Have you been on either side of a job interview recently? As mentioned last week, job interviews don’t always show the candidate at their best or most authentic; heightened stress and excitement often lead to a situation where both sides need to sift through what was said to get to find out if this is actually a good fit. And of course there are the standard interview questions: “Tell us about yourself, and what led you to apply for this role,” “Describe a time you handled a difficult situation or conflict at work,” “What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses,” (“I’m a perfectionist and work harder than I need to” – insert eyeroll here…) etc. And, of course, there’s the classic “Where do you see yourself in five years?”
Like so many other questions, this tends to be used simply because people know it as a question to use in interviews; yes, perhaps it can allow you another angle in to learning about the candidate, but in reality, no-one knows where they will be five years down the line (Covid taught us that), and no-one in an interview is going to answer, “Well, I’ll see how this job goes; if I don’t like it here, I’ll leave and work somewhere else. Hopefully this job can be a stepping stone to something better.”
(If this is a question you ask in an interview, try other approaches to learn about the candidate’s career trajectory – “Tell us about what’s important to you in jobs you’ve held / organizations you’ve worked for so far in your career,” “What motivates you?” etc. – all of which can tell you more that a hypothetical five-year future. But I digress…)
Chad Littlefield, co-founder of We and Me, Inc. (who created the popular We! Connect cards you may have encountered before, and coined the term “Connection Before Content” that we’ve mentioned here in the past), uses an interesting reversal of the “Where do you see yourself in five years?” as a reflection with groups – not to use in interviews, although you could use it there if handled well.
Instead of asking where you’ll be five years from now, he asks people to think about where they were five years ago, and then (literally) draw a map of the people that led you to where you currently are – you could draw your starting point, and your current position, and then map those people and conversations onto the path in between, including names and other defining features of those interactions. These could be consequential one-off conversations, mentoring you’ve received or given, challenging managers, teachers, peers, your own children, or something entirely different.
In doing so, Littlefield suggests that while many impactful conversations aren’t chosen, you do have some autonomy over many of them, through the environments you put yourself in, the ways you ask for conversations and/or accept invitations – and you certainly have autonomy over your response to them. This, then, enables you to do two things: 1) Reflect back, and consider (where possible) reaching out to those people to let them know they had an impact on you and your life/career, and 2) Consider your autonomy for future conversations that might guide your next five years – what conversations might arise in certain environments, networking, mentoring, and yes, perhaps even job interviews.
How might this reversal of “Where do you see yourself in five years?” be helpful for you this week?
This Week’s Tip:
- Looking Back: Map out the last five years. Think about where you were professionally five years ago, and draw a map of the people that led you to where you currently are – as mentioned above, you could draw your starting point, and your current position, and then map those people and conversations onto the path in between, including names and other defining features of those interactions. Use stick figures, or if you’d like, add more artistic detail. The more color and multi-sensory you make this, the better. Feel free to show it off to a friend, family member, or trusted colleague. Have some fun with it. Then, wherever possible, reach out to those people – if you can, send them a handwritten note, but if not, an email, a conversation over coffee (your treat!) or some other small token of gratitude can go a long way.
- Looking Forward: Set yourself up for consequential conversations. Plan to put yourself in situations where you might have the kind of conversation that would make a positive impact on your life – and perhaps on others too. This might mean looking for networking opportunities through associations, conferences etc. It might mean being intentional about finding a mentor, asking your manager or others for developmental feedback, or something else entirely. Find what works for you, and while you don’t need to treat every conversation as a defining one, be open to the idea that a defining conversation could happen at any point, and it’s more likely to happen if you’re taking action and putting yourself in environments that discourage stagnation, and encourage growth.
Try these out this week, and let us know how it goes – we’d love to hear from you! And if you’d like to find out more about the work of Chad Littlefield and We and Me, visit https://weand.me/.
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