Answering 'What Are Your Long-Term Career Goals?'

Employers usually ask, ‘What are your long-term career goals?’ because they want to find out whether a job applicant can work toward goals, learn about the person’s ambitions, and evaluate whether these aspirations complement opportunities within the company or their corporate values. An employer is likely to prefer a professional who provides evidence of setting realistic professional targets because this is an indication of a suitable work ethic and motivation toward career development. Answering this question effectively can boost your interview performance by showing the hiring manager your determination to succeed.

Having long-term career goals, or milestones for progressing in your career, is important for several reasons such as:

• It can orient you toward career development. Setting long-term career objectives can make you pay attention to where you want to be professionally in the future. Once you articulate these targets, you are more likely to consider them as you work or make career-related decisions.
• You can develop plans for achieving each goal. By setting professional targets that are achievable over a long period of time, you can easily identify the things you need to do to achieve each one. For example, the activities for achieving a long-term career goal can include getting a professional credential, training in a particular skill area, or gaining industry experience in a specific job responsibility.
• It can demonstrate your suitability for a job. At an interview, you can use the long-term career goals you developed to show an employer how you complement corporate values or expectations. For example, if you aim to develop computer applications that change the way in which people work, an employer who is committed to developing innovative software for corporations is likely to see you as a good fit for a position in programming or management.
• It can communicate positive personal traits. Most employers prefer workers with specific personality traits because each job requires specific soft skills. By developing long-term professional goals, you can use them to demonstrate that you have key soft skills in relation to being goal-oriented, motivated, organized, and determined to succeed.

Learn more: Skills to Help You Ace Your Job Interview

You can use the following steps to answer, ‘What are your long-term career goals?’:

1. Identify your professional goals. To answer this question effectively, preparation is key. Before the interview, decide on the professional changes you want to enjoy in the next five years. Then, develop clear targets for achieving them. Long-term professional goals can include obtaining a promotion, improving your efficiency rate in project completion by 50%, learning a new skill, or obtaining a professional credential.
2. Research the company and the position. If your targets resonate with the hiring manager, you’re more likely to get the job. Learn about company’s business goals, interests, and values before the interview via press releases, corporate website, employee testimonials, and other online and off-line publications. Additionally, read the job description thoroughly. Then, make a list of the keywords used to describe corporate objectives and employee expectations.
3. Align your professional goals to your employer. Use your company research to choose goals that complement the company to which you’re applying. While you may have several long-term career targets, select a maximum of four objectives, which are likely to best match your employer’s goals and values, for the interview discussion.
4. Communicate goals that are relevant to the job. When asked by the hiring manager to discuss your professional goals, articulate goals that relate to the company and the position you’re applying for by using keywords you found during your research.
5. Summarize a realistic plan for achieving your goals. Inform the recruiter of the things you have already achieved in relation to reaching your targets. Additionally, talk about the steps you intend to take in the future to achieve your aspirations. For example, gaining specific managerial experience can be a step to achieve your goal of getting a promotion. Similarly, being involved in professional associations can be a step in building your professional brand.

Learn more: Common Technical Interview Questions and How to Answer

To answer the, ‘What are your long-term career goals?’ question competently, you can use the following tips:

• Show the hiring manager your drive to achieve goals. Speak enthusiastically about the things you have already achieved that have helped you progress toward your goals. For example, if one of your goals is being a manager in the next five years, you can mention working as a supervisor and going to leadership seminars.
• Write down your answer to the question when preparing for the interview. Writing your answer to the question on your professional goals enables you to correct any linguistic errors and optimize it. This also gives you the opportunity to focus on your delivery during your preparation.
• Keep your answer on career goals concise. Prepare to answer the question on your professional goals briefly. You can do so by editing your written answer to the, ‘What are your long-term career goals?’ question until each goal is brief and clear.
• Memorize your answer to improve interview performance. As a query about your career goals is a standard question at most interviews, committing your answer to memory can help you avoid forgetting your talking points or having awkward pauses during the interview. Once you finish writing your answer, repeat it to yourself until you can communicate it without making any mistakes.
• Practice answering the question before the interview. Use role-play with a friend or face yourself in a mirror to practice responding to this question. Keep practicing until your answer delivery is confident and smooth.

Learn more: 15 Interview Questions You Should Be Prepared to Answer

Consider the following example answers when preparing your own:

Example: Entry-level network engineer

I have been attending leadership seminars and taking leadership roles in team settings to position myself to move into management in the next five years. My on-the-job experience in maintaining complex corporate networks and spearheading transformational computer hardware and software upgrades gives me the technical skills needed to take on an executive role in computer systems administration. Another target is to get my CompTIA Network+ certification, which will complement the A+ credential I already have, because I want to develop my skills in network troubleshooting and security.

Example: Mid-level IT project manager

One of my long-term career goals is gaining more experience in using the Agile project management methodology to complement my expertise in other approaches such as Lean Practices, PRINCE2, PMI’s PMBOK, and SIx Sigma because this can improve my project leadership in projects with non-static requirements. I’m also targeting a 30% improvement in project efficiency over the next year. 

In the next two years, I want to improve my team-building skills because I strongly believe in achieving business goals by engaging and empowering workers. I also want to evaluate and improve the efficacy of my management skills in relation to employee engagement, so I’m planning on developing a research tool, such as a survey, that can collect the feedback of subordinates on my management upon the completion of each project.

Example: Senior social media manager

A key goal is staying informed on industry developments, innovative strategies, and relevant legislation through my involvement with professional organizations, research on peer-reviewed publications, and attendance in industry events because this is essential for success in this dynamic field.  

Developing my professional brand in the industry is another career goal I’m pursuing because I believe my brand benefits me and my employer. To achieve this, I plan on increasing my contribution to industry journals, managing my online presence, and taking on leading roles in professional events and organizations. My track record in increasing brand preference through social media marketing has inspired me to target becoming a social media consultant in the next five years, so I can provide my expertise in building brands and market share through social media while reducing marketing expenditure.