What Are Your Career Goals?

You can expect this question in almost any interview, whether you're an experienced professional or a recent graduate. While it may seem straightforward, your response to this question can have a significant impact on how you're perceived by potential employers. It's a question that can be aced with a bit of preparation, but it can also lead to a less favorable outcome if you're unprepared.

Why do they ask this question

The reason they ask this question on the interviews is because the recruiters want to know how well you thought through about the job you are interviewing for and how you think this job fits your career goals, both short and long term. A little preparation can help you save a lot of stress during the interview. Quite simply, interviewers ask this question to understand your level of self-awareness, motivation, and how well you've thought through your career path. They want to see if your goals align with the company's objectives and whether you'll be a good long-term fit for the role.

Here’s why this question matters:

Alignment with the Role:

Employers want to ensure that your career aspirations align with the responsibilities and growth opportunities of the job you're applying for. If your goals are aligned, you're more likely to be satisfied in the role and stay with the company for the long term.

An example of an alignment of goals could be that your long term career goals is to apply your analytics and data science knowledge in the digital marketing area and hence the role "Digital Marketing Analyst" is a great fit for both you and your employer.

The role is made up of two parts. One is the functional part and the other is the technical part. The functional part consists of the tricks of the trade. Take for example functions like sales, marketing, operations, etc. All these functions have a few aspects that are integral to the effective delivery of the functional value of the function. For example, marketing's functional value is to provide strategic insights into how well a new product needs to be developed and presented to the potential customer in the presence of several options to the customers that may be already existing.

To justify alignment with the role, you need to have either your functional or the technical aspect of your career goals are aligned with the role you are applying to.

Motivation and Ambition:

Your answer provides insight into your ambition and drive. Employers look for candidates who are motivated to grow and take on new challenges, as this often translates into better performance and a more proactive approach to work.

A simple way to demonstrate fitment from a motivation and ambition point of you is articulating your career goal that fits with the role. You can consider bolstering that answer with demonstrated commitment to learn and develop in your past roles. If you are a recent graduate, your projects from your college days are a great example to demonstrate your willingness to self-start, learn and develop with little guidance.

Cultural Fit:

Companies have distinct cultures, and your goals can indicate whether you'll be a good fit. For example, if a company values continuous learning and innovation, mentioning your desire to develop new skills and stay on top of industry trends will resonate well.

Well, this one is a little tricky to be honest. Nearly all companies have enviable list of what their values are. If you give the company's values page on their website a good read, you can easily pick on what they are stressing the most about among all the values they have listed. Or you can pick the one that resonates well with you and mention that as you elaborate on any of your answers. Unlike goal alignment and motivation, cultural fit is assessed throughout the interview and often done passively. This is also one of the areas where speaking with someone in your network who may be already working in that company and get an insider view of what the culture is really like and even get some anecdotal examples.

How to Prepare Your Answer

Reflect on Your Goals:

Before the interview, take some time to reflect on your short-term and long-term career goals. Think about where you want to be in the next few years and how the role you’re interviewing for can help you get there.

Research the Company:

Understand the company’s mission, values, and opportunities for growth. This will help you tailor your answer to show how your goals align with the company’s direction.

Some not so common ways of researching a company include visiting their YouTube channel, X (formerly Twitter) handles and social media pages. These will give you a great idea about the company's outreach efforts and what they focus on at the moment and where they are headed.

If you are applying for a business function such as finance, operations or accounting, there is no better way to prepare than reading the company's publicly available financial statements. If the company is not public, you could read about whatever information is available about their finances on the internet. If it is a startup and have raised funds recently, familiarizing yourself with who the investors are and how much was invested etc can give you valuable insights into the company's financial position in addition to providing you a sense of the environment you are getting into.

Be Specific:

Avoid vague answers like “I want to grow in my career.” Instead, provide specific examples, such as “I want to develop my project management skills and eventually lead a team on large-scale initiatives.”

Backing up your answers with examples is one of the great ways to be specific. Check our our article on the STAR method to explain answers. It helps you stay focused on the issue at hand, which is explaining a scenario specific to a context.

Show Enthusiasm:

Express genuine interest in the role and the company. Highlight how this position is a crucial step toward achieving your long-term goals.

The easiest way to express genuine interest and enthusiasm is by explaining your answers with examples. If time is running out, it might make sense to ask the interviewer if you could give an example so the interviewer does not think that you are not conscious of the time.

I had one interview where the interviewer even told me that she had to get through the rest of the questions and I learned that potentially I could ask before offering examples assuming it would be okay.

Sample Answers to What are your career goals?

For a Recent Graduate:

“My short-term goal is to apply my marketing degree in a dynamic environment where I can learn and grow. I’m particularly interested in this role because it offers the opportunity to work on diverse projects and develop my skills in digital marketing. Long-term, I see myself taking on more strategic responsibilities, leading campaigns, and contributing to the company's growth.”

For an Experienced Professional:

“In the short term, I’m looking to leverage my experience in project management to contribute to impactful projects at your company. I’m drawn to this role because it aligns with my goal of expanding my leadership capabilities. In the long run, I aspire to take on a senior management position, where I can mentor others and drive organizational success.”

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Overly Ambitious Goals:

While ambition is good, stating goals that are unrealistic or too far removed from the role you’re applying for can raise concerns about your fit for the position.

Avoid anything too vague at the same time that does not have a clear career path. For example, if you are interviewing for a junior analyst position in the finance department, while the goal of becoming a CFO in the next 5 years is bold, the interviewer could easily think it is audacious and not very practical. But, you might as well become a CFO in 5 years; what we are suggesting is consider the norms in the company you are interviewing at and get a sense of what could be appreciable and what could end up being seen as impractical or too vague.

Lack of Alignment:

If your goals don’t align with the company or the role, it may indicate to the interviewer that you’re not a long-term fit.

Like we covered earlier, as long as you have one of your functional and technical areas of focus from a career goal point of view aligns with the role you are applying to, you should consider you have a good alignment with the role.

Being Too Vague:

Avoid generic statements. Your answer should be thoughtful and tailored to the role and company.

One tip to avoid being vague accidentally is, especially when talking about achievements is keeping quantification in the back of your mind. It could be dollars of revenue generated, time saved, etc. The thought of having to quantify your achievements will invariably keep you grounded in facts and help you avoid being vague.

Conclusion

Getting an interview call is a very critical step forward in the right direction to securing a job. Being well prepared to face some of the most common questions in the interviews not only help you present your best self during the interview but it will also help you constantly revalidate your thought processes behind why you would like to apply to a certain position in the first place. Good luck with your interview preparation.