What are your career goals? Examples and tips for answering this question

It's a good sign when interviewers ask you about your career goals. It shows they are interested in the professional development of their staff, and they are driven toward offering long-term, mutually beneficial employment. Giving a thoughtful response is a great way to show you’re interested in their opportunities. Keep reading for tips and examples to use the next time you’re asked about your goals in an interview. 

In this article we’ll discuss:

• Everything you need to know about career goals

• The benefit of SMART goals and how to write them

• Examples of career goals to focus on during your interview

What are career goals?

Career goals describe where you want to land professionally in the future. Some people have straightforward career goals, such as becoming a doctor. Others have more broad goals like pursuing an executive role. 

The benefit of thinking about your career goals is that they can act as a navigation tool as you move through life. If you know that you want to manage a team in your professional future and are currently working as a delivery driver, it might be worth deciding what you need to do to reach your career goals. In many cases, it is possible to create a path from A to B, but it takes having a critical look to determine your route. 

Knowing your career goals can be a useful tool in the workplace. Networking happens everywhere, so having an elevator pitch of your goals can make the right person notice you. 

Why are you asked about your career goals in an interview?

Interviews are conducted to learn more about a candidate's qualifications and compatibility with the company. Discussing your career goals is how they gauge the latter. 

An ideal candidate has a plan for the future that aligns with what the company is willing to offer. If candidates have no direction, they could be difficult to manage and support. If a candidate has a clear career path that is grander than the company can offer, the interviewer might choose someone with more compatible ambitions. 

The perfect career goal will be one that gives the interviewer a clear understanding of your intentions, while also being flexible enough so that the company can easily accommodate you.

Personal vs. professional goals

As you start to think about your goals, it’s important to differentiate between your personal and professional ambitions. Although they can often overlap with each other, they represent different aspects of your life. One way to think about it is that professional goals indicate the status, salary, or success you hope to reach. Personal goals, on the other hand, describe why you want those achievements or how you want to live once you’ve reached them. 

For example, someone’s professional goal might be to become the chief financial officer at their company, whereas a personal goal would be to make enough to buy a house. One is a means to the other.

How do I identify my career goals?

To identify your own career goals, first try reflecting on where you are in your career. Why are you in your current position, what inspired it, what kind of decisions did you make to get there, and would you have done anything differently? You want to try to get a sense of what motivates and drives you, along with determining which habits might be hindering your professional growth. 

Once you’ve thought about where you are, it’s time to look ahead. One approach is to begin with a personal goal and work backward to discover a professional goal. Let’s try working through it together. Here’s an example:

• Current role – Customer service representative for a credit card company.

• Personal goal – To be able to afford an annual vacation. 

• Professional goal – Transition into a sales position and develop sales skills to increase your pay by  earning commission and incentives. 

What are SMART career goals?

Setting SMART goals helps you ensure your goals are feasible. The acronym SMART stands for the following:

• Specific – The goal shouldn’t be vague or undefined. Give it form by answering the 5 W’s – who, what, where, when, and why.

• Measurable – Assign a measurable achievement to your goal by defining a clear marker of accomplishment, whether that’s raising a certain amount of money or finishing a project by a certain date.

• Achievable/Attainable – Ask yourself if your goal is realistic. That means it can be achieved without overextending yourself or relying on resources that you can’t access. 

• Realistic – Is your goal within the scope of the company, and is it relevant to your role? Describe how in a few words. 

• Timely – Your goal will be stronger if you give it a target deadline. You don’t have to give a specific date, but try thinking in monthly, quarterly, or annual terms. 

If you already have a career goal and rewrite it using the SMART format, you might see how the goal itself limited your ability to achieve it. SMART goals prioritize achieving goals rather than just creating them. 

Examples of career goals

Your career goals might differ depending on who is asking and why. Here are a few examples: 

• For a promotion – “I hope to spend the next two years developing my leadership skills and expanding my knowledge of the process with the goal of moving into a project management role.”

