gives tips on how to behave in a job interview – at the time I worked with Human Resources, I conducted more than a thousand interviews with job candidates in small, medium and large companies. I always found it more interesting to conduct an open interview (without so many questions already programmed), but I almost always used this 5-year question.

So, in these more than a thousand interviews, I heard the most different responses. No one answers “I don’t know”. Although this could be a possible answer. Most take a moment to think before responding, even though they may have planned a theoretically perfect answer. What is certain is that, with the answer, we can see the level of satisfaction with the current situation, what still remains to be done and, most importantly, whether or not the person wants to continue in the area in which he is looking for a job.

Between dream and reality

We also find dreamy or optimistic people and realistic or almost pessimistic people. When telling their plans, the possibilities that are or will be available in the future, one can focus on the ease or difficulty of carrying them out.

For example, a realistic person will see what can hinder execution, values ​​and investments, setbacks, while a more dreamy person, with his head in the clouds, will imagine how everything will work out and everything will fall into place.

The ideal is always to combine the two perspectives. Even more ideal is to be able to join in a specific order:

First, freely imagine everything we would like to accomplish in the future, as if we had all the resources and all the conditions in the world to do so. In a second moment, we have to be more practical and use the chess metaphor, that is, use the strategy of seeing the first move and the change in the environment, the second move and the second change in the environment, the third move and the third change and so on.

Let’s say the goal is to do a postgraduate course X. The first step is to do the graduation. But to graduate you need to study for the entrance exam or Enem, maybe save money or get funding for tuition. And, looking at the options, maybe the only way is to get a job to have the necessary income to pay for graduation. With graduation, the situation already changes. Salaries tend to increase and, with that, there will be more funding for graduate studies.

What I mean is that in this way, we managed to combine the dream (a postgraduate degree) with all the factors involved in reaching that target. We are at the same time dreamers and optimists and realists and “pessimists”.

What is certain is who highly recommends – in a job interview – or for life, to know where you would at least like to be in 5 years. As Seneca says: “No wind blows in favor of those who don’t know where to go”.

5 years equals 1825 days. In five years we can change city, country or state, we can start the relationship of our lives, and, if we have a child, he will already be starting school… We can do an undergraduate or two postgraduate courses or a doctorate, we can save money and buy something big…

Anyway, life can change a lot and a lot in 5 years. Conversely, we can also think about where we were 5 years ago… where were you? What were you planning to do? Did you manage to accomplish it or did you leave it for later? What was missing?

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