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Where Do You See Yourself in the Future

Table of contents, introduction, setting clear goals and ambitions, embracing adaptability and growth, balancing personal and professional aspects, contributing to a meaningful impact, continuing the learning journey, cultivating resilience and overcoming challenges, creating a legacy of impact.

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How to Write an Awesome Essay About Your Career Goals

• Before you begin, ask yourself a few key questions like:
• What are my short-term and long-term career goals?
• Where do I see myself in ten years?
• What events in my life have led me to have these goals?
• What major will help me reach my goals?
• What skills do I need to reach my goals?
• What impact do I want to have on society?

Career Goals Essay Template

Need more inspiration.

After you brainstorm the responses to these questions, look for common themes, or pick out the most interesting stories. You can build your main essay “thesis” or idea around this.

Once you’ve got the main idea, create an outline to put your ideas into essay format. This will give you a general idea of structure.

You can use the career essays template below to give you some ideas. But remember that some rules are meant to be broken, so don’t be afraid to be innovative and think outside the box!

Also, when you’re done, head over to Going Merry to apply for the Career Goals scholarship essay bundle (one essay, one application, multiple scholarships!). You might as well make that essay count. Sign up for Going Merry to apply for scholarships more efficiently.

Here’s a paragraph-by-paragraph breakdown:

Paragraph 1 : Establish the main theme of what you’re going to talk about. It should also grab the reader’s attention. For example, instead of starting your essay with something generic (e.g. Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to be a zoologist), get creative with it! Try something like My greatest memory as a young girl was going to the zoo for the first time or While most kids play house or school, I always wanted to play zookeeper.

Paragraph 2 : Elaborate on what inspired your career goals. Perhaps it was a relative, a TV show, or simply an experience that you had. Remember that old writing adage, “Show, don’t tell.” In other words, try to demonstrate your interest with story or description. 

Paragraph 3 : Discuss your short-term career goals and your intended major. How will your intended major help you reach these goals? What skills do you need to learn to reach them? At the end of the paragraph, try discussing how your short-term goals can help you achieve your long-term goals.

Paragraph 4 : Focus on your long-term goals and the impact that you hope to have on society. If you’re not sure what your long-term goals are, don’t sweat it; they’ll probably change anyways. You can instead focus on the difference you’d like to make overall. And don’t worry too much about the size of the impact…remember that just doing what you’re truly passionate about has a massive impact on those around you.

The last paragraph is your conclusion. You can use this paragraph to summarize what you discussed in the previous few paragraphs. If you want to be even more creative, try ending your essay with a question for your readers or a new insight. Good luck!

And now that you’re ready with that essay, put it to good use! You can recycle that same essay, when applying for the Career Goals Scholarship Bundle. We’ve joined together multiple scholarships (all requesting essays on career goals), into just ONE simple application! See more info here , or just sign up to get going.

Check out examples from other students just like you. Here are links to some great career goal essay examples:

• Example 1  
• Example 2  
• Example 3  

Or maybe you’re looking for help with an academic goals essay — we’ve got you covered there too.

Also, check out this helpful list of the 10 most common scholarship essay topics !

Sign up for Going Merry today, and upload your career goal essay right to your profile. It’s that easy!

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20 Smart Answers: “Where Do You See Yourself in 5 Years?”

By Status.net Editorial Team on April 10, 2023 — 10 minutes to read

Why Do They Ask This Question?

When you’re asked “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?,” the interviewer wants to gain insight into your career aspirations, personal goals, and how you envision growing within the company or industry. This question also helps interviewers understand whether your long-term goals align with the opportunities that the company or job may provide.

Before you go into the interview, take some time to reflect on what you genuinely want to achieve in the next five years. Consider the following aspects:

• Areas you wish to specialize in or skills you want to refine
• Leadership opportunities you’d like to explore
• Professional certifications or training programs you plan to complete
• Any goals related to the company’s values or industry trends

Understanding your own goals will help you create a truthful and thoughtful response that showcases your ambition and commitment to personal growth. Moreover, demonstrating how you plan to utilize and develop the skills gained in this role will show the interviewer that you’re a good fit for the company.

It’s important to remember that your answer should be tailored to the specific position or industry you’re interviewing for. You want to show the interviewer that your long-term goals are a natural progression from the job you’re applying for. Feel free to express enthusiasm for the company, industry, or role, but avoid making unrealistic claims or commitments.

Tips for Structuring Your Answer

Being honest in your response means sharing your true career aspirations, while still trying to keep your goals realistic and attainable within the company. Your response might include the following aspects:

• Specific job titles or roles you aspire to reach
• Skills you plan to develop or improve
• Any certifications, trainings, or educational goals you intend to achieve

Be Adaptable

Show flexibility in your answer by acknowledging that change is inevitable and that you’re willing to adapt to the company’s needs as well as your own professional growth. You can tell your interviewer that you’re open to new opportunities within the organization.

• Highlight your ability to learn new skills and take on new challenges
• Discuss how you can grow within the company and contribute to its success
• Emphasize your willingness to embrace change and adapt as needed

Show Your Commitment

• Express how you see your professional growth aligned with the company’s goals
• Discuss the ways you intend to contribute meaningfully to the organization
• Reiterate your excitement to be part of the company’s future

Addressing Uncertainty

It’s natural to feel uncertain about your future, especially when asked to predict where you will be in five years. However, using some strategies, you can form a thoughtful response that communicates your aspirations and adaptability.

Firstly, consider discussing your long-term goals in broad terms. Even if you’re unsure about the specifics, try to focus on the direction you’d like your career to move. For example, mention professional growth opportunities or attribute you’d like to develop. This approach demonstrates ambition without being too rigid.

Example: “In five years, I hope to have built on my skills and gained more responsibility within this company. I’m eager to learn from experienced team members and eventually take on leadership roles.”

Secondly, when you are not entirely sure about the exact positions or steps, you can emphasize a growth mindset. Talk about continuously improving and adapting to changing situations, which would show that you’re flexible and resilient.

• Constant learning
• Embrace challenges
• Adapt to change

Example: “I’m committed to continually expanding my knowledge and improving, which is why I’m enthusiastic about your company’s focus on innovation. Wherever I see myself in five years, I’ll be ready to adapt and grow.”

If future possibilities are vague, mention that you’re open to exploring various paths or contributing to different projects. Clarify that you’re excited to work with the company and discover opportunities to make a meaningful impact.

Example: “I’m excited about the wide range of projects your company is involved in. While I may not know the precise role I’ll fill in five years, I’m eager to contribute to a company like yours and find my unique path.”

Setting Realistic Goals

When crafting your answer to the oft-dreaded question, “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?”, it’s crucial to set realistic goals. Establishing achievable objectives demonstrates not only your ambition but also your clarity about what it takes to advance your career and thrive in the company.

One way to set realistic goals is to consider the job role and how it aligns with your long-term aspirations. Analyze the job description and requirements, and think about how they fit with your personal growth plans. Start by identifying the necessary steps to progress in the company or your field, and incorporate them into your answer. Here are some tips to help you:

• Reflect on the skills or experience you need to acquire in the next five years. For example, perhaps you’ll need to complete a specific certification or training to advance in your industry. Mention this in your response, acknowledging the importance of self-development and continuous learning.
• Consider potential career paths within the company. Research and identify possible roles you might transition into, ensuring your answer aligns with the organization’s structure and growth opportunities. This demonstrates a commitment to the company and its future.
• Think about your personal life and how it may impact your career trajectory. It’s essential to recognize that your personal circumstances could play a role in determining your career path over the next five years. By balancing work and personal life, you can set realistic expectations for yourself and your employer.

As you formulate your response, keep in mind that it’s perfectly normal to not have an exact plan for the next five years. However, it’s crucial to demonstrate a strong work ethic, flexibility, and willingness to learn and grow within your role and the company.

Aligning with Company Vision

It’s also useful to consider the company’s vision and values. Doing so shows interviewers that you have done your research and genuinely care about the potential role you might play in the organization’s future.

Take some time to familiarize yourself with the company’s mission statement and objectives. Visit their website, read up on any press releases, and research the history and recent accomplishments. This information will give you a solid foundation to align your long-term career goals with the organization’s vision.

Next, reflect on your personal values and career aspirations to find a meaningful connection with the company’s ethos. Use your research to identify opportunities for growth within the organization and emphasize how your contribution can serve as a catalyst for furthering their mission.

• Review the job description thoroughly and understand the key responsibilities and required skills.
• Reflect on your unique strengths and how they can contribute to the role and the company’s success.
• Think about possible career milestones within the role and how they align with your long-term goals.
• Consider the company’s projects or initiatives you would like to be involved in or lead, helping the organization grow and evolve in the future.
• Prepare to communicate these points with confidence and enthusiasm during the interview.

An example of a well-aligned response could be:

“In five years, I see myself holding a leadership role within your company’s marketing department, where I can contribute to the development and execution of successful marketing strategies. I’m especially excited about the potential opportunity to work on your company’s sustainability initiatives, as I believe strongly in environmentally-conscious business practices.”

Focusing on Skills and Growth

When answering the question “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?”, focusing on skills and growth is an excellent approach. This shows employers that you’re dedicated to improving yourself professionally and highlights your commitment to the role you’re applying for.

Improving Current Skillset

Identify the key skills relevant to the job you’re seeking, and consider how you can enhance these skills over time: this can include further training, mentorship, or hands-on experience.

For example, you might say something like:

“In the next five years, I plan to hone my expertise in project management. I would like to collaborate on more complex projects and learn from experienced professionals in the field. I also plan to pursue a certification in Agile methodologies to streamline processes and deliver higher-quality results.”

This answer demonstrates your ambition, as well as a desire to contribute positively to the organization.

Acquiring New Skills

Besides improving your current skillset, it’s important to consider acquiring new skills. Employers appreciate candidates who are adaptable and committed to their professional development. Think about which additional skills could help you be more effective in your role or support the company’s goals.

“I am eager to learn more about data analysis tools like SQL and Python to inform and optimize our marketing strategies. I believe this will allow me to contribute more effectively to data-driven decision-making within the team and help the company achieve its larger objectives.”

“In the next five years, I plan to become an expert in Python programming and machine learning. I’m committed to taking courses and attending workshops to expand my skillset, which I believe will be an asset to your company’s tech team.”

“My goal is to develop my skills and expertise in this field, and in five years, I hope to have become an expert in my area of work and be recognized as a thought leader in the industry.”

Leadership-Focused Examples

Discussing your aspirations for a leadership role demonstrates your interest in taking on responsibility and driving teams to succeed. Emphasize your ability to guide others and create a positive work environment:

“As someone with a passion for teamwork and collaboration, I see myself in a leadership position in the next five years. I’m eager to mentor junior colleagues and help foster their professional growth, while also contributing to the overall success of the company.”

“In five years, I see myself as a senior member of this organization, having taken on more leadership responsibilities and contributing to the growth of the company.”

Career-Focused Examples

“In five years, I see myself in a mid-level management position within the marketing department. I plan on using the next few years to further develop my skills in marketing strategy and data analysis, and I truly believe this company is the perfect place to grow and achieve those goals.”

“I am excited about the opportunity to learn and grow in this role, and in five years, I hope to have taken on new challenges and responsibilities within the company.”

“I am passionate about making a positive impact in the world, and in five years, I see myself working on projects that have a tangible impact on people’s lives and the environment.”

“In five years, I hope to have built strong relationships with my colleagues and clients, and have a reputation for being a reliable and trustworthy partner in business.”

“I am committed to continuous learning and personal growth, and in five years, I hope to have completed additional training and certifications that will help me progress in my career.”

“I am excited about the potential for innovation and new technologies in this field, and in five years, I hope to have contributed to the development of new products or services that can benefit our customers.”

“In five years, I see myself in a leadership role within the company, mentoring and coaching others to help them achieve their full potential.”

“In five years, I hope to have made a significant impact in this company and have grown both professionally and personally. I see myself taking on more responsibility and leadership roles, while continuing to develop my skills and expertise in my field. Ultimately, I would like to be seen as a valuable asset to the company and contribute to its continued success.”

“In five years, I see myself having made a meaningful impact in this industry and having established myself as a thought leader and expert in my field. I am someone who is constantly looking for ways to innovate and improve, and I hope to have brought new ideas and approaches to the table that have helped move the industry forward. I also hope to have built a strong network of contacts and collaborators who share my passion for this work.”

“In five years, I see myself having built a successful and fulfilling career in this industry, while also maintaining a healthy work-life balance. I believe that it’s important to have a sense of purpose and meaning in one’s work, but also to prioritize personal relationships and hobbies outside of work. I hope to have found that balance and to be living a life that feels both rewarding and fulfilling.”

Your answer doesn’t need to be set in stone or overly specific; instead, focus on showcasing your skills, growth potential, and flexibility in the ever-evolving professional landscape.

