From the Ask Tom mailbag:
Question:
Yesterday, (Fictitious Snapshot), you objected to asking the interview question, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” I think it is a perfectly valid question. It gives me an idea how far the person can think out into the future (Time Span) and what kind of a planner they are. Both of these things are important qualities of a manager.
Response:
Important qualities, I agree. It is still a terrible question.
Any future-based question opens the interview to speculation. Given the question, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” the candidate begins to guess what the interviewer wants to hear. It might indicate the candidate’s ability to mind-read. ANY response to this question is something the candidate makes up, either contrived or on the spot. It has NO basis in fact and cannot be fact-checked. Because it is a hypothetical question, it requires the interviewer to make some interpretation on what the response means. Any response from a candidate that requires interpretation is an indicator of a poor interview question.
But how far a person thinks into the future and their ability to plan are still valid qualities for managers. What are some better questions?
- Tell me about a time when you had to put a plan together?
- What was the project?
- What was the length of the project (Time Span)?
- How did you create the plan, in a meeting, by yourself?
- Step me through the plan, what were the steps in the plan?
- Give me another example?
- Tell me about a project, the longest (Time Span) project you have worked on?
All of these questions are simply looking for facts (which can be fact-checked). These facts are evidence (I like hard evidence as opposed to speculation) of those behaviors I look for in a manager. If I get enough examples, I can see a pattern that will allow me to pinpoint the candidate’s planning ability (capability).
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Asking a future-based question can get the interviewee to demonstrate how they process information currently. This tells you the time span they are capable of dealing with. Knowing the time span of the role lets you then conclude whether they are fundamentally matched or mis-matched for the job. Asking the question, “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” may not be the best question for this, but the intent is valid.
Hi, Bernard,
Thanks for your comment. You are accurate in your observation that “knowing the Time Span of the role” helps the Hiring Manager make a better candidate selection. You are also correct, the “intent is valid,” there are just better questions we can ask. Thanks again for posting.
Hi Tom,
Asking about the length of the project is not always the case to reveal one’s time-span. I found there were cases that the planning ability is already prescribed within standard operating procedures. In this case, a Stratum 1 project planner could even plot a one year project plan following all the steps in the procedure. Better questions are indeed required.