The Worst Job Interview Question Ever By HR or Employer

The Worst Job Interview Question Ever By HR or Employer

If you’ve been to a job interview, you been asked it. And if you’ve interviewed someone in a major corporate setting, you’ve probably asked it yourself. Even though it’s answerable, it offers very little insight into a candidate’s ability to complete the task at hand. And yet, it’s become an interview staple in companies and organizations the world over. But it’s time for it to go away. Never again should someone be asked: 

The Worst Job Interview Question Ever By HR or Employer

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

When I was 23, freshly moved to a new city right out of college, I sat across from a man in a suit at a Fortune 500 company and heard this question. In my head, I was thinking, “I’ve never thought 10 years into the future – at least not in the concrete way this guy wants me to answer. When I was two, I didn’t think about where I’d be at 12. When I was seven, I didn’t think about what I’d wear to the prom. And even now, I’m less sure than

ever of where I’ll be in a decade.”

This is largely due to the fact that up until that point, my life had happened four years at a time. And it’s the same with most people, job-hunting Millennials included. Even though we weren’t as cognitively aware as youngsters, the first four years were spent at home with our parent(s) or in daycare. Then we did a brief stint in kindergarten, followed by grades 1-4 in elementary school. Then it was middle school, which we may or may not have gone to two different places for. After that, we tackled high school, and then spent four (or five) years in college. Thus, for most of us, all of our life’s milestones have happened four years at a time – not 10.

On top of this, we might have moved a lot as one (or both) of our parents climbed the corporate ladder. So, for some of us, we’ve never even lived in the same house for 10 years; no wonder we can’t see ourselves going to work in the same building for that long. And even if we did stay put and even if we attended the same small private school from first grade through graduation, there were still incremental benchmarks, none of which were forecasted 10 years out.

Because of the educational system we grew up in, we were taught how to go from novice to expert in four years. The daunting hallways of 9th grade became friendly confines by senior year. And that gigantic quad our freshman year of college had seemingly shrunk by the time we got our degree. So, we’ve gotten pretty good at learning the ropes and playing the game in the amount of time between Olympics.

Therefore, you need to ask us where we see ourselves in four years. And here’s why:

It’s familiar. We can see things four years out. Sure, things change fast, but even if we transferred schools or fell in and out of love, graduation was always on our mind as an immediately achievable goal.

It’s realistic. Things change quickly. A lot can happen in four years – don’t get us started on 10. We could discover our true passion and calling. We could develop a newfound love for bird watching. We could start a business or a family or become the best badminton player in the state. We need the freedom to take a U-turn, a left turn or to stop. Chances are, we changed our major a few times in college, and that was just in a four-year window. There’s no way we’re going to be the same person in 10.

It’s doable. We can stick with something for four years, if we know we’re working towards something. We’re not going to file meaningless reports for four years, but we will work towards somewhere better than where we started. Remember: we began each four-year cycle not knowing much of anything, but being sure that we’d have a lot figured out soon enough. Allow us than kind of access to knowledge and advancement at the workplace, too.

I don’t remember exactly what my answer was that day. I’m sure I tried to confess my ignorance of the future, while convincing the interviewer that I was right for the job. Nonetheless, when I quit my gig 18 months later, my supervisor told me that I was good at what I did and would be stupid to walk away. He said, “If you just put in 23 more years here, you’ll be sitting pretty and can do whatever you want.” How ludicrous. Why would anyone wait 23 years to do what he or she wants? I had barely even been alive that long.

The first four years out of college can teach anyone just as much (or more) than they learned while in school, if handled well. If you offer a millennial a chance to learn and grow at your company for the next four years, then he or she may then be ready to make that 10-year commitment.