To summarize:

• Align your goals with the company’s objectives
• Emphasize your desire for growth and development

Crafting the perfect response takes time, so give yourself an opportunity to reflect and practice before your interview.

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How to Write an Essay About Your Future Goals

What Is the Meaning of Educational Planning?

Explaining where you see your life in five,10 or even 20 years requires thought and planning. Writing an essay about your future goals helps you get a clear vision of what you want to accomplish. In order to clearly communicate your life plans, take time to identify your passions and interests before you begin writing. Doing so, will make structuring the essay a lot easier.

Select three specific goals you wish to accomplish within a certain time period. Explain in the introduction of your essay why you selected those goals and how they are related to one another. Provide a brief and general explanation of how you will accomplish your goals.

Write one to two paragraphs specifically explaining each goal. Describe the rationale for each goal and how the idea originated. Mention individuals and personal experiences that inspired you to set these goals. Discuss how far or close you are to reaching each goal.

Include facts and research information about what it will take to reach each goal. Research should include the steps you need to take in order to accomplish your goal. This research can be standard information acquired from documents. For example, if going to college is one of your future goals, identify which college and include information about admission requirements you must meet. Your research information can also be based on interviewing other people who have reached the goal for which you are presently striving.

Conclude your paper by restating your goals and why they are important to you.

Read your essay to a friend to make sure it's easy to understand. Review and proofread thoroughly if you are submitting your essay for a grade.

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Kai Ingram has over 15 years of experience as a professional writer. She writes on a wide range of topics related to entrepreneurship, international affairs and health and spirituality. She has written for various publications and websites such as the "Atlanta Tribune," The Ms. CEO show and "New Vision in Business" magazine. Ingram has a Bachelor of Arts in social policy and journalism.

Career Essay

Career essay generator.

How do you see yourself 5 or 10 years from now? That question kicks start your imagination and make you visualize yourself in your future career. Maybe you are thinking about it now, but you are likely confused about expressing it in words. Unlike other essay writing , writing your career essay is exciting because you are writing about yourself, your plans, passion, and aspiration. Learn how to make your career essay impressive by reading this article.

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What Is a Career Essay?

A career essay is a text people write to detail their goals or plans for the future. In this essay, people talk about the career they want in the future and the things they have achieved so far. People often ask you to write a career essay when you send an application letter for a scholarship or submit your resume for a job.

How To Write a Rousing Career Essay

You should write your career essay seriously because it might be a deciding factor for your future. That said, in writing your essay, there are a lot of things to consider and a process you need to follow. Your end goal in writing your essay is to convince people that you are determined to walk the talk and make the things you wrote in your descriptive essay to reality.

1. Devise an Engrossing Title

The first thing to think about when writing an essay is coming up with an attention-grabbing title. When people read your essay, they pay the most attention to your title. Also, another benefit of coming up with your title first is that it will serve as a guide for you for the whole essay. 

2. Introduce With a Hook

After devising a title, deliver the next blow with an introduction that piques their curiosity. To do that, begin your essay with a hook. Your hook can be a quote, a question, or you can even provide a statistic. If your introduction is good enough, it will secure the engagement of your readers.

3. Organize Your Ideas

Writing an essay is like taking your readers for a ride. You need to set the vibe and organize the flow of your thoughts. Don’t start too strong it might make the rest of your essay bland. You need to properly build up the development of excitement and make sure the order of your ideas makes sense. 

4. Polish Your Essay

Finalize your essay by proofreading it. When people talk about their passion, they tend to talk too much and include several unnecessary things. Make sure not to do that. Omit all the details that don’t contribute to the overall impact of your reflective essay. Also, don’t forget to review your text for grammatical errors. 

Why is career planning important?

People hustle every day to reach their dream careers. Having a target career gives you a direction and sets your path. Planning your career is essential because being indecisive about it might negatively impact your life. Not having a fixed goal is like not having an end destination. Preparing for it would also make your career action plan achievable.

What is a career genogram?

A career genogram traces back an individual’s family tree and examines the career timeline they pursued. The scope of this genogram reaches the grandparents, extended family, and even the person’s close friends. This graphic representation is helpful when a person has a hard time deciding about his or her career development plan .

What is career assessment?

Career assessment is the process of identifying what career would work best for you. Most assessments are in the form of a questionnaire . It includes questions about your interests, your skills, your hobbies, and your strengths. These are some examples of questions that would help assess your future career. The result of your career assessment might give you ideas on what path to take.

The moment people read your career essay, they often rate how likely you are to succeed. Show them a piece of your mind that would erase all their doubts about your success. They say manifesting works wonders, so manifest the future that you want best by composing a rousing career essay. 

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• Professional

Write a career essay on the benefits and challenges of a career in medicine.

Discuss in a career essay the skills needed for success in the digital marketing field.

What do you want to become in the future? 7 Sample Answers

Have you ever asked yourself what you wanted to be when you grew up? Everyone has a vision of something they want to accomplish, whether it’s becoming a doctor, starting their own business, or traveling the world. What do you want to become in the future? Knowing your future goals can help you make decisions now that will help you reach those goals. Think about what inspires and motivates you, and let that guide you toward your dreams!

You might have often asked your life, “What do you want to become in the future?” Sometimes you face this question in job interviews. As a job seeker, it’s essential to have a clear understanding of your career goals and aspirations to impress potential employers. Knowing what you want to become in the future showcases your ambition and motivation and demonstrates your preparedness and suitability for the role.

In this article, we’ll delve into the various steps and considerations for discovering your future career path so that you can confidently answer this interview question and take the first step toward your dream job.

Table of Contents

How to discover your future career path

Understanding yourself.

This involves taking the time to reflect on your interests, strengths, values, and skills. Understanding what motivates and drives you can help you make informed decisions about your future career.

Researching Your Options

This involves exploring different industries, job roles, and companies to determine which career paths align with your interests and goals. Researching the job market and staying current with industry trends can help you make informed decisions.

Creating a Career Plan

This involves setting achievable and realistic goals for your future career and outlining the steps you need to take to reach those goals. This can include developing skills, gaining experience, and networking with professionals in your desired field. A well-crafted career plan can help you stay focused and motivated as you work towards your future career aspirations.

How to Answer the Interview question “What do you want to become in the future?”

When answering the interview question, “What do you want to become in the future?” it’s important to be concise and to the point while also showcasing your ambition and passion for your chosen career path. A good answer might follow this structure:

• State your career goal clearly and concisely, for example, “My long-term goal is to become a marketing manager.”
• Explain why you want to pursue this career; for example, “I have a passion for marketing, and I am driven by the challenge of developing and executing successful campaigns.”
• Discuss your relevant experience and qualifications; for example, “I have a strong background in marketing research and analysis, as well as experience in project management. I plan further to develop my data analysis and digital marketing skills.”
• Mention your plans for achieving your career goal, for example, “I am actively seeking opportunities to gain experience and learn from experienced professionals, and I believe that this role aligns with my long-term career aspirations.”
• Conclude by reiterating your commitment to your future career: “I am confident in my ability to achieve my long-term career goals, and I am eager to bring my passion and expertise to this role.”

Basic Structure

• Introduction
• Long-Term Goals
• Skills and Qualifications
• Industry or Company
• Relevance to the Role

Sample answers to “What do you want to become in the future?”

• “In the future, I see myself as a senior project manager, leading cross-functional teams and delivering successful projects for a top technology company. I am committed to continuously developing my leadership and organizational skills, and I believe this role will provide the opportunities for growth and challenge that I seek.”
• “I aspire to be a Chief Financial Officer for a fast-growing company in the next 5-10 years. I am driven by the opportunity to lead a finance team and help shape a company’s financial strategy while contributing to the organization’s overall success.”
• “My long-term goal is to become a successful entrepreneur and launch my business in the creative industry. I have a passion for design and innovation and am eager to bring my ideas to life while positively impacting society.”
• “In the future, I hope to be a respected educator and mentor, sharing my passion for science and technology with the next generation of students. I am committed to staying current with my field’s latest developments and providing hands-on learning experiences for my students.”
• “I want to become a human resources leader, using my passion for people and my expertise in employee relations to help organizations attract and retain top talent. I am committed to promoting a positive workplace culture and ensuring that employees are supported and valued. I believe that this role will allow me to make a meaningful difference in people’s lives.”
• “I am currently working as a marketing coordinator and have gained valuable experience in the field. My long-term goal is to become a marketing manager, and I am confident that the skills and experience I have gained will allow me to achieve this goal.”
• “I am interested in working for a technology company, as I am fascinated by the innovative products and services that these companies offer. I am eager to contribute to a company that positively impacts society and is at the forefront of technological advancements.”

In conclusion, answering the question, “What do you want to become in the future?” can be a valuable opportunity to showcase your career aspirations and demonstrate your motivation and commitment to your chosen field. By taking the time to understand yourself, research your options, and create a career plan, you can craft a clear and concise answer that will leave a lasting impression on the interviewer. Ultimately, being honest and passionate about your future career goals can set you apart as a candidate and increase your chances of landing the job.

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Interview Questions

Comprehensive Interview Guide: 60+ Professions Explored in Detail

Where Do You See Yourself in 5 Years? Sample Answers

By Biron Clark

Published: November 19, 2023

One of the most common interview questions you’ll hear is: Where do you see yourself in 5 years? (or 2 years, 3 years, etc.) The problem: Who honestly knows where they’ll be in that amount of time?  The trick is: Hiring managers don’t actually expect you to know when answering this question. They’re just looking to hear a few key things in your response.

So in this article, I’m going to share:

• Why hiring managers ask this interview question and what they’re really looking for
• How to answer the question in 3 steps to show employers you’re a good fit for their job
• The mistakes to avoid when answering where you see yourself in 5 years
• Word-for-word sample answers

Why Employers Ask Where You See Yourself in 5 Years

When the interviewer asks you this question, they aren’t expecting you to really know where your career or life will be in five years. Nobody’s going to check on you. In fact, you might not even be with the same employer. So it doesn’t matter if your prediction of your long term goals is accurate.

All that matters is you give a good answer that gets you the job offer , and you can do that by highlighting certain traits that the interviewer wants to see, and traits that show the employer you’re a good fit for their position and company.

What hiring managers want to hear when they ask this question:

• They want to hear that you’ve thought about your long term goals and future, and that you care about your career path and growth (because this means you’ll work harder, have a better attitude, and be more motivated in their company).
• They want to make sure you’re ambitious and goal-oriented in general.
• They want to know that you’re interested in the specific type of job they’re hiring for, and that you aren’t just applying because you’re desperate to find any position you can land (this is also why they ask, “Why are you applying for this position?” )

If you don’t show employers that you’ve put thought into what direction your career is going and/or if you can’t show that your goals align with the job you’ve applied for, it’s going to cost you job offers . And if you seem like you don’t really  want their specific position , they won’t hire you either. Employers have a LOT of applicants to choose from and almost always pick a candidate who has specific reasons for wanting  their  job.

This means  researching the company before your interview  and being ready to name a few things that excite you about their job description, their company’s overall mission, their industry, etc.

Watch: How to Answer “Where Do You See Yourself in 5 Years?”

How to give the perfect answer to where you see yourself in 5 years.

First, here’s the WORST thing you can do: Respond in a way that makes you sound like you haven’t put any thought into it this all, or that you don’t have career goals or long-term aspirations. Remember – employers want to know that they’re hiring someone who is goal-oriented, motivated, and cares about their long term career and future.

So that’s step one…

1. Think about where you’d actually like to be in 5 years in your career

Nothing sounds worse than saying, “Wow, I haven’t thought about that. I have no idea.” And you also don’t want to draw a blank and say “Um, let me think.” So thinking about this ahead of time will prepare you to talk confidently about the topic.

2. Make sure you sound slightly ambitious

You don’t want to say, “I see myself in the same position doing the same work five years from now.” Remember – nobody’s going to tap you on the shoulder in 5 years and check on you! If you do want to stay in your next job for five years without trying to get any promotions, that’s your choice. But saying that won’t help you get hired for most of the high-quality jobs out there.

So for the interview, you just need to say something that’s a bit challenging but still reasonable.

3. Tailor your answer to the company & job

As a final step, make sure that with whatever five-year goal you share, you can explain how the job you’re interviewing for fits into that goal. Otherwise, they’re going to be wondering whether you really want their job and whether you’ll stay long-term. For example, if you’re applying for your first Supervisor position, and you want to be a Manager in the next five years, you could explain that you think you’d really enjoy leading people and your big career goal is to break into management. Then you could easily explain how this Supervisor role is a great first step to get into leadership, and how you would excel in this job and enjoy the opportunity.

This is also true when answering, “ what’s your dream job? ” – you don’t need to say this is your exact dream position, but it should have some similarities to what you want to be doing long-term!

Now that we’ve looked at why employers hiring managers ask where you see yourself in five years and how to answer,  let’s take a look at word-for-word example answers.

