“Hi there! Good Morning / Good Afternoon/ Good Evening!
Why don’t you tell me about yourself?
Start with your early career days.
Talk about your family & siblings, your hobbies? And yes
Take us through your professional career graph too.
What has been your achievement…. Err till date?
Familiar Questions! Right? And now last and the very important one! Where do you wish to see yourself in next 5 years?
What is this magical 5-year plan? Does is it really exist now? Did I hear this in one of my interviews or was I really planning meticulously to achieve a career landmark in 5 years time. Wait…Or was I only preparing myself to answer this question smartly in one of my interviews? May be or may be not!.
Let me check with my friends, who have completed multiple 5 years in their organizations. They may be able to answer this question appropriately. Were they able to achieve what they had planned 5 years or multiples of 5 years back? What happened to them who had shorter career paths?
My father, a government servant, is retired now. For him his job started and ended saying good-bye to the same company. When I changed my first job in less than 3 years he couldn’t relate and was in a mild shock 🙂 worried about his son’s career. I know for sure there was no such 5-year career concept where he worked.
Occasionally I play role of a self-critic and used to ask why I never planned for such 5-year career path in earlier days? There was always a silver line somewhere which kept my hope intact. That was few years back when I met a businessman from Gujarat. This question popped up in my mind and in a complete MBA style i flaunt him with this 5-year career question. He calmly winked at me and said “5 Years!” Aftab Bhai! Squaring his hand over his forehead replied; “for us 5 years may be a complete career for one business line, we keep modifying frequently to be able to be in the race.” For him it seems planning was almost 5 weeks instead of 5 years. I couldn’t relate then, with a confused look I was trying to appreciate his words.
Now I can relate, we are no longer a jobber or just a part of a process in our organization. We call ourselves entrepreneurial business leaders. Our function is our business and our business plan is our career plan! Which ideally runs on a 4-5 weeks plan. And we are happy to endorse that it’s working well!
So now when someone asks “Where do you wish to see yourself in next 5 years?”
My answer will be very different now. Get motivated and keep planning many more such 5 weeks plan! Happy Selling !!
Mimic my Own 