Answering 'What Are Your Career Goals?' in an Interview

Employers ask ‘What are your career goals?’ to learn more about your aspirations. Your answer tells them if your expectations for this role align with what they can offer. They want to choose a candidate who is ambitious yet realistic about where the company can take them. By learning more about the company’s values and what their role entails, you can give a more effective answer.

Learn more: The Value Of Goal Setting & How It Will Enhance Your Career

Follow these steps to successfully answer ‘What are your career goals?’:

1. Think about your career goals

Before your interview, think about what you want out of a career. Determine what skills you hope to develop and what responsibilities you hope to eventually take on. Reflect on both your short-term and long-term career goals and how this position could help you reach them. Use the SMART goal method to create better goals:

• Specific: Narrow the focus of your goal. Choose a goal that will directly benefit your career.
• Measurable: Think of how you will measure the progress and success of your goal.
• Attainable: Pick a goal that is realistic enough for you to reach. Keep your resources and abilities in mind.
• Relevant: When picking career goals, make sure they align with your values and personal aspirations.
• Time-based: Create a timeline for all of your goals. Decide when you want to accomplish them by.

2. Learn more about the company and role

An employer is looking for a relevant response when asking about your goals. You want to find ways to tailor your response to the company and position you’re applying to. That’s why researching the company and its values is so helpful. Get to know if they offer any sort of mentorship programs, continuing education reimbursement, or any other career development perks. Likewise, learn what skills this role will help you develop. Perhaps a junior-level role could get you one step closer to becoming a manager.

3. Share a mix of general and specific goals

By keeping your answer balanced, you are sure that you’re relating your answer to the role you’re applying to. For instance, you could share specific skills you hope to develop while sharing broader future plans you have. Create an answer that addresses what is important to you while still showing that you could be a valuable addition to the company.

Learn more: 4 Ways To Plan Your Career Path Now

Create your own responses to ‘What are your career goals?’ by using these example answers as your guide:

Example 1

My goal is to eventually become a creative director. In order to reach this long-term goal, I want to continue to develop my graphic design skills. I think that it’s important for me to spend a considerable amount of time in a design role so I can get a solid foundation while working on my leadership skills. I see that your company encourages employee growth and sponsors continued education. I would love to prove my value at this company and then partake in some of these opportunities. Hopefully, I could work my way up and be an admirable leader.

Example 2

My career goals involve developing my public-speaking skills. I think that by learning how to more effectively present information, I can prove that I am an excellent leader and can take on a client-facing position. One reason this job caught my interest is how much hands-on support management offers. I would like to work on feeling more comfortable speaking in front of a crowd and learn how to make my words more impactful. After becoming a better public speaker, I would ideally work my way to a management position where I get to work with important clients.

Example 3

I am determined to launch the next greatest thing. Although this goal seems vague, I have already started planning how I would do so in this role. With your team of innovative thinkers and my programming skills, I think we could work together to create the next household name in apps. I want to be known as a trailblazer and help your company find even more success while doing so.

Example 4

Although it may seem simple, my number-one career goal is to help others. That’s why your nonprofit sector caught my interest. Things like earning a higher income or more power are less interesting to me than genuinely making a positive difference in someone’s life. I have always wanted to volunteer abroad, making this position even more exciting to me. I have already experienced helping others through my work with Habitat for Humanity, but I think it would be even more fulfilling to spend more of my days doing similar work.

Example 5

I want to lead a campaign from start to finish. I know that in a junior role like this, my responsibility is to offer value while following orders. I think that by proving my worth in this position, I could eventually move onto a role that has more management responsibilities. Through my people skills and analytical thinking, I know I can show that I have what it takes to create and execute a campaign.