Example answer #1

“It’s only been two years since I graduated and began working, but I’d say that my goal in five years is to see significant growth in my sales skills. One of my longer-term career goals is to be involved in sales training and mentoring, maybe as a Manager or corporate trainer, but I know the first step is to master the day-to-day work. So in the next five years, I look forward to continuing to build my sales skills, both in-person and over the phone, and continuing on my current career path as a salesperson. I reviewed your job posting and it seems like this position would offer some great challenges and learning opportunities for someone relatively new in their sales career like myself.”

Example answer #2

“In the next 5-10 years, I hope to be leading a team or department. I’ve always enjoyed leadership in my career, so growing as a leader is one of my core career goals right now. Your job posting looked exciting and mentions some great leadership opportunities, so I was eager to have a job interview and learn more about this opportunity.”

Example answer #3

“Since becoming a Project Lead in my last job, I’ve found I really like project management. In five years, I hope to be leading larger projects, or maybe managing multiple project teams. I thought your Senior Project Manager position was a great step in that direction and would provide a nice challenge, while also making use of my 2+ years of prior project leadership experience in this same industry.”

Example answer #4:

“I’ve actually been developing my five year plan recently. Since I’m looking for an entry level position in social media and content marketing right now, in five years I would like to be a manager or supervisor in this area, or possibly a project manager. So that means that in the next few years, I need to master the fundamentals and hands-on aspects of the role to advance in the future. And then in the very long term outlook for my career, I’d love to branch out into other areas of digital marketing and lead an entire marketing department for my company. This position seems like a great fit for my five-year goal, based on what I saw on the job description, so I was eager to come have an interview to learn more.”

The example answers above are effective for a few reasons. They’re doing the following:

• Showing the hiring manager that you’ve clearly thought about this topic
• Making sure to sound slightly ambitious
• Explaining not only where you want to be in 5 years, but also how their specific job fits into your longer-term goals, and why you applied for their position!

If you do these three things and keep your answer concise and direct, you’ll put a smile on the interviewer’s face and move one step closer to getting the job offer. These are the types of responses that the interviewer wants to hear when deciding whether job seekers are a fit for the company. You can use this same style of answer if a hiring manager asks about your career goals for 2 years, 10 years, or any other time period. And you can also use this if they ask a similar interview question like, “What are your career goals?” Just adjust the beginning of your answer and say, “In 5 years, I hope to be doing….”

Tailoring Your Answer for Different Job Levels and Industries

When responding to the question, you’ll want to consider the status of the role in the department’s hierarchy. 

If you’re applying for an entry-level role, it’s okay to express your ambition to graduate to the organization’s next level within five years. For instance, if the position is for a bookkeeper but you’re working on a bachelor’s degree in accounting , it’s reasonable to expect to move up to a staff accountant position after graduation. 

Be careful in your response if you’re applying for a mid-level position. Employees in these roles often spend some time there until senior-level executives retire or move into other roles. Consider who is holding the position you’re hoping for in the next five years and whether they are following a career trajectory. 

Rather than telling the hiring manager you’re hoping for the top-dog role, express an interest in learning new skills that will benefit you in the job you’re applying for. You could also mention lateral movements within the department to expand your skill set.

Individuals applying for a senior-level position should talk about goals they hope to achieve for the company, such as growing sales or introducing a new product. If they’re successful, they’ll bring additional value to the organization.

Industry-Specific Example Answers

Healthcare:.

“I envision myself as an experienced nurse practitioner , having gained extensive knowledge in patient care and cutting-edge treatments. I hope to lead a team of dedicated healthcare professionals as a charge nurse, where we work together to provide exceptional care while implementing innovative solutions that improve health outcomes. Additionally, I aim to actively participate in research and continuous learning to stay updated with the latest advancements in the field.”

“Five years from now, I see myself as a senior software engineer, leading a talented team of developers and contributing to high-impact projects that solve complex problems. I aim to foster a culture of innovation and collaboration within my team, where we constantly challenge ourselves to learn and grow. I also hope to mentor junior developers, sharing my knowledge and passion for technology to help them thrive in their careers. By staying updated with the latest industry trends, I plan to develop cutting-edge solutions that drive growth for the company.”

“In five years, I aim to become a financial analyst , leveraging my expertise to optimize investment portfolios and help clients achieve their financial goals. I hope to have developed a strong understanding of market trends and financial models, enabling me to provide insightful recommendations that contribute to the firm’s overall success in the industry. By staying ahead of emerging investment opportunities and engaging in continuous learning, I plan to become a trusted advisor to clients, colleagues, and the company.”

What to Avoid When Answering

If a hiring manager asks where you see yourself in five years, avoid the following mistakes in your answer:

Not Expressing Yourself Clearly

Sometimes, job candidates simply don’t know how to answer this question. They don’t want the hiring manager to think they’ll leave the job as soon as they find something better, so to avoid appearing overly ambitious, they’ll give a generic answer that doesn’t give the interviewer any sense of their aspirations.

Interviewers want to know that you’re goal-oriented. Be prepared with a specific answer that shows you have given real thought to your future and your desired career trajectory.

Expressing a Desire to Leave the Company or Industry

Here’s a secret: telling the interviewer what you plan to accomplish in the next five years is okay. Just ensure it’s not wildly different from the role you’re interviewing for. 

For instance, if you’re applying for a job as a financial reporting manager and you tell the hiring manager you plan to open an accounting business in the next five years, they may decide on another candidate. They know you’re not thinking long-term about their organization.

Make sure your answer relates to the company and your profession. You can also include personal goals. Just ensure those objectives don’t require you to leave the company or enter a new field of work. Otherwise, the hiring manager will choose a different applicant who genuinely aspires to stay with the organization long-term.

Only Focusing on Personal Ambition

We all have personal goals we’re working toward. Perhaps you’re writing a book you hope to publish soon or waking up at the break of dawn to exercise and lose weight. Those are great goals to have, and you should continue progressing.

While you can convey personal goals in your response, you should also find a way to incorporate career goals that apply to the position. 

For instance, if you’re working on an advanced degree or certification that applies to the role or your profession, that’s something you’ll want to share with the hiring manager. They’ll see that you’re taking the initiative to improve yourself, which will benefit you and them.

Conclusion: How to Determine Where You See Yourself in 5 Years, and How to Answer

If you read everything above, you know know what employers look for when asking this interview question, and how to explain where you see yourself in five years to impress them.

The first step to take is to think about a general idea of where you’d hope to be in five years. Remember: Nobody’s going to be following up and checking on you! Just take a rough guess at what direction you’d like to go in with your career, and pick something that sounds ambitious… (something that’s 1-2 steps ahead of where you’re currently at in your career). If you do this, you’ll show the interviewer that you’re goal-oriented in your career and have taken the time to think about where you see yourself in five years or more.

And if you can explain how their job fits in with your long-term goals (Step 3/3 in the instructions earlier in the article), then they’ll be even more impressed with your response to this interview question.

That’s how to answer where you see yourself in five years in a job interview.

About the Author

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This was extremely helpful. now I have more confidence in answering the question like this

Can you please provide an example answer to this question say for a project manager position.

Great potential, career experience, and strong academic qualifications, but no job interviews.

Hi Victor, then it’s definitely your resume that needs work.

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My Life In 10 Years Essay | Goals for Life, Vision and Future in 10 years

February 13, 2024 by Prasanna

My Life In 10 Years Essay: We as a whole have objectives that we endeavor to accomplish. Some present moments, others long haul. Objectives make our lives energizing. They make us ascend each day to seek after them. Without them, life would be pointless, with no reason and with no ability to know east from west. Indeed, even detainees have objectives. Some of them enlist for courses and study hard until they accomplish their degrees. I additionally have my own arrangement of objectives that I have separated into three classifications, monetary, social and otherworldly. With a long-term emergency course of action, I work every day to guarantee that my objectives come around.

You can read more  Essay Writing  about articles, events, people, sports, technology many more.

• Job or Career
• Marriage and Family
• Healthy mind and body
• Social worker
• Passionate about goals
• Stability in finance

My Life Goals in 10 Years Essay

When defining individual objectives we should initially consider where we as of now are. Maybe you have done very well monetarily, however, your own connections are seriously inadequate. Perhaps your marriage is secure and friendly, however, in the space of sentiment, the fire has since a long time ago darkened. We need to take a legitimate evaluation of where we have succeeded and where we have fizzled. At that point, we can decide how to continue forward. Considering this, here are 10 essential objectives to achieve as you plan for life in the following 10 years.

Marriage and Family Harmony 

Keeping up and extending just as reestablishing and mending in this space ought to totally be the main concern in your own objectives. Pinpoint the connections in the direst condition. It may very well be that your marriage is in extreme difficulty. Potentially your relationship with an ex makes incredible agony in your whole family. Maybe it’s compelling correspondence issues with your youngsters. Any place the peril focuses is, the objective is to decide them and devise an arrangement for settling the issues. Make certain to feature where you have prevailing too, and how you may develop those seeds somewhere else. The objective is a family living in harmony and agreement.

Obligation to Improved Physical Health 

A decent spot to begin when discussing life objectives is to ensure you really have a daily existence a long time from now. That surely begins with great actual wellbeing. There are no certifications on carrying on with a long life, however, it is feasible to enormously build your chances. Tune in to your primary care physician when he advises you to lose those 25 additional pounds. Make an activity plan that you appreciate and relish. Ensure that a long time from now you are however energetic and fit as you seem to be ok at this point.

Start a Business 

While having my fantasy work is something I anticipate, remaining utilized for the remainder of my life isn’t something I imagined myself doing. I would prefer not to burn through the entirety of my energetic years building another person’s fantasies. I need to assemble my own fantasy. I have consistently longed for having a business, ideally in the corrective business. I need to work for myself. I need to utilize similar individuals, who will help me assemble my vision. I need to improve the existence of both my clients and representatives. Most importantly, I need to have independence from the rat race.

Organizations require a lot of infusions, as far as time and assets, before they can remain all alone. In this way, beginning a business currently is the best monetary move I can at any point make. I’m as yet youthful, I am constantly on the planet, I have fewer obligations and if there should be an occurrence of a business disappointment, I can generally recover myself. This is presumably the last objective I desire to seek after in my long-term plan since I need to guarantee my life is altogether first before I can begin a business.

Go to my fantasy get-away 

There are three places that are at the highest point of my number one objections list. They incorporate Brazil, India, and Egypt. I couldn’t want anything more than to visit Brazil and partake in the festival. I need to be there at the focal point of everything when the roads are lit with brilliant motorcades and everyone is simply singing, moving and having a ball. There are numerous things I might want to find in Brazil, the wonderful seashores, the pink dolphins, Iguazu Falls and in case I’m adequately fortunate, I may take a helicopter ride to have a perspective on the Statue of Christ on top of Corcovado Mountain.

At the point when I consider India, one thing rings a bell the Taj Mahal. Considered one of the marvels of the world, this great castle is made of marbles and valuable stones. I need to be an observer to this famous piece of design that has stood the test of time and keeps on entrancing us right up ’til the present time.

FAQ’s on My Life In 10 Years

Question 1. How can I see myself in 10 years?

Answer: You can answer the question: Where do you see yourself in 10 years by following these points:

•  Do your research.
• Imagine your future.
• Relate your answer to the job.
• Be ambitious, yet realistic.
• Tell them what you want.
• End your answer with a question.

Question 2. How to conclude the essay?

Answer: Taking everything into account, I consider myself to be 10 years old as a devoted, proficient, adoring and caring individual from family and a superior person. An individual who can be looked for guidance, help and ideas, who is a productive member of society and qualities straightforward things of joy in life-these should be my characteristics before the following decade’s over.

Question 3. Examples of “What are you in 10 years?”

Answer: Some of the examples are:

• I am passionate about my job
• I have a family
• I have a business of my own
• I am a social worker
• I have achieved my dream job
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Examples of Scholarship Essays for the “Career Goals” Question

Emily Wong is a writer at Scholarships360. She’s worked as a social media manager and a content writer at several different startups, where she covered various topics including business, tech, job recruitment, and education. Emily grew up and went to school in the Chicago suburbs, where she studied economics and journalism at Northwestern University.

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Maria Geiger is Director of Content at Scholarships360. She is a former online educational technology instructor and adjunct writing instructor. In addition to education reform, Maria’s interests include viewpoint diversity, blended/flipped learning, digital communication, and integrating media/web tools into the curriculum to better facilitate student engagement. Maria earned both a B.A. and an M.A. in English Literature from Monmouth University, an M. Ed. in Education from Monmouth University, and a Virtual Online Teaching Certificate (VOLT) from the University of Pennsylvania.

Writing an essay is often the trickiest part of the scholarship application, not to mention the most time-consuming. However, the essay section also allows room for creativity and individuality. If you can communicate effectively, you can use the essay portion to stand out from the crowd. Let’s go over some tips for writing, as well as a couple of scholarship essay examples about career goals.

