There is an article on answering tough questions that I read today. Since I am providing some advice to a friend I read it just to see what it had to say. Generally some good info. However, one question that they said you need to be prepared to answer is "Where do you want to be in 5 years?" My initial gut reaction was "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING! PEOPLE STILL ASK THAT?" They said it is an easy one to answer and allows you to communicate your ambition, show that you want to be a pro, etc.
After some thought I realized that you do need to be prepared to answer that question, especially if you are fairly early in your career because INEXPERIENCED INTERVIEWERS who don't know squat about interviewing will ask you this. And this is totally inappropriate to ask anyone with more that 20 years of experience. I think you can ask much better questions to determine what someone's ambition is by investigating how they got to where they are today. (Yes, I am a big believer in behavioral interviewing.)
Now I am the first to admit that I don't interview people on a regular basis anymore. So I am asking you experienced recruiters and interviewers out there. Do you still ask this question? If so what are you looking for in getting an obviously rehearsed answer?
