If you could ask on a job interview about your long-term career plan, here’s how to answer it. I don’t like this question, but here’s how to handle answering it. This question could come talking about where do you see yourself in five years? Could you say what do you want to do next in your career? It can come a bunch of ways. The truth is five years ago, nobody had any idea where we’d be right now. It’s really important to get across the idea of flexibility in a question like this. The way I typically handle a question like that would be to say something along the lines of, I think there are a few ways my career can go. I could see myself always staying an individual contributor if I really like this work. I could see myself move into some type of management role or more strategy or director level or whatever makes sense for the path you’re in. I want to continue to learn. I want to continue to pick up skills and I want to see where I can go from here because five years from now it doesn’t sound that long, but so much can change in five years that having an idea of what’s going to happen there feels really hard to do. The best thing I can do is continue to be ready for opportunities that come my way, continue to learn, and continue to progress forward. Is this dancing around a little bit? Yes, but is it also probably honest for most of you? Yes, and it’s probably honest for your manager. It’s probably honest with the person asking you this question. Don’t think you have to say something cheesy like at this company, obviously moving forward. People really aren’t looking for a fake answer to this question and there really isn’t a perfect answer to this question. So I do think basing the answer in a little bit of realism about the world and what you want to do with your career can do a lot.