How to write a scholarship essay 

At this point, you’ve probably gained plenty of experience writing papers for school. However, it may still take a couple of tries to nail the scholarship essay. Since scholarship teams often have to get through a lot of applications, it’s important to stand out while staying concise. Here are some simple guidelines for writing scholarship essays.

See also: How to write a winning scholarship essay (with examples!)

Take five minutes to brainstorm

Before you even start your essay, take some time to gather your thoughts. Think about what you’ll want the paper to focus on. Why did you choose to pursue your career path in the first place? Where do you want to be in five years? How would this scholarship help you further your studies and work toward your goals?

Once you’ve jotted down a few ideas, choose one or two to center your essay on. Identifying the focus of your paper, it’ll make it easier to keep your thoughts organized. In turn, it’ll make it easier for the reader to follow.

Related : How to start a scholarship essay (with examples!)

Stay within the word limit

Unlike the four-page essays that you may have written in English class, scholarship essays are often only a paragraph or two. In order to respect the selection committee’s time, be wary of going too far about the specified word count. A general rule of thumb is to stay within 20 words above or below the limit. That may entail a few rounds of edits to get the wording just right.

Stay positive!

Feel free to use part of your essay to talk about your life’s challenges. After all, the selection committee often wants to give the award to a candidate who needs it. However, make sure your anecdote doesn’t devolve into a sob story. If you’re going to bring up hardships you’ve endured, try to balance it by talking about how you’ve overcome them. By demonstrating resilience, you can show readers how you would use the scholarship to succeed in your current situation.

Leave time to proofread

Especially for a short scholarship essay, proofreading can take as little as 5-10 minutes. Still, it can be tempting to just hit “submit” after your first draft. However, being too impulsive can leave your essay riddled with typos and grammatical errors.

Try to avoid unnecessary mistakes by finishing your draft at least 24 hours before the scholarship deadline. That way, you can proofread it with fresh eyes before you submit it.

If you’re struggling to close out your essay, read how to end a scholarship essay in five steps .

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How to write a 100-word “career goals” essay.

When writing a 100-word essay, you’ll have to choose your content carefully. Since space is limited, you’ll want to identify the most important details to include beforehand.

First and foremost, make sure to clearly communicate your current pursuits. Talk about your academic and extracurricular activities related to your career goals. Additionally, it’s important to be specific about what you plan to do in the future. Then, if you have extra room, you can talk about how the scholarship will help you reach your goals.

My name is Alison MacBride, and I’m a sophomore at the University of Illinois. I’m currently pursuing a major in Journalism with a minor in Natural Resource Conservation. After completing my program, I plan to combine my areas of interest to become an environmental journalist.

During high school, I volunteered at an eco-conscious farm, where I learned about how our actions affect the earth. Since then, I’ve been set on raising awareness for the environment. This scholarship would go a long way in helping me finish my degree with the skills I need to investigate and report about critical issues.

Word count: 100

How to write a 250-word “career goals” essay

For the 250-word essay, you can go into more detail. Give the readers some context by talking about how you first got interested in your chosen career. Storytelling can be especially effective in engaging your audience. Try to capture their attention by choosing one or two concrete examples and relaying them vividly.

Additionally, you can spend more time talking about the scholarship and how it’ll make a difference in your studies. Go into more detail about how and why you need the award, but remember to keep it positive! For more help, check out how to write a 250 word essay . 

I first decided that I wanted to pursue a career in environmentalism in early high school. The summer after my freshman year, I joined a volunteer program at an eco-conscious farm in my community. In addition to helping out with the operations, I learned about current environmental issues related to farming and other consumer industries.

After learning about the agricultural industry’s impact on the planet, I was inspired to make a difference. The next year, I started a monthly earth magazine at my high school in which we broke down environmental issues and offered tips on how to be more eco-friendly. When I started college, I founded an on-campus publication with the same mission.

In recent years, I’ve been troubled to see how some media outlets downplay the gravity of issues like climate change and deforestation. I’ve admired reporters who publish trustworthy and comprehensible information about environmental issues, and I aim to follow in their footsteps.

When I entered college, I was initially concerned that I wouldn’t have enough money to finish my degree. Fortunately, I’ve been able to cover most of my tuition using merit scholarships and paychecks from my part-time job on campus. Receiving this scholarship would allow me more time to focus on acing my classes and pursuing environmental advocacy work on campus.

Word count: 261

Final thoughts

Planning is essential in making your “career goals” essay clear and concise. Hopefully, these scholarship essay examples about career goals can be your guide to writing a scholarship-winning essay. Good luck!

Additional resources

Maybe you need to write a longer scholarship essay? We can help with our writing a 500 word essay guide ! Be prepared and learn how to write essays about yourself and how to craft an impressive personal statement . Learn the differences between a personal statement and a statement of purpose as the terms might come up on college websites. If you haven’t decided on a college already, check out our guide on how to choose a college . No matter where you are in your educational journey, make sure that you apply for all the scholarships you qualify for!

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Expectations — My Future Expectations throughout the Semester and Life

My Future: My Expectations in Life

• Categories: Expectations Life Goals

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Published: Sep 1, 2020

Words: 452 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

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Essay on My Aim in Life

• Updated on  
• Apr 15, 2024

Writing an essay is like searching for your inner self. Have you ever wondered why professors or your teachers assign you these writing tasks ? Why don’t they simply ask you to express yourself in oral form? The logic behind their asking you to write an essay is fairly simple. It is easy for you to express yourself more logically when you write an essay. By assigning you an essay task, your teachers are trying to help you develop your writing skills, vocabulary , and your unique writing style. Essays form an integral part of many academic and scholastic exams like SAT, and UPSC among many others. It is a crucial evaluative part of English proficiency tests as well like IELTS , TOEFL , Duolingo , and many more. In this blog, we will learn how to write an essay on My Aim in Life.

This Blog Includes:

Why should you have an aim in life, how to achieve your aim, essay on my aim in life in 100 words, essay on my aim in life in 200 words, essay on my aim in life in 500 words, essay on my aim in life to become a doctor, essay on my aim in life to become a teacher, essay on my aim in life to become an engineer.

A man with no career goals in life will never be successful. All of his goals will be shattered or fail at some time. He walks with a limp in his daily existence. In life, it is essential to have a realistic objective or goal. It will give your existence a new layer of meaning. When you accomplish it, you will be able to discover your true purpose in life and set an example for others on how to live life to the fullest. Not only that but completing your objective will bring you and your family a great deal of joy and happiness.

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The first and most important job is to exercise extreme caution when making a decision. A goal leads to the correct career. So, here are a few steps to remember at every stage of your existence.

• Be proactive at all times
• Keep a healthful and balanced lifestyle
• Keep pessimism at bay
• Procrastination should be avoided
• Increase your skills
• Accept your mistakes
• Seek professional advice
• Consider your ultimate destination
• Keep track of your accomplishments
• Maintain your concentration

The aim in life is really important because an aimless person is like a rudderless ship in the sea and does not know the direction of their destination. Likewise, if we also don’t have an aim in our life, we won’t know where to reach. So if you want to be successful and do something in your life then you just need to pick an aim. There are so many aims in human life. I have an aim also. I want to become a professor. I hope I will be able to become a professor one day and I will study hard for it.

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The aim in life is really important because an aimless person is like a rudderless ship in the sea and does not know the direction of their destination. Likewise, if we also don’t have an aim in our life, we won’t know where to reach. I always wanted to be a professor and now my family is inspiring me to become a professor too. My parents are really supportive and they respect my decision. My favourite subject is English . My teachers are really helpful and they help me a lot to understand everything on this particular subject. They also guide me a lot about future decisions.

Ms. Divya is my English professor and she knows about my future plans. She always inspires me to do better and work harder. The reason behind My Future Plan: I have a few specific reasons for my future plan. I was once explaining some doubts of my classmates and I realized that I really like explaining and teaching. After my English Honours degree, I will prepare for the Master’s degree. I am pretty much confident about that and I know I will work hard to pursue my dream. Everyone should have a reasonable aim in their life that will help them to reach success.

Also Read : IELTS Essay Topics

The aim in life is really important because an aimless person is like a rudderless ship in the sea and does not know the direction of their destination. Likewise, if we also don’t have an aim in our life, we won’t know where to reach. Thus to achieve it one has to overcome many obstacles and setbacks from time to time. I always wanted to be a professor and now my family is inspiring me to become a professor too. My parents are really supportive and they respect my decision. I have seen lots of my friends want to become a professor, and some of them want to pursue an MBA . There are a lot of aims and goals available that students can choose in their lives. Right now in this world, the top trending professions are Doctor, Teacher, Programmer, Designer, Architect, Marketer, Supervisor, Manager, Engineer, etc. Maybe you have something unique in you and you want to pursue that. So different people adopt different aims according to their inclinations, tastes or perceptions about life. My teachers are really helpful and are always guiding and helping me with my future plans. 

They have always inspired me to do better and work harder. I was once explaining some doubts to my classmates and I realized that I really like explaining and teaching. Later, I experienced teaching while doing an internship with an NGO. I went to a slum and taught kids there. I felt a different kind of satisfaction after teaching them. At that time I realized that I had never felt happier than this and decided to become a professor. I am one who enjoys exploring new places and getting to know new cultures, languages, and cuisines, and working as a professor offers many chances for me to develop those interests. After my English Honours degree, I will prepare for the Master’s degree. Then I am planning to take the UGC NET exam . Another big plus is the working hours that academia can offer, which are frequently more flexible than in other professions.

The biggest advantage of being a professor is that I find jobs in many places worldwide. I am really honest and passionate about my aim in life. It is surely a long journey but I will try my best to reach my goal and I suggest everyone do the same. According to me, timely execution of an action plan with a proactive attitude is the key to success. One of the best ways to stay motivated is by visualizing the change and likewise by achieving step-by-step milestones.

My aim in life is to grow to be a doctor in the future. I believe that medicine is one of the noblest professions to pursue in the world. I belong to a family of doctors and just like my mother, I aspire to be a neurosurgeon. The study of neurology and its impact on our behaviour, personality, and character is what intrigues me the most about the field. My curiosity towards the medical world and ambition to be a doctor is what motivates me to study harder and more diligently. The study of medicine is not easy but it opens up a whole new world of interaction. Learning about basic cell function to discovering the mechanisms of our brain is a fascinating journey. As a school student, I wish to excel in certain subjects like biology, chemistry, physics, maths, and psychology so that I can pursue my dream of becoming a doctor and a neurosurgeon. I hope to participate in different charities, health clinics, and services to gain the relevant skills one needs to be a doctor. I wish to work upon my social and communication skills because good communication is the backbone of every industry. I have the confidence and hope that one day I will achieve my aim in life to become a doctor.

“A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instil a love of learning.” Teachers are the foundation of a good society, they not only facilitate learning but also inspire children to follow their dreams and goals in life. This is why my aim in life is to become a teacher. My teachers have had a tremendous impact on my life, they taught me to believe in myself and follow my path no matter what. I wish to inculcate this belief and nurture it. Becoming a teacher can help me spread this knowledge and belief of believing in one’s ability to achieve their goals, to be individualistic and creative. I believe that I can be a good teacher because of my experience, humility, and caring nature. I possess all the skills and qualities that a promising teacher should possess. I hope one day I get the opportunity to follow my passion for teaching and educating the world in the future.

My aim in life is to become an engineer. Belonging to a family of engineers I have aspired to become a mechanical engineer like my father. Efforts anyone puts in becoming an engineer will be the best investment ever. I will face many challenges at work but it will open an array of opportunities for me around the world. My curiosity towards the engineering world and ambition to be an engineer is what drives me to study harder and more diligently. I have started to prepare myself for this journey from the school level. Engineering is all about creating new products and bringing up changes in the existing ones for better functioning. I have started participating in various Olympiads, competitions to level up my knowledge and turn my passion into a career. I hope one day I get the opportunity to follow my passion for engineering and bring a change in the future.

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The aim of my life is a common essay topic for students. It focuses on their ambitions, goals, and what they aspire to be when they grow up. It is a great learning and language exercise for school students.

The best answer is to provide a representation of your ambitions and ideal life. Students can talk about why they wish to pursue a particular course or career and how it aligns with their future ambitions.

The aim of a student should be to learn and improve upon their existing knowledge systems.

The word aim means something that you intend to do or a purpose in life.

My life aims to become a pilot.

An essay should be at least 100 words long.

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We hope this blog gives you an idea about how to write and present an essay on My Aim in Life that puts forth your opinions. For more information on such informative topics for your school, visit our essay writing and follow Leverage Edu .

Nikita Puri

Nikita is a creative writer and editor, who is always ready to learn new skills. She has great knowledge about study abroad universities, researching and writing blogs about them. Being a perfectionist, she has a habit of keeping her tasks complete on time before the OCD hits her. When Nikita is not busy working, you can find her eating while binge-watching The office. Also, she breathes music. She has done her bachelor's from Delhi University and her master's from Jamia Millia Islamia.