• For a recent career change – “Since I am new to the industry, I hope to spend the next three years getting familiar with this role and finessing my toolkit. I am eager to learn about this industry and find the perfect place for myself.”

• For a career change within the company – “I’d like to expand my skills beyond my current role in hopes of transitioning to a new field sometime in the next year. I want to learn about other departments within this company so I can transition out of my current role while still remaining loyal.”

• For leadership or management –“I’d like to be involved next quarter in the production of team meetings. I value leadership skills and would like to develop my presentation and public speaking skills more.”

• For professional development – “I want to work for a company that supports my growth by offering an annual allowance for professional development.”

• For research – “After working as a research assistant for the next few years, I aim to move into a lead researcher role. In the meantime, I plan to strengthen my qualifications by attending quarterly conferences.”

• For networking – “I am excited to expand my network over the next year in this role. I understand the importance of community support and am skilled at fostering beneficial partnerships.”

The best way to answer “What are your career goals?” in an interview 

It is likely that you will be asked at some point in an interview about your career goals. It won’t always be said directly; you might also hear, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” or “How can we help each other out?” Any iteration of this question is an opportunity to speak to your career goals and how the job you’re interviewing for is a crucial step in the journey. 

Regardless of how concrete your goals are, it’s highly recommended to have at least one or two tucked in your figurative back pocket. Be prepared to answer goal-oriented questions before your interview to present yourself  as a strong candidate. The worst way to answer these questions is to say the dreaded, “I don’t know.”

What’s a five-year plan?

If interviewers ask about your five-year plan, they’re just asking about your career goals. It’s an older expression, so you may never hear it. The idea is that you have a very linear plan for your career development and are able to break it down into five one-year chunks. 

Example: Entry-level sales → Top salesperson → Sales team lead → Sales assistant manager → Sales manager

How to come up with a career goal for an interview

Follow these tips for answering questions about your career goals in your next interview.  

Relevance to the company

Applicants often interview with at least five different companies before landing a job. When you are asked about your career goals, you should be mindful of expressing them as relevant to the company conducting your interview. 

Saying you want to be a team leader is vague. Try saying, “I know XYZ company has a learning and development department. I would like to join that team, so I can display my skills in creating training and professional development workshops.”

In the second example, adding little details about the company’s department is a way to show that you don’t just want to grow in your career, you want to grow in your career from the experience you'll gain at the company. 

Short-term and long-term

It’s a good idea to include in your response both a short-term and long-term goal. Short-term goals represent anything in the next one to three years, while long-term goals represent five years through retirement. 

One way to think of it is that short-term goals speak to the specific position you’re applying to and long-term goals describe your career goals as a whole. 

In your interview, try describing something you are excited to implement in this position. For example, “I would like to participate in enough experiments as a lab assistant to allow me to lead my own research team within one year.” 

Professional vs personal goals

Unless specifically asked, the goals you describe in your interview should remain professional. Some might feel like the environment is appropriate for adding in some personal flair, if that’s the case for your industry then go ahead. The best way to approach this is to not be overly emotional or too detailed. 

Come prepared with how you’ll achieve it

Even if it ends up not being a feasible route, showing up to an interview with an action plan for how you will achieve your career goals will impress any interviewer. 

To do so, begin with your SMART goal. Then work backward as you consider how you can achieve it. Take note of important steps in the goal, such as deadlines, certification courses, and training. Determine what resources you have available through the company, and speak to their importance in your goal. Create a timeline and prioritize the steps you need to take. 

As you describe your action plan, remember that anything you do needs to have a clear and positive impact on the company. 

Key takeaways

1. A great way to impress an interviewer is to come prepared with a precise and relevant career goal.

2. Try writing your career goals using the SMART goal method to ensure you are making feasible goals for yourself. 

3. During your interview, remember to relate your goals to both the company and the specific role you want.