You’re half an hour away from an interview and googling questions on your phone—”How to answer, What are your career aspirations??”, “Top 10 interview questions”, “Jobs in my area”, and a collection of other questions that your panic-fueled brain can think up. All the answers overlap in your head and you’re convinced you won’t know how to answer correctly. It’s time you take a deep breath because you’ve found us and we have some answers for you. Figuring out how to answer the question starts with discovering for yourself what those aspirations are, and then verbalizing them appropriately for the interview space.
Let’s sit down and make some notes on the many ways to answer the question “What are your career aspirations?”
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How to Answer “What Are Your Career Aspirations”
When asked about your career aspirations and what your future means to you, it is often best to base your answer on the truth. There are many loft templates you could look up and reuse in interviews. Still, during the course of an elaborate interview, it can become easily evident when you don’t feel convinced by your own responses and struggle to answer any follow-up interview questions the interviewer might have. It is best to be truthful while also practicing how to answer these questions in advance—this gives you the best chance of being able to repeat your ideas when put on the interview hot seat. Let’s look at some guidelines on how to answer when asked, “What are your career aspirations?”
1. Understand the Purpose of Asking “What Are Your Career Aspirations?”
It is important to understand why the interview asks you “What are your career aspirations?” Apart from being a generic question to test your verbal abilities, it allows an interview to test your clarity of purpose, your commitment to your future, and your alignment with what the company can provide you with. Answering appropriately becomes important if you want the interview to be able to visualize you in the future of the company.
2. Be Honest
In order to impress an interviewer we might think it to be better to respond with tried and tested answers that others have succeeded with before. Sometimes, due to a lack of conviction in our own ability to achieve our aspirations, we might even downplay what we want and settle for a more reasonable answer like “a long career” or “stability” without being able to elaborate on why these are important to us. On the other hand, honesty does not mean providing irrelevant details like “being rich enough to buy a jet” or “becoming a COE so I don’t have to work much.”
The answer needs to be related to the career in question and should indicate that you have spent considerable thought on how to answer the interview question. Sit alone for a while and evaluate what brought you to this career path, and where you want to go with this job, and learn the titles of relevant roles in your field to create a more informed answer. Before an interview, realistically assess what the specific company could add to your career and use that knowledge to frame your response.
3. Consider What Career Aspirations Could Be
Your career aspiration does not have to revolve around the top position in your field either. While that is a common way to categorize career aspirations, you do not have to limit yourself to defining success in a single format. Look at the skills you want to develop or the goals you want to accomplish as well.
- Develop the skills of top players in the industry and independently employ them
- Accomplish specific goals like giving back to your community through your skill set, establishing a new program, publishing well-researched papers in your field, becoming the leading subject matter expert (SME) on a specific topic, etc.
- Learn from your career path and switch to a more broad stream or shift to a more global scale
- Become an entrepreneur and start your own business
- Become a mentor for young talent and support self-starters in your industry
- Learn continuously and nourish your curiosity about the subject
4. Frame Appropriate Answers
Knowing your career aspirations and being able to explain them are two different things. While you might have a clear answer to the interview question, if you’re unable to convey it in an eloquent yet concise manner, you might lose the interviewer halfway through your response. Try writing down your answer and practicing it a few times every once in a while, even if you don’t have an interview scheduled immediately.
Ensure you use language appropriate for the workplace when you do, and build your technical vocabulary as well. This does not involve an overstuffing of fancy language either, but being aware of terms relevant to your field is a good indicator of your expertise. Try to be specific about your responses as well. Instead of saying “I want to be successful,” explore what success means to you and be specific, “I want to be a successful female voice in the field of tech and a leader who can shape the future of my industry.”
5. Stay Positive
A lot of us often feel inferior or underqualified for roles, and see the interviewer as “better” than us. While the interviewer does hold some decision-making power in the situation, you are just as much of a stakeholder in the conversation as they are. Be positive when you talk about your future and optimistic about the possibilities in front of you. Do not be dismissive of your own potential and make statements such as “I know it might be unrealistic” or “I don’t know if it is possible.”