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Hi Rubi, We are glad that you found our blog interesting and nice. Here are some more recommendations for you to read: https://leverageedu.com/blog/essay-on-internet/ https://leverageedu.com/blog/common-application-essay/ https://leverageedu.com/blog/essay-writing/ https://leverageedu.com/blog/essay-on-digital-india/ https://leverageedu.com/blog/mba-essay/

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Career Goals Essay For Scholarships (With Examples)

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Scholarship programs often want you to write a career goals essay to see that you have a clear plan for how you’ll apply your education to a specific career path. This helps show a scholarship committee why you’re seeking funds for the next step on the path toward your success. Answering “what are your career goals” effectively can help increase your odds of impressing landing a scholarship opportunity. If you’re a prospective student applying for scholarships, this article will provide tips on how to write a career goals essay, along with essays on career goals examples to help you get an idea of what scholarship committees are looking for. Key Takeaways: When you’re writing a career goals essay, make sure to write about the goals that are relevant to the scholarship. Be honest and use your own voice to stand out in your scholarship essay. Go into detail about how the scholarship will help you achieve your goals. In This Article    Skip to section What is a career goals essay? Why scholarship essays ask about career goals Example career goals essay prompts Career goals essay examples Tips for writing a scholarship essay about career goals What to write in a career goals essay if your goals have changed Career goals essay for a scholarship FAQ References Sign Up For More Advice and Jobs Show More What is a career goals essay?

A career goals essay is a personal written explanation that discusses your background, why you’re interested in participating in the program, and what career you’d like this degree to lead into. A scholarship essay functions to explain why you want to achieve your professional goals and how you intend to get there.

In almost every application process, a portion asks the candidate to answer an essay question. When applying to an educational program, like an MBA, the essay prompt usually relates to your career goals .

Why scholarship essays ask about career goals

Scholarship essays ask about career goals to assess your enthusiasm for the program, learn more about how the scholarship will help you, and ensure that you’ve considered how the program will help you achieve your goals for the future:

Assess your enthusiasm. Passion is important for scholarship administrators, and if you’re able to articulate your enthusiasm for a specific career path , it will show that you’re determined to meet the requirements to reach that goal. The most specific and well-thought-out your essay is, the easier it will be for a reader to understand your devotion and commitment to the program and the field it will allow you to enter.

Learn how the scholarship will help you. Having a firm grasp of your career goals is great, but it’s equally important that you express exactly how the specific program relates to those goals. This shows that you’ve researched the merits of the program and understand exactly how it fits into your professional goals.

Show you’ve considered your future. This goes along with the first two points — show that you know how to set goals and consider the path toward achieving those goals, and you’ll have an easier time convincing the reader that you’ll know how to set goals while participating in the program. They’ll see that you know how to prioritize education because you have a clear vision for navigating your career path.

Example career goals essay prompts

While some scholarships might come right out and simply ask, “What are your career goals?” most will rework the question into something different that still accomplishes the same goal.

Below are some examples of career goals essay prompts that a scholarship program could pose to its applicants:

Discuss your career goals. Many scholarships prefer the most direct approach when giving an essay prompt to their applicants. This type of question gives the candidate a lot of wiggle room to discuss their passions, motivations, and career goals.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years ? This question is often used as a prompt for a career goals essay because it gives the applicant a timeline to describe their aspirations. It forces them to be realistic about where their career will be and how they will accomplish this within the next ten years.

How will this scholarship contribute to your professional success? A scholarship committee wants to be sure that the money they’re giving will contribute to a student’s overall professional success. This question asks about the applicant’s game plan in the long-term and evaluates how this program is going to assist in their future.

What is your dream job ? Since a dream job is often categorized as a person’s career goals, this is a common question phrasing in scholarship essays. Asking about a candidate’s dream job answers whether this program aligns with the student’s long-term career goals.

What matters most to you and why? Sometimes, a scholarship essay prompt won’t ask about your career or future at all. Instead, they’ll ask a question like this that assesses your motivations , values, and character.

Career goals essay examples

Use these examples of career goals essays for scholarships to help write your own. Pay special attention to how they’re organized, rather than the content, to inspire your own career goals essay:

Career goals essay example 1 – Discuss your career goals

When I was six years old, I was riding bikes with my older sister around our neighborhood. She had just taught me how to ride, and I was excited to have to freedom to explore with her. When she was rounding a particularly difficult bend to see around, a car happened to be coming along at the same time. It struck her. That bike ride changed our lives forever. Over the next year, I went with my sister every Tuesday and Thursday to her physical therapist ’s appointments to help her regain walking strength. Watching her physical therapist patiently assist my sister back to becoming herself awoken something in me. A passion for helping others in the same way eventually turned into a career goal of becoming a physical therapist myself. I decided to get my bachelor’s degree in exercise science. After graduating in 2019, I knew that the next step for me was to attend a graduate program in physical therapy. I was accepted to Lassell University Master of Science in Rehabilitation Services. This presented me with my latest goal along my career path, and I’m eagerly waiting to start. This scholarship would help me afford the wonderful opportunity to be a part of the Lassell University class of 2023, allowing me to continue working towards my ultimate career goal of becoming a physical therapist and helping others to become themselves again.

Career goals essay example 2 – Where do you see yourself in ten years?

In ten years, I will have been successfully running my own construction business for about five years. I’m currently a second-year student at the University of Texas, pursuing a master’s degree in business administration. I decided to get my MBA because I knew it would be a positive asset toward my long-term career goal of owning a construction business. In my high school years, I worked as a construction apprentice for a local business. I loved many aspects of the business, such as building something from nothing. I knew that I wanted to incorporate this work into my long-term career, but I didn’t want to work as an apprentice . This led me to pursue business. In ten years and with the help of this scholarship, I will have graduated with my MBA almost a decade prior . After graduation, I plan to take a business administration internship with a carpentry business to help myself get a footing in the field. After about two years of this, I will have started my own construction business.

Career goals essay example 3 – What matters most to you and why?

The people I surround myself with matter most to me. Whether it be my relatives, friends, or professional acquaintances, I always care the most about the happiness of the people around me. Making the people around me happy matters the most to me because I truly because we find our happiness through others. I believe that this drive to make a positive impression on the people around me is what drove me towards a career as a nurse . I always thought of hospitals as places where people need someone to support them and make their day a little happier. I wanted to be one of those who spend their careers positively impacting people in need. This scholarship will enable me to finally afford nursing school and go after my dream job full force.

Career goals essay example 4 – What are your short- and long-term career goals, and how will earning this degree contribute to achieving those goals? Please provide a minimum of 200 words.

My short-term career goals involve working directly with underprivileged young people to increase the literacy rate in my community. As a student of an underfunded and understaffed school, I’ve seen firsthand how much of an impact early literacy education makes on long-term achievement. It broke my heart to see my peers embarrassed at their struggle with reading at an advanced age, and this shame added another dimension to their lack of opportunity. Being a literacy educator for young people would allow me to serve this community directly to show them not only the necessity of strong written communication skills, but the joy of reading for pleasure. This program focuses specifically on early literacy, and would provide me a direct route to a career in serving the community I hope to serve. As for long-term career goals, I hope to one day create a program where socioeconomically parents can bring their children for literacy education, not only to increase their ability to navigate the world of language, but also to instill confidence and joy in the written word. What drew me to this program was that it also has administrative, legal, and business dimensions that would set me on the path toward achieving this goal.

Tips for writing a scholarship essay about career goals

Here are some tips to keep in mind for writing a career goals scholarship essay:

Write about goals relevant to the scholarship. Although you may have many different kinds of goals for your personal and professional future, a scholarship essay only discusses objectives that are relevant to the program you’re applying for.

Be honest. Applying for a scholarship is stressful because the applicant’s education is usually reliant on receiving these funds in one way or another. Even though it’s tempting to exaggerate your skills or pretend you’re more passionate about something than you are to make yourself a more competitive applicant, it’s a bad move.

Use your own, unique voice. The essay portion of a scholarship application is your chance to stand out by using your voice. Nobody else, regardless of their academic or professional achievements, is you. Make this clear in your career goals scholarship essay by keeping your unique written voice engrained in the words you produce.

Be specific. A big reason that scholarship committees ask applicants to write a career goals essay is to determine how prepared they are in planning their long-term professional goals. They aren’t interested in providing a scholarship to students who aren’t going to follow through with their career plans.

Explain long and short-term goals . Even if the essay prompt asks you to describe where you see yourself in ten years, you still need to tell them the steps leading towards this picture of success.

Include the short-term goals that add up to your larger career objectives in your essay response. Explain how accomplishing the smaller goals gives you an advantage when tackling long-term ones.

Explain how the program and scholarship will help you. Before writing your career goals essay, consider how this program and scholarship will help you in your career. The answer to this question is essential.

Follow the essay formatting guidelines. This may sound obvious, but it’s surprisingly easy to forget this step when your essay is finally flowing and when you’re scrambling to get it submitted on time.

Check, double-check , and triple-check the essay guidelines for content, word count, and formatting requirements. If you miss any of these steps, your essay may be immediately disqualified no matter how good it or the rest of your application is.

What to write in a career goals essay if your goals have changed

Many times career goals essays are written by students who have already completed at least some college or are applying to a post-graduate program and need more money to continue.

There’s a good chance that your career goals have changed since you started or graduated college. For example, say you wanted to be an engineer , so you got your undergraduate degree in engineering but realized you didn’t like it after working in the industry for a few years.

You decided that nursing would be more up your alley, and now you’re applying for a scholarship for a nursing program. While this isn’t unusual, it can make it more difficult to write a career goals essay since your past work doesn’t necessarily match your future goals.

In this case, you’ll simply need to explain why you changed your career path and why this next one is the best choice for you. Share your decision-making process to show that you haven’t taken the switch lightly, and talk about what you’ve already done to try to pursue this path.

Career goals essay for a scholarship FAQ

How do you write a career goal for a scholarship essay?

You write a career goal for a scholarship essay by sharing your passion, explaining both your long- and short-term goals, and relating your goals to the scholarship.

Explain why you want to pursue the career you’re pursuing, where you hope to be in the future and how you plan to get there, and how the scholarship will help you do this.

How do you describe your career goals in an essay?

You describe your career goals in an essay by explaining what you want to do in your career, why you decided on this career path, and what you’ve done so far to make that a reality.

You can usually work these factors into any prompt you receive, so think through them before you start writing so that you can use them as an outline of sorts.

What are career goals examples?

Examples of career goals include:

Working as a grant writer for a nonprofit organization.

Becoming a department manager and eventually an executive in your field.

Owning your own plumbing company.

Caring for underserved communities as a nurse practitioner .

What are some goals for success?

Some goals for success include growing in your role, building your network, and finding joy in the job. Most careers don’t just happen overnight and require you to set the right milestones that work best for you. Not everyone will have the same goals for success.

How do you start a career goals essay for a scholarship?

You can start a career goals essay for a scholarship by directly answering the prompt. Most scholarship prompts include a word count of between 200 and 500 words, so it’s essential that you immediately respond to the prompt. Attention-grabbing sentences and narratives can be helpful for setting the scene, but an efficient and direct answer will show a clarity of mind that helps enhance the quality of your answer.

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Sky Ariella is a professional freelance writer, originally from New York. She has been featured on websites and online magazines covering topics in career, travel, and lifestyle. She received her BA in psychology from Hunter College.

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10 Sample Answers to “Where Do You See Yourself in 5 Years?”

Ever wondered how to ace the ‘Where do you see yourself in 5 years?’ question in job interviews?

At MatchBuilt, we’ve seen over 70% of employers ask this, making it a crucial pivot point for your career narrative. It’s not just about ambition; it’s a litmus test for your alignment with the company’s vision.

In this post, we’ll unlock the secrets behind this question, drawing on insights from top industry recruiters. Expect to find expertly crafted sample answers tailored to various career paths, equipping you with the right tools to articulate your future goals in sync with potential employers. Let’s dive in and transform your interview responses into compelling career stories.

Why Employers Ask This Question and What They Are Looking For

Unraveling the intent behind the classic interview question, ‘Where do you see yourself in 5 years?’, reveals much about an employer’s priorities. It’s not just a query; it’s a strategic probe into your career ambitions and fit with the company’s future.

Here, employers are gauging your long-term vision, seeking signs of ambition, motivation, and dedication to career growth.

A well-crafted answer showcasing your alignment with the company’s values and objectives isn’t just informative—it’s a testament to your commitment and potential growth within the organization. Let’s dive into how a strategic response can significantly impact your career trajectory.

How To Answer ‘Where Do You See Yourself in 5 Years?’

