Examples of Career Aspirations

When going for a full-time interview, jobseekers face many unexpected questions. One question that you will likely be asked is: What are your career aspirations?

Slightly similar versions to this question are:

• Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
• What do you want to achieve in your career?
• Why do you want to join this company?

What are career aspirations? Your career aspirations are your long-term goals in your career. For example, the career aspiration of a customer service employee might be that in 3 or 4 years they move into sales and become an account director.

Employers will ask this question because they want to understand if you just want to try out this job for a few weeks or if you are really interested in this line of work. Employers are afraid that a new hire will quit after 2 weeks because then they have to find another hire and spend a lot of time training that person.

You can answer this question in many ways. Here are breakdowns of the different answers you can give

• 1. Having Job Security
• 2. Earning managerial role
• 3. Bonus Tip

1. Having Job Security

“I am looking for a job where I can stay long term and have a good working environment with my team.”

Many employers will like this answer. 30-40 years ago, it was very uncommon to change a job very often. Employees staid at their job 10+ years or even a whole lifetime. Today, jobseekers can change jobs every 1-3 years or even every year. This is a big problem for employers because they have to find and train the new employees for a few weeks. Workers also become much more effective the longer they stay at a job. For example, in your new job you first have to learn all the tools and software the company is using and after 6 months it takes you 10 minutes to complete a routine task instead of 30 minutes back when you just started your job. Hence, employers are always interested to retain good workers as long as possible.

2. Earning managerial role

“I want to grow with the company and in 2-3 years, I would to share my learnings as a manager.”

This answer shows that you are very ambitious, believe in the mission of the company and that you are ready to run the extra mile. Great employers will like this answer. They are always looking for new leaders in their company instead of hiring workers who do as little as possible. A good employer will reward you for this behaviour.

3. BONUS TIP: Always remember and talk about what the company does

When asked 'What are your career aspirations?', it is very important to remember what the goal of the company is. It’s great if you can mention it 2-3 times during the interview. For example, if you apply for a job at logistics comany who has the slogan ‘Same Day Delivery’ you can mention that you always wanted to work for a company which puts the customer experience above everything else and that you can personally identify with the goal that speedy delivery makes customers happy. Employers will like that you identify with the company goals and it’s music to their ears if you repeat their company slogan to them.


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