Career goals related Top 5 interview questions

 Your Future 

Interviewers will often ask these types of questions to gauge the kind of interest you have with the job that you are applying for. They want to see if you plan on being with the company for many years, or if it is a stepping stone for you. 

For some of the questions, you can use the same type of framework we have talked about before where you cover your passion, experience, and what you want to achieve next. For others, it is best to use the 30-60-90 framework. This framework outlines how you see yourself during the first 30-60, and 90 days on the job. If you present the hiring manager with a well-thought-out 30-60-90-day plan, you will blow them away. Even if all of your ideas are not completely in line with the company’s specific situation, you will still impress them with the fact that you took the time to think through your first few months. Here is how you can work out a 30-60-90-day plan:

 30 – Talk about how quickly you will meet your coworkers, define your priorities, and learn about the business. 

60 – Show how you could begin to show results and influence projects that are related to yours. 

90 – Show how you could start to lead initiatives with importance to your department and create new ideas to improve the business overall. 

How soon do You Want to Make an Impact? 

This question will often be asked to see if you are prepared to hit the ground running. The interviewer may be looking for immediate results, and they want to know that they can count on you to do that. 

This is a great question to use for the 30-60-90-day plan framework. We will look at a good answer to this question when applying for the job of an events planner. The responsibilities for this job could include managing event timelines, negotiating contracts, and developing agendas: 

“I plan on having an immediate impact. I have been an event planner in this area for eight years, and I know all of the local agencies and venues. I have written up a 30-60-90-day plan to help show how I would approach this— should you hire me. During the first 30 days, I would like to get to know everybody within the company who is involved with the big events. I want to learn from them how the event planning has been handled in the past and then we can talk about ways to improve it. I would like to start working on an event immediately so that I can learn through real-world experience. In the following 30 days, I want to manage more complex events progressively. I would also like to start using some improvements to make the planning process easier and to make them even more impactful. In the next 30 days, I would like to look over the contracts and capabilities for the agencies that are normally involved with the events. I would like to see if I could notice any capabilities that we have not been leveraging or opportunities to help us save money. Here is a copy of my plan. Are there any changes you would make?” 

This answer shows an eagerness to learn during their first 30 days. Then, they have a clear plan to take on more responsibilities the longer they are in the position. It lets the interviewer know that the interviewee understands that there is a learning curve involved when they join a new organization, and they want to learn quickly.

What are your goals? 

Why are they asking this question? They want to know if your goals will line up with the organization. 

Try to focus on an approach where everyone wins as opposed to just what you want. Be specific about the relevant items in the industry that you want to accomplish but do not name certain job titles: 

“I would like to continue to contribute to the Power organization in a very meaningful way. My job title is not as important as the work that I do. I know that if I positively contribute, the company and everyone will benefit and win in the end.”

Do you have any short-range objectives and goals? Why? When will you make these goals? And how are you preparing to achieve them? 

Why are they asking this question? The interviewer wants to know how your goals match up with the company’s goals. 

Think about the job that you are applying for and give them an answer that would be great for anyone in the role:

 “I would like to move from my role as a Media Buyer into a Senior Media Buyer. This allows me to meet some of my short-range goals of being able to contribute to the company more dynamically, learning about the buying side of the business, and having an opportunity to mentor and train junior employees.

Name one important goal you set for yourself in the past and how did you reach it? 

Why are they asking this question? Reaching your goals is important in any job. The interviewer is using how you accomplished this in the past to see how you might do things in the future. 

Tell them a goal that you successfully reached. Give them a description of the way you went about reaching this goal, including challenges that you overcame: 

“One goal I had was to secure business meetings with 500 marketing managers in one year to introduce them to a new web tool. The challenge was that nobody at my company had been able to have a meeting with more than 200 people in a year since there was a very limited travel budget. I made a plan that helped maximize my time and reach. Utilizing technologies such as Skype, I was able to interact with my target audience one on one without leaving my office, and this saved valuable time. When I had to leave the office, I used a relevant conference as a hub and to meet with as many people as possible. I would then travel around the conference location and meet with local people, so I did not have to make separate trips. To build up my contact, I asked each one that I met with to introduce me to someone new. Not only did I reach my goal but I exceeded it. I ended up meeting with 540 marketing managers last year.” 

What Are Your Future Goals with the Company? 

This can be a tricky question. You want to show the interviewer that you want this job and that you would like to move up the ranks once you get it. However, you also want them to see that you have normal, realistic expectations. This question can go in either direction. Some people have shown that they will be complacent within the role and others show that they have too much ambition—which makes HR think that they will constantly be demanding promotions. You want to make sure that you can express the right combination of eagerness for growth and willingness to put in the time. 

Let’s take a look at an amazing answer for the position of an architect. Some of the responsibilities for this job could include researching building code, preparing project reports, and creating building designs: 

“I want to become a highly-skilled commercial architect. From my resume, you can see that my certifications and education have provided me with a solid foundation. My immediate goal is to become part of an architecture firm where I will be able to continue to build on my foundation. I want to learn more about CAD applications, building code requirements, and project budgets. I want to be a part of a firm where I can apply my experience and grow the number of my responsibilities with time. I want to become a Project Manager or Senior Architect, and then, hopefully, become a partner. I know this will take several years, but I am committed to doing this.” 

This is a perfect answer because it shows that they have the willingness to work in order to reach their goals. They also did their research on the architect career path. This also shows that they have a good balance between willingness to put in the work and a desire to progress at a reasonable pace. 

You want to stay away from an answer that could end up making you seem unmotivated or overly ambitious. If you let the interviewer know that you do not have any specific goals, they are going to view you as unfocused or lazy. If you let them know that you plan to be running the company in just a few years, then they aren’t going to take you seriously