Now that we grasp the reasons behind the question, “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” and what employers are seeking in your response, let’s delve into crafting a compelling answer. Follow these clear and direct steps to excel in your response:

• Be Honest and Realistic: When answering this question, be honest and realistic about your career goals and aspirations . Avoid being vague or unrealistic, as this can give the impression that you haven’t thought much about your future plans.
• Show Your Ambition: Employers seek ambitious and motivated candidates to grow within the company. Show your ambition by sharing your long-term career goals and how they align with the company’s mission and values.
• Highlight Your Skills: Take the opportunity to showcase your skills and how you plan to develop them further. This demonstrates your commitment to your career growth and potential value to the company.
• Be Flexible: While having a clear vision for your future is important, being flexible and adaptable is also essential. Show that you are open to new opportunities and challenges within the company and are willing to adjust your plans if necessary.

When answering this question, avoiding being vague or unrealistic is essential. For example, saying that you see yourself as the company’s CEO within five years may be unrealistic and may not align with the company’s needs. Instead, focus on realistic and achievable goals that demonstrate your ambition and commitment to your career growth within the company.

By following these simple steps, you can provide a thoughtful and strategic answer that impresses your interviewer and showcases your potential as a candidate.

Avoid Common Mistakes When Discussing Your 5-Year Vision

When answering the question, “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” it’s important to avoid common mistakes that could send red flags to the hiring manager and hinder your chances of landing your dream job. Here are some tips on how to avoid these mistakes:

• Don’t be too vague: Avoid giving generic or unclear answers that don’t align with your career aspirations. For example, saying that you see yourself “growing with the company” may not demonstrate enough ambition or a clear plan for your long-term career goals.
• Don’t be too unrealistic: While showcasing your ambition and career growth aspirations is important, keeping them realistic is equally important. Saying that you want to be the company’s CEO within five years while starting at an entry-level position may come across as unrealistic.
• Don’t be too short-sighted: Employers are looking for candidates with a long-term vision for their career growth, not just short-term goals. Ensure your answer includes how you plan to develop your skills and progress in your career beyond the five-year mark.
• Don’t be too focused on the specific position: While showing enthusiasm for the role you’re interviewing for is excellent, showcasing your broader career goals and aspirations is vital. Don’t limit yourself to just one specific position within the company.
• Don’t give the same example answer as everyone else: Employers have repeatedly heard the same “example answers” to this common job interview question. It’s important to stand out by providing a unique and personalized response that showcases your strengths and aspirations.

By avoiding these common mistakes, you can correctly answer the question “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” and increase your chances of receiving a job offer. It’s a great way to show your ambition and commitment to long-term career growth while demonstrating that you are a good fit for the company.

Now that you’ve learned what to avoid when answering ‘Where do you see yourself in 5 years?’, let’s take it a step further. Below is a special video to visually guide you through the nuances of crafting an impactful answer. This video will illustrate, with real examples, how to articulate your 5-year vision effectively, ensuring you stand out in your interview. Get ready to transform your answer from good to exceptional, and confidently express your career aspirations.

10 Example Answers to “Where Do You See Yourself in 5 Years?”

Dive into the heart of your next interview with our curated selection of ten sample answers to the pivotal question, ‘Where do you see yourself in 5 years?’ This section is crafted to arm you with strategies that not only answer the question but also align your ambitions with the company’s vision.

From aspiring leaders to technical experts, each example is tailored to showcase different career paths and goals. Let’s enhance your interview preparation and ensure you leave a memorable impression, well-equipped to articulate your future plans with confidence.

Sample Answer 1: Career Growth

In five years, I see myself as an integral part of the company’s vision, contributing to its growth and success. As the company expands into new markets and adopts new technologies, I would love to take on more responsibilities and advance within my role . To achieve this, I plan to proactively seek out professional development opportunities and mentorship from senior team members. I also aim to leverage my skills and experience to support the company’s goals and work collaboratively with my colleagues towards achieving shared objectives.

The response reflects the candidate’s eagerness to advance their company career and unwavering dedication to growth. It exhibits a thorough understanding of the company’s objectives and reveals the candidate’s determination to succeed through proactivity. By prioritizing their professional progression and seeking opportunities to hone their skills, the candidate aligns with the qualities that employers look for in a driven and committed candidate.

Sample Answer 2: Leadership Development

In the next five years, I envision myself growing within the company by taking on new challenges and expanding my skill set. As I understand from my research, the company is expanding its market share and introducing new products to its portfolio. I would like to be a part of this growth and contribute to the success of the company by taking on leadership roles in these new projects. To achieve this, I plan to actively seek out opportunities to learn and develop my skills, take on new responsibilities, and work closely with senior leaders to gain mentorship and guidance. I believe that by growing my leadership skills and contributing to the company’s vision, I can make a meaningful impact and help drive the company’s success in the future.

This answer demonstrates the candidate’s ambition and commitment to developing their leadership skills, a highly valued trait by employers. It also shows that the candidate has a clear plan for achieving their goals and is willing to take proactive steps to develop their skills.

Sample Answer 3: Cross-Functional Experience

In the next five years, I see myself growing within the company by taking on new challenges and expanding my skillset. I am impressed with the company’s vision for innovation and growth, and I would love to be a part of that journey. Specifically, I am interested in learning more about [specific department or project] and how I can contribute to its success. I plan to seek out opportunities to collaborate with those teams and gain a deeper understanding of their operations. By doing so, I believe I can bring added value to the company and achieve my own professional goals.

This response highlights the candidate’s eagerness to enhance their knowledge and expertise beyond their current position, showcasing a valuable attribute for any employee. Moreover, it indicates that the candidate is proactive in their approach and actively seeks out avenues for progress and advancement within the organization.

Sample Answer 4: Contribution to Company Goals

I see myself growing with the company and taking on new challenges over the next five years. I am excited about the company’s focus on expanding into new markets and developing innovative products, and I would love to be a part of that vision. Specifically, I hope to take on leadership roles within my department and contribute to the company’s success through my skills and expertise. I plan to continually improve myself by seeking out opportunities for training and development and staying up-to-date with industry trends. Ultimately, my goal is to make a significant impact on the company’s growth and success while also advancing my own career.

This answer demonstrates the candidate’s commitment to the company’s goals and values, a highly valued trait by employers. It also shows that the candidate has a clear plan for achieving their goals and is willing to seek feedback and mentorship to ensure their success.

Sample Answer 5: Technical Expertise

In the next five years, I see myself growing within the company and becoming an integral part of its future. I am excited about the company’s vision to expand its digital offerings, and I would love to be a part of that growth. Specifically, I am passionate about developing my technical expertise and becoming a subject matter expert within my field. To achieve this goal, I plan to attend technical training or workshops, seek mentorship or guidance from technical experts within the company, and actively seek out challenging technical projects. My objective is to become a valuable resource for the company and a go-to person for technical questions or projects that contribute to the company’s growth and success.

The candidate’s response indicates a strong drive to improve their technical abilities , reflecting a desirable quality sought by employers. Additionally, the candidate’s clear and well-thought-out plan for skill development showcases their dedication to achieving their objectives and their proactive approach toward seeking opportunities for growth and advancement.

Sample Answer 6: Leadership and Management

I see myself taking on a leadership role within the company over the next five years and managing a team. I have been actively developing my leadership skills, and I believe that I will be ready to take on this responsibility in five years. I plan to continue to grow my skills by taking leadership courses and working closely with my current manager to learn as much as possible.

This answer demonstrates that the candidate has ambition and is committed to growing their skills within the company. It also shows that they have a specific career path in mind and are actively working towards achieving their goals.

Sample Answer 7: Industry Expertise

In five years, I see myself as a vital member of the team, contributing to the company’s growth and success. As I understand the company’s vision, it aims to expand into new markets and develop innovative products to stay ahead of the competition. I am excited about the opportunity to grow alongside the company and be part of this vision. I plan to take on challenging projects, seek out learning opportunities, and continuously improve my skills to contribute to the company’s progress. Additionally, I look forward to mentoring new team members and sharing my knowledge and expertise to contribute to the team’s overall success.

The candidate’s response shows a strong commitment to staying current with the latest industry trends and a drive to enhance their expertise. Moreover, it highlights their proactive attitude and willingness to take on new challenges to advance their objectives.

Sample Answer 8: Making an Impact

In five years, I envision myself as a key player in the company’s growth and success. As the company expands into new markets and takes on more complex projects, I would like to take on a leadership role in these endeavors. I am excited about the company’s focus on innovation and sustainability, and I hope to contribute to these initiatives by developing new strategies and implementing best practices. By seeking out mentorship opportunities and continuously improving my skills, I am confident that I can help the company achieve its long-term goals.

This answer shows that the candidate is focused on making a meaningful impact within the company and is committed to finding ways to contribute to the team’s success. It also demonstrates that they are eager to develop their skills and become a more valuable team member.

Sample Answer 9: Entrepreneurship

In five years, I see myself starting my own business within the industry. I plan to continue learning as much as possible while working at this company and develop a network of industry professionals who can support me when the time comes. I believe that my experience working here will be invaluable when starting my own business.

This answer demonstrates that the candidate is ambitious and has a long-term career plan in mind. It also shows they are committed to developing their skills and network while working at the company. They see their experience there as an asset to their future entrepreneurial endeavors.

Sample Answer 10: Company Loyalty

In five years, I see myself still working at this company and contributing to its growth and success. I plan to continue developing my skills and taking on new challenges as they arise. I believe that this company is the best place for me to achieve my career goals, and I am committed to its success.

The candidate’s response exemplifies their loyalty to the company and their intention to stay for the long haul. It also highlights their unwavering commitment to improving their skills and tackling fresh challenges to propel the company’s growth and prosperity further.

Actionable Tips for the 5-Year Vision Interview Question

When responding to the question, “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” in an interview, it’s beneficial to focus on one or two key areas that align closely with your career aspirations and the company’s objectives. This section offers actionable tips derived from various focus areas to help you articulate a clear and strategic vision. Tailoring your response by combining aspects of these tips can make your answer more impactful and aligned with your individual goals.

Enhance your understanding of ‘Where do you see yourself in 5 years?’ another video guide. This visual complements the actionable tips provided, offering a dynamic way to understand how to effectively incorporate these strategies into your answer. The video will bring these tips to life, demonstrating how to blend your career aspirations with the company’s goals in a compelling and personalized way. Get ready to refine your response and make a memorable impact in your next interview.

More Frequently Asked Interview Questions

Preparing for an interview can be nerve-wracking, especially when unsure of what to expect. While every interview differs, hiring managers tend to ask several common questions. Knowing how to answer these questions can help you feel more confident and prepared for your interview. This section will review some of the most common interview questions, tips, and example answers to help you nail your next interview.

The best answer to "What is your long-term goal?" will vary depending on the individual and the specific job opportunity. However, a good answer should demonstrate ambition, a clear vision for the future, and alignment with the company's values and goals. Here is an example of a strong answer: "My long-term goal is to continue to grow and develop in my career while making meaningful contributions to the company. Specifically, I aim to take on increasingly challenging roles and responsibilities that allow me to leverage my skills and experience while also expanding my knowledge and expertise. I see myself as a valuable member of the team, working collaboratively with my colleagues to drive the company's success and achieve our shared goals."

One example answer to the question "Where do you see yourself in 10 years?" could be: "In 10 years, I see myself in a leadership role within the company, working closely with the executive team to drive business strategy and innovation. I hope to have developed a strong team of professionals who share my vision and commitment to excellence. Additionally, I plan to have pursued further education and training to expand my skills and knowledge, ultimately positioning myself as an expert in my field." This answer demonstrates ambition, strategic thinking, and a long-term commitment to the company's success. It also shows a willingness to invest in personal and professional growth, which is highly valued by employers. It's important to note that this answer should be tailored to the specific position and company you are interviewing for, showcasing how your long-term goals align with their needs and objectives.

One example answer to the question "What can you bring to the company?" could be: "One of my strengths is my ability to problem-solve and think creatively. In my previous job, I identified a bottleneck in the production process and developed a new strategy that increased efficiency by 30%. I believe this kind of innovative thinking can be applied to any company, and I am excited to bring it to your team." The answer provided showcases a clear understanding of the company's needs and a strong alignment with them. The candidate has also demonstrated how their skills and experience can benefit the company by providing a specific example.

A great example answer to "How do you handle stress and pressure?" would be: "I handle stress and pressure by prioritizing my tasks and breaking them down into smaller, more manageable tasks. I also make sure to take breaks and step away from my work when necessary to clear my mind and refocus. In my previous job, I had a deadline for a project, and there was a lot of pressure to finish it on time. I took the initiative to organize a meeting with my team to discuss our progress and delegate tasks effectively, which helped us meet our deadline without compromising the quality of our work." This answer demonstrates a proactive approach to stress and pressure, emphasizing problem-solving skills, time management, and teamwork. The candidate shows the ability to take charge of the situation and manage their workload effectively while maintaining high quality in their work. Providing a specific example also adds credibility to the candidate's answer, showing their ability to handle stressful situations in the past.