If you are overly shy about being open about your long-term goals and aspirations, you can also start by stating “To start with, my short-term career aspirations are…” and then describe your immediate goals that are likely achievable within the company in the next year or so.
Examples of Ways to Answer “What Are Your Career Aspirations”
Hopefully, you now have an approximate idea of how to answer when asked what your career aspirations are. Clarity will come with practice but it can also help to look at some examples of how to answer the interview question without fear.
Example 1: Entry-Level Position Career Aspiration
“I’m excited to convert my educational knowledge into experience and grow in [industry]. In the present, my focus lies in gaining hands-on experience and developing my own niche in the industry. I want to refine my skills to a level where I can take on work independently and guide projects on my own. I aim to spend a few establishing the basics firmly and then take on leadership roles where I can guide others with the same enthusiasm.”
Example 2: Mid-Career Professional Career Aspiration
“At this stage in my career, I’m eager to take on more strategic responsibilities. In the short term, I’m looking to leverage my experience in [specific areas of expertise] to bring value to the team. Looking ahead, I see myself in a leadership role where I can drive organizational growth, mentor team members, and contribute to the company’s overall success. I’m particularly drawn to this position because it aligns with my long-term goals and provides an opportunity to make a significant impact on the industry.”
Example 3: Career Transition Interview Question
“After spending several years in [current industry/role], I’m excited about transitioning into [new industry/role]. In the short term, I’m focused on acquiring the necessary skills and knowledge to excel in this new field. As I progress, I hope to take on roles that allow me to apply my existing skills while embracing new challenges. In the long term, I hope to redefine what it means to be an expert in the field. I want to hone my perspective on industry topics and then share them through websites and educational courses of my own. I want others to be able to join this career path just as I have and for that to happen, resources need to be available to them more readily.”
Example 4: Emphasizing Continuous Learning
“I’m passionate about continuous learning and adapting to industry trends. From college courses to internships, I have followed the path where I could learn the most. In the short term, I’m focused on expanding my skill set in areas such as [mention specific skills]. Over the long term, I aspire to be at the forefront of industry advancements, contributing my knowledge to drive innovation within the company. This role, with its emphasis on [mention a relevant aspect of the job], perfectly aligns with my goals of staying at the cutting edge of the field.”
Example 5: Entrepreneurial Aspiration Career Aspirations
“As someone with an entrepreneurial spirit, my short-term goal is to gain experience in different facets of [industry/field], learning how businesses operate and succeed. A company takes time to build and knowledge and experience are invaluable tools to get it started. In the long term, I aspire to start my own venture, leveraging the insights gained to create a meaningful impact. This role is appealing because it offers exposure to [relevant aspects of the job] and aligns with my goal of understanding the industry from various perspectives. I want to learn from inspirations from people who have accomplished this before me and knowing that [company] has already accomplished this is what convinced me that this is where I need to be.”
Example 6: Aspiration to Create a Global Impact
“I’m passionate about making a global impact. In the short term, I’m excited to contribute my skills to projects that have a meaningful effect on [relevant aspects of the job]. In the long term, I envision myself in a role where I can lead initiatives with a global reach, fostering collaboration across borders and contributing to positive change. This position aligns with my goals by providing an opportunity to work on projects with [mention global aspects].”
Example 7: Cross-Functional Collaboration
“My goal is to become proficient in cross-functional collaboration. In the short term, I’m eager to work closely with teams from different departments, learning how to effectively communicate and collaborate. As I progress, I aim to take on roles that involve coordinating efforts across various functions. Ultimately, I see myself in a leadership position where I can bridge gaps between teams and drive cohesive, cross-functional strategies.”
With this, it should now be easier to figure out how to answer “What are your career aspirations” when the interview question comes up. Just be prepared, and when it does, remind yourself that this is your career and you can decide where you plan to go with it. Be clear and concise and let the interviewer know what you are all about.