For various reasons (long employment, started own business, worked as a contractor, etc.), I haven't had a legit job interview in about 20 years. But on a whim, I recently applied for a "real job" and was called for an interview. I was fairly prepared (I say that with a grain of salt...as prepared as someone can be when having not interviewed in such a long time and not being certain they really want the job), but I was really flummoxed when the following questions were asked:
Interviewer's question: Where do you see yourself in five years?
What I wanted to say:
- Seriously, people are still asking this question?
- Um...retired. Yep...no longer working. Not here, not anywhere.
What I actually said: Honestly, I don't even remember what I said. Some BS about wanting to do rewarding work helping people discover and learn new things. Ugh.
Interviewer's question: What are you most proud of?
What I wanted to say:
- Well, the stuff I'm most proud of has nothing to do with any job, work, career, etc. I'm pretty damn proud of the fact that I survived cancer, have a paid off house, and am financially independent. I'll be really proud if the market doesn't crash and I retire in two years. In fact, I don't really need this job at all and I could technically retire today if not for the ambiguity of healthcare coverage over the next 20 years.
What I actually said: My education; finishing multiple master's degrees; cultivating strong, long-lasting personal relationships (gasp!) that don't involve Facebook.
Interviewer's question: Do you want to manage people in the future?
What I wanted to say:
- Fuck no.
What I actually said: I would consider it. Honestly, I've been a contractor for so long, it's just not something I've given any thought to.
So...yeah...not expecting an offer to come out of this effort! LOL!
It sounds like you were answering interview questions as though they were coming from a friend. They're not. Nothing being asked in a job interview is personal. The interviewer doesn't care about you as a person. They don't want an answer to the surface question, they want to know that you'll be a good fit in their company. Interviewing is basically about convincing the people doing the hiring that you're what they're looking for, while simultaneously trying to size up if they suck to work for or not.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
- Take the job description
- pick three or four attributes from the job that you feel you're strongest at
- Respond "I'd really like to be doing something that lets me <attribute 1> and <attribute 2> with some time spent <attribute 3>ing.
What are you most proud of?
- Take the job description
- pick one or two successful projects that you've worked on in the past that closely match with items in the description
- Respond "Well, I was really proud about my work doing <project1> because of the success overcoming <problem1>, <problem2>, and <problem3>. It also let me really work on <attribute 1> and <attribute 2>, and provided great value to my previous employer because of <benefit 1>.
Do you want to manage people in the future?
You gave a non-answer that indicated you don't think very much about the future. That's a big red flag to interviewers. You need a firm yes or no to the question, and you need to provide reasons why this is good for the position that they're hiring for.
- Respond "I've had some experience with the responsibilities of management before at <job1> and <job2>,
- and, I prefer being the technical guy that others come to for answers. <Give some examples related to job description.>
- and I really enjoy taking a leadership role. <List examples where you took a leadership role that resulted in success for the company, try to die back to job description>