A great way to answer the question, "What can you contribute to the team?" is to provide specific examples of your skills, experiences, and accomplishments related to the job and the team's needs. "I believe my strong communication and collaboration skills, as well as my ability to think creatively and solve problems, would make a valuable contribution to the team. In my previous job, I collaborated with a team of designers and developers to create a new website for our client. My ability to communicate effectively and work well with others helped us meet our deadlines and deliver a high-quality product. I also came up with a creative solution to a technical problem that saved the project time and money. I am confident that I can bring these skills and experiences to this team and contribute to its success." This answer shows that the candidate has specific skills and experiences that are relevant to the job and the team's needs. The example also demonstrates the candidate's ability to work well with others, think creatively, and solve problems, all of which are valuable traits in a team environment. By providing a concrete example, the candidate shows that they have a track record of contributing to a team's success, which can give the hiring manager confidence in their ability to do the same in the new job.

Moving Up the Ladder: Using the “Where Do You See Yourself in 5 Years?” Question to Your Advantage

Answering the question about where you see yourself in 5 years requires a certain amount of crystal ball-gazing. However, by considering your long-term personal goals and creating a five-year plan, you can position yourself for success over the long haul. Whether you’re aiming for a specific management position or simply looking to build your skills and experience as an entry-level employee, having a clear sense of your ultimate goal is a good idea.

At MatchBuilt executive search, we understand that the coming years may hold many opportunities and challenges for job seekers like you. That’s why we’ve provided ten sample answers to one of the most common interview questions, along with advice on how to craft the best response for your potential employers. By following our tips and tailoring your answer to the specific position you’re seeking, you’ll make a great first impression on new employees and increase your chances of landing the job.

About Mark Matyanowski

As the founder of MatchBuilt, with over 18 years of recruiting and coaching experience and 8+ years in executive roles at a leading Fortune 100 company, I am deeply committed to guiding professionals in their career paths.

Our team at MatchBuilt offers expert support in enhancing resumes, optimizing LinkedIn profiles, and preparing for interviews. Our blog, drawing on our rich experience and industry insights, is a valuable resource for job seekers.

We take pride in successfully guiding job candidates to top-tier company roles while empowering individuals to achieve their career ambitions, irrespective of their background or educational level.

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What I Want To Be In Life (Essay Sample) 2023

Table of Contents

Introduction

Is It Safe to Pay Someone to Write An Essay and Is it realistic to expect a low-cost, High-Quality Essay from a Cheap Paper Writing Service ?

There is a reason why life coaches are in demand these days: everyone wants to live purposefully and make their days count.

It is true that discovering one’s purpose and source of happiness may be challenging. But it’s also true that by knowing what you want to do in life and constantly reflecting on them, winning in life can be realized.

What do you want in life? If you also have a similar paper to do on what you really want in life, Hire an Essay Writing Service to help gather your thoughts for you. Feel free to explore the rest of our site for essays on other interesting topics.

Essay Example on What I Want to Achieve In Life

Life is about striving. Everyone wants something that gives purpose and happiness. That’s why I believe it is important to reflect from time to time about what our life purpose is and what we are doing to pursue it.

Whenever I reflect on what I want to be in life, I examine the present roles I have and think about my desires.

What do I want in life? This paper will serve as a blueprint for my future plans. This will point me in the right direction, goals, and approach given my current resources.

It is my hope that looking back on this life plan will keep me motivated to accomplish tasks and pursue victory in all that I do.

Reflecting on My Role as a Student

As a learner, I strive hard to excel in my academics. I am aiming for great grades to build my credibility.

I also want to leverage my academic successes to expand my professional network based on the career path I have chosen. I want to accomplish a BSN or Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing. I want my knowledge to be used to provide compassionate care for critical patients.

My conviction is that good health should be on the top of everyone’s list of priorities. I am passionate about supporting others regarding this. I plan to do this not only by getting good grades but also by studying for my licensure. I will aim to top the NCLEX-PN and approach it with a can-do mindset.

Reflecting on My Role as a Family Member

I currently support my dad, mom, and siblings in small ways. I assist them in our own business whenever I can. I look after my nieces and nephews, as well as making time during the weekends for my siblings.

I plan to gift my first salary to my parents in the future. I want to show them that I appreciate their love for me. By continuing my studies and performing my duties at home, I believe that I can keep my family happy.

I know that this goal keeps me motivated. It also strengthens me whenever life gets complicated. Therefore, I should always keep the welfare of my family in mind in everything that I do. I hope to make them proud someday when my dream is finally realized.

Reflecting on My Role as a Member of My Community

I believe one important aspect in a person’s overall success is a person’s ability to give back. It is also important to recognize the role of community in maximizing one’s potential. I find that the people I admire the most are generally good citizens of their hometowns and countries.

I am considering volunteering at the local hospital to add value to my neighborhood. It will not only benefit my nursing career. It will also make me become more sensitive in addressing the community’s actual needs.

I believe that building relationships with those nearest me is essential to having a peaceful home and a more purposeful way of living.

There are several things that I strive for in life. I can see now that there are many steps I have to take to achieve completion. The road ahead will be laden with challenges, but I am prepared to face them with a positive perspective. I know that becoming successful does not happen overnight.

As I keep my eye on the prize, I will make it a point to remember one thing: it’s not about the money. It’s about making an impact on the world through the profession I’ve chosen. I will pay attention to the opportunities before me and put to work all the things my mother and father taught me.

I will work hard and always remember my purpose as I run after my dreams. I am determined to change lives through my skills and passion. I will make the most out of my school days and learn as much as I can to prepare for the years ahead.

In a couple years, I will reread this piece as a way of checking in on myself and my plans. I have high hopes that whatever I will be doing then will be aligned with what my heart is telling me today.

Someday, I want to be able to tell my kids that I identified a goal, ran hard after it, and made it happen. I hope I make them proud.

What Do I Desire Most In Life (a Short Sample)

When I think about what I want to do in life, I always go back to my True North: my passion. More than becoming a registered nurse, I really want to help people. I want to be in a position where I can easily access resources to do this. I also want to be equipped with the practical and technical skills to help people get better.

More than good grades, the best ways for me to get there is through hard work, a good rhythm, and a solid support system. This is why I am so grateful for my parents. With them as my motivation, I have focus and every incentive to succeed in my goals.

While not everyone agrees with the path I have decided to take, I am convinced that it’s the right life goal for me. Whether or not I am able to get financial aid, I will do my best to graduate with honors and make my teachers and friends proud.

Most people will have an opinion on how I choose to do things, but I am choosing whose opinions matter the most. I will filter out the rest according to how they align with my values.

How to Write a Conclusion Paragraph on What I Want to Be?

Look over what you have written so far and note the most salient points. String those thoughts together in a summary, synthesizing benefits and challenges, and coming up with a final reflection.

5 Examples of Needs and Wants In Life

Here are five different answers that people can give when asked about their needs and wants:

• a job they love,
• financial security,
• fulfillment,
• a family of their own,
• and inner peace.

Note that while these are general answers, you are more likely to uncover a variety of combinations depending on life experience.

Advice from EssayBasics :  buying term papers online at our reliable service is a good way to save your time.

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Interview questions answered: What do you want to accomplish in your life?

Life’s an amazing adventure , at least for the lucky of us, who weren’t born in a slum or with some incurable disease. And while the question about the existence of eternal life will always remain a mystery, another thing is certain: we are here, on planet Earth, and we have a life to live. But what should we do with it ? What should we aspire to accomplish? Sooner or later, we will ponder this uneasy question. And sooner or later, you will have to answer it , in a job interview, or in a school admission interview.

At the end of the day, the hiring managers (or the admission committee at school), do not expect to hear that you want to put a dent in the universe . But they want to hear about some goals and ambitions, as they reflect your values , and these are of a great interest to your future employer… What’s more, people who aim to achieve something–whether within their work or with their life, are the best employees . Because they have a reason to live, to go to work, and this reflects in their everyday motivation and attitude to work.

Let’s have a look at 7 sample answers to this question, or to its alternatives, such as “ What is your ambition in life? ” or “ What do you want to become in your life? ” My list includes both typical and unconventional (or philosophical) answers , and I hope you will find there something to use in your interview. Or at least it should inspire you to come up with some ideas…

7 sample answers to “What do you want to achieve in your life?” interview question

• I just want to get the most out of the opportunities I’ve been given . To become the best version of myself . I believe that many things we cannot change–such as our genetics, or the upbringing we had–this has a huge impact on us. Also the place where we were born, whether we were lucky on good parents and role models, and so on. But once we grow up and make our choices , we get plenty of opportunities to change something to better in our own lives, and in lies of people we have contact with, be it at work or in our private life. I do not want to let these opportunities pass, without taking them.
• I just want to be happy in my life, that’s my ambition, a simple definition, but it encompasses a lot of things. I want to have a healthy family, provide for the people I love, make some difference in a company where I work , stay healthy, and so on. Of course all these things demand some sacrifices, discipline, hard work. But I know that when I commit myself to my goals, I am happy making sacrifices, and doing the hard work. On the contrary, if I go to work with no other reason than to earn money , I won’t be happy…

* May also interest you : Answers to 15 most common interview questions .

• To be honest, I do not dream of any big accomplishments . It’s just not my way of thinking of life. I try to enjoy the present moment, to give my full attention to an activity I am doing right now –be it answering a phone call of a customer, peeling potatoes, running up the hill, or talking to you here in an interview. It’s not always easy to do, but it’s worth trying in every second of our earthly existence. Ambitions to change something in the world are an invention of our ego , and will eventually make us unhappy, always. Because even the biggest achievement is just an instant gratification and we will always want. That’s not a way to be happy in life. It’s a road to an abyss.
• I would like to change something to better in the indigenous community . I understand how difficult the life is for many of them, and that politics isn’t in their favor. But here I am, with my mission, trying to achieve equality , or at least make living a bit easier for them. That’s why I chose social work for my studies, spent years living with the indigenous people, and eventually applied for a job with your NGO . My personal mission is my reason to go on living and trying hard each day, because I believe I try to achieve something truly important in my lifespan.
• I simply want to maximize my potential as an athlete . To train hard, to do all the exercises, quality recovery, right diet, you name it. In order to do it I have to belong to a truly professional team, one that has only the highest ambitions , and do not want to play the second league in the races. That’s why I decided to apply for a scholarship at your university . I know the coaches here, the commitment of people in your athletics squad, and of course the results you achieve with your athletes. I believe that I can achieve my goals while studying and training here.
• Eventually, at some point of my life, I’d like to run my own business, a prospering hotel or restaurant. That is my long term ambition, to run a place where people won’t come only to eat, or stay. A place where they will come for an unforgettable dining experience . But I am too young to pursue this ambition, and I have no money to start with. At this stage of my professional career, I simply want to learn, gain experiences , and eventually get ready for pursuing my dream in the future. Your hotel is an ideal place to gain such experiences.
• I can answer your question with one word: balance . I am seeking balance in life, and I am sure that almost everyone does the same , though they may sometimes struggle to express it properly. The right balance of being humble and confident , balance of my work and family life, a good balance of activities during the day, and, before anything else, a mental balance, a certain state of consciousness rid of negative emotions , such as envy, anger, worry, and so on. It’s not an easy goal to achieve, I know. And maybe it is a lifelong journey , something that will always remain just an ambition, and ideal we try to reach but never will. Nevertheless, I will continue trying…

* Do not forget to check also: Where do you see yourself in five years from now?

Show some excitement for your dreams

Regardless of whether you talk about work-related goals, or some higher ambitions, you should speak with enthusiasm in your voice . They won’t believe you otherwise.

They should get an impression that you see a meaning in your life , or at least are certain there is a meaning, and you continue searching for it. And, in an ideal case, you should connect your employment in the company with this meaning . It’s not always possible to do, and it depends on the position you try to get. Check sample answers no. 4 and no. 5 for your inspiration.

* Special Tip : This isn’t the only difficult question you will face while interviewing for any decent job. You will face questions about prioritization, dealing with pressure, dealing with ambiguity , and other tricky scenarios that happen in the workplace. If you want to make sure that you stand out with your answers and outclass your competitors, have a look at our Interview Success Package . Up to 10 premium answers to 31 tricky scenario based questions (+ more) will make your life much easier in the interviews. Thank you for checking it out!

Numbers in the question: 10 things you’d like to accomplish in your life, or what you want to achieve in 3-5 years from now

Interviewers can make the question more difficult by adding a modifier to it. For example a time horizon (3, 5, or 10 years), or an exact number of things you want to achieve in your life (I’ve seen this several times as a topic for an essay students had to write as a part of a school admission process). the first one, time horizon, is the easier of the two. Just be realistic, and remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the same goes with your career. Think about those three or five years–what you can learn, what job you can have, what you can achieve for your employer, your family, for yourself.

If they ask you to name 10 things you’d like to accomplish, I suggest you to aim for variety . You should include on your list some goals for your personal and family life, for your health, for your work, and perhaps also some philanthropy. Needless to say, if you are religious or spiritual, such goals should also make the list. Let me give you just a very brief example (you should elaborate on it in your own essay):

• Achieve Inner harmony and satisfaction.
• Happiness and peace in my family.
• Build active and fruitful relationships with both my friends and colleagues.
• Never stop learning new things in life.
• Keep both my physical and mental health as good as possible, for as long as possible.
• Make a positive difference in a local community, perhaps with some charity work.
• Run a marathon under 3:30, or achieve some other endurance feat in my life.
• Leave my mark on the marketing industry, a field I’d love to work in.
• One day raise my children to become good people.
• Always stay humble yet confident that I can change something in the world to better.

Do not be afraid to philosophize in your interview

“What do you want to accomplish in your life?” is quite a philosophical question , and you should not hesitate answering it with a philosophical answer, pondering the meaning of life, thinking about your place in the world, etc.

You can even say that you do not dream about any achievements. As long as you base it on your personal philosophy (such as living in a present moment, see sample answer no .3), they will be satisfied with your answer. What is more, unconventional interview answers will help you stand out from the rest of the job applicants. In many cases, standing out is the most important thing in the interviews…

Ready to handle this one? I hope so! Continue your preparation for the interviews with one of the following articles:

• This job is repetitive. What will you do to stay motivated?
• How to dress for an interview?
• What are your weaknesses?
• Recent Posts

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To Motivate Teens, Ask Them “Who’s Your Future Self?”

Middle and high school classrooms that neglect questions of higher purpose work against the innate desires of teens, research shows.

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In 2019, high school junior Gil Leal was surprised when he came to school for his AP Environmental Science class and ended up in a strawberry field not far from his home in Gardena, California. 

Accustomed to classrooms that isolated academic topics like soil decomposition or deforestation from real-world problems, he was delighted to find out that the information could be used to improve his own life, and the lives of people in his small farming community. 

The course also opened a window into his future. Intrigued by the way his new AP class connected his current studies to himself, his community, and their respective futures, Leal enrolled at UCLA as an environmental science major. 

His unique classroom experience was documented in a 2021 study —funded by Lucas Education Research , a sister division of Edutopia—that looked at the effect of project-based learning on AP courses in science and history. Students like Leal who proposed real-world irrigation and soil regeneration solutions as part of their AP science curriculum, or studied constitutional principles and took part in a simulation of an electoral caucus in an AP Government class, outperformed peers in traditional classrooms on AP exams by eight percentage points.

Indeed, a growing body of research confirms that when adolescents are given the opportunity to project themselves into the future, engage with complex civic issues, and think about how what they’re learning might alter the course of their lives, they find more meaning in classroom work, reflect more frequently on who they are and what they want—and perform better academically. 

Harnessing this deep motivation to learn is especially useful when the going gets tough in the classroom. A 2014 study by eminent researcher David Yeager and colleagues summarized things succinctly: When teens have a “personally important and self-transcendent ‘why’ for learning,” they can "bear even a tedious and unpleasant ‘how’.”

Asking Big (and Very Big) Questions

Perhaps the most important discovery in this recent wave of research—you might think of it as a confirmation—is that teens are biologically primed to think big. A novel, 5-year study of 14-18 year-olds by USC researchers concluded that teens possess an innate desire to dwell on the world beyond themselves, and are wired to consider material through the lens of “cultural values and associated emotions to infer social and ethical implications.”  

Classrooms in middle school and high school that continue to operate within the narrow confines of immediate, “concrete” concerns, while ignoring questions of broader purpose and future goals, work against their students’ nature, the research suggests. 

The findings were derived from brain scans that revealed increasing coordination between two regions of the adolescent brain associated with “reflective, autobiographical and free-form thinking,” and “effortful, focused thinking.” This increased brain interconnectivity, the research said, is associated with improved identity formation and self-awareness, social relationships, and mental health, even years after students graduate from high school.  

The research has “important implications for the design of middle and high schools,” lead researcher Mary Helen Immordino-Yang told Neuroscience News , and underscores the importance of regularly asking teens to think through difficult, future-oriented questions and emotions in the classroom.

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During her ecology unit, for example, North Carolina middle school science teacher Jessica Guidry asks her students to role-play as scientists persuading the United Nations to protect a given biome—such as a large grassland or forest—despite the UN’s intention to eliminate it to make room for the world’s population growth. Students must think through how their assigned biome benefits the world now and in the future, and what might be lost if it were replaced. 

In Erin Fisher’s AP Government course , meanwhile, students don’t just read about influential Supreme Court cases, they inhabit the role of justices themselves , and argue for or against big decisions related to contemporary national issues, such as immigration or Second Amendment rights. 

“Ultimately,” the researchers wrote, asking students to think beyond their current circumstances “may be to the adolescent mind and brain what exercise is to the body: most people can exercise, but only those who do will reap the benefits.”

Reflecting on Higher Purpose

In a series of longitudinal studies , Yeager and his colleagues discovered that simple writing and reading exercises asking teens to connect what they’re learning to a future career or personal goal helps them surface deeper motivations for learning, persist through “unpleasant” academic tasks, and earn higher course grades. 

In one experiment, the researchers asked 300 ninth grade math and science students to read and respond to a prompt about their values:  

Sometimes the world isn’t fair, and so everyone thinks it could be better in one way or another. Some people want there to be less hunger, some want less prejudice, and others want less violence or disease. Other people want lots of other changes. What are some ways that you think the world could be a better place? 

The brief essays that resulted touched on issues like war, poverty, and justice. “Without discrimination,” one student wrote, conjuring up a better future, “there would be much less violence and war in this world.” Another wrote that “the hunger problem can be solved if we have proper energy sources.” In a follow-on activity, students were asked how they might make their own positive contributions to the world—using the knowledge they were currently learning in the classroom. 

One ninth grader in the study wrote that they’d spend their future career as a genetic researcher to “improve the world by possibly engineering crops to produce more food.” Another, interested in the world’s “energy problems,” wrote that their science classes would provide them with a “good base” for their future career in environmental engineering. 

The activities took less than a class period to get through but led to improved grades for all students, especially for students who were struggling academically. Later phases of the study conducted with college students showed that purpose and motivation were deeply intertwined: Students who completed the activity spent nearly twice as much time persisting through “boring but important” math problems.

Finding Purpose in Daily Classroom Routines

Helping students find the relevancy in academic work doesn’t have to be limited to a one-off writing activity. In a 2009 study led by researcher Chris Hulleman, students who regularly summarized recently learned concepts—and then took the next step of thinking through how the material might be useful to themselves, their loved ones, or their community—improved their course grades and their sense of purpose in the work. 

In the study, nearly 300 high school science students were asked to write up to eight short essays during the semester. Some of the students submitted simple exit tickets summarizing the big takeaways of the lesson, while others added on to this activity by answering the following questions: “How might the information be useful to you, or a friend/relative, in daily life? How does learning about this topic apply to your future plans?” These students were also given the option of either writing responses, or drawing detailed sketches or concept maps to express their answers. 

The students who regularly connected their academic work to the real-world reported a higher interest in science and earned higher grades than their peers. Those who struggled with lower grades at the outset of the course made the most gains, improving by two-thirds of a letter grade, a jump researchers note is “comparable to other social-psychological interventions aimed at reducing the black-white achievement gap.”

Setting aside a little time for students to journal, aided by prompts like “how might today’s lesson on the chemistry of plastics be used in the real world?,” allows them to process materials in a purposeful way. Alternatively, you might invite guest speakers from the community to talk about their work. Local investment bankers and traders, for example, can speak to how probability plays into decision-making in financial markets, while local doctors can talk through how they apply specific principles they learned in high school biology, like cellular functions, to treat patients.

Introducing…You

High school English teacher Cathleen Beachboard has kids thinking big right out of the gate. During the first week of school, she plans a “ Future Goals Gala ,” asking students to imagine they’re going to have a 30-year class reunion and sending them home with questions like "What places do you really hope to go to?” or "What kind of impact do you hope to have in your community in your field of study?” to help them imagine their lives 30 years in the future.

She also asks them to think about how they might reach those goals: “How are you going to get there? How does your education fit into those plans?” 

On the day of the reunion, students introduce themselves to peers as their "future selves," and furnish proof of their successful lives: “They'll bring in Photoshopped pictures of themselves on Mount Everest; their cure for cancer in a vial; a cake that they decided to make as a Michelin chef,” Beachboard said.

As students make the rounds, Beachboard takes notes and uses the information to weave student passions into her lessons. If a student is really interested in birds, for example, “I'll do a whole lesson where we’ll read something about birds and they can be the expert in the room,” Beachboard said. 

In addition to providing her with useful information about her students at the start of the school year, Beachboard said the activity makes teens feel like they have agency over their lives. “A lot of the time, teenagers feel like they’re not in control, but by giving someone the idea of their future goals, it reminds them that they can control the person they hope to be,” she said.

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To Set a Great Strategy, Start by Imagining the Future You Want

Practical steps you can take to look beyond the short-term planning horizon.

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Some managers develop strategy by focusing on problems in the present, and that’s especially true during a crisis.

But Mark Johnson , co-founder of the innovation consulting firm Innosight, argues that leaders should imagine the future and then work backward to build their organization for that new reality.

In this episode, he outlines the practical steps managers can take to look beyond the typical short-term planning horizon and help their teams grasp future opportunities. Johnson also shares real-world examples from Apple, Johnson & Johnson, and Intel to illustrate what can happen when leaders shift their strategic mindset to focus on the future.

Key episode topics include: strategy, innovation, decision making and problem solving, growth strategy, crisis leadership, managing teams.

HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: To Build Strategy, Start with the Future (2020)
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HANNAH BATES: Welcome to HBR On Strategy , case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts — hand-selected to help you unlock new ways of doing business.

Some managers develop strategy by focusing on problems in the present — and that’s especially true during a crisis.

But Mark Johnson, co-founder of the innovation consulting firm Innosight, argues that leaders should imagine the future and then work backward to build their organization for that new reality.

In this episode, Johnson outlines the practical steps managers can take to look beyond the typical short-term planning horizon and help their teams grasp future opportunities. He also shares real-world examples from Apple, Johnson & Johnson, and Intel of what can happen when leaders shift their strategic mindset to focus on the future.

This episode originally aired on HBR IdeaCast in May 2020. Here it is.

CURT NICKISCH: Welcome to the HBR IdeaCast from Harvard Business Review. I’m Curt Nickisch.

Before we get into the interview, I have a quick request for you. It would be great if you could take a of couple minutes to take our listener survey. It’s at HBR.org/podcastsurvey. As a team we’re just reaching out to get to know you better and to make IdeaCast better for you. It will take just a few minutes of your time, but it really helps us craft a better show.

Even in the best of times, developing the right strategy for your company can be a challenge. You have to worry about the now, while also planning for an uncertain future. And in a time of crisis, picking and sticking to a strategy can be even more overwhelming. The present is all-consuming, and the future is even less clear than before.

Take the current coronavirus pandemic. If you’re in health care, education, retail, or many other industries, the future you had been planning for is not necessarily the one you’re going to face.

Today’s guest says too many leaders, in their strategic decision making, make the mistake of looking at the present as a starting point. And he says, especially now, good leaders should be starting with the future, and working backward. He calls this taking a “future-back” approach rather than a “present-forward” one.

And he’s here to tell us exactly what he means by that. Mark Johnson is a senior partner of the consulting firm Innosight. And he’s a coauthor of the new book Lead from the Future: How to Turn Visionary Thinking into Breakthrough Growth. Mark, thanks for coming on the show.

MARK JOHNSON:  Thank you, Curt.  It’s great to be here.

CURT NICKISCH:  Managers and business leaders right now are encountering lots of change and that is essentially the market sending them lots of signals.  And a classic approach would be to respond to those market signals – that’s kind of a present-forward approach.  You’re arguing for this futureback approach which is, is it essentially trying to get a sense of what you think the future is going to be and working backwards?  And how is that different and more valuable?

MARK JOHNSON:  Yes.  Well and I think similar to you need management along with leadership, you need to think in a present forward way and in fact it will be 90 percent of your time, 80, 90 percent.  But you also need future back.  So present-forward is exactly as it sounds which is to really be able to take the existing operations, the way activities work, processes and the way things are organized, dealing with the immediate market needs.  Dealing with challenges in the supply chain.  Marketing challenges.  You know, you name it depending on the different business function.

That needs to still take place and it’s 80 to 90 percent of your effort and along with that is what has to be done in the core operations to reposition to make sure that it remains viable in these difficult times.  But what I propose is that there’s carving out, even in this time of crisis, 10 to 20 percent of leadership time to really think out past the two-year, out to the five-year to 10-year horizon, and to think about that from a future back way which really had two pieces.

One is it’s a way of thinking which says we have to break free for the moment from the way things work today and the past so that we can open up our mind to think about the art of the possible.  That’s I think what fully unleashes a vision and it would have to be unleashed in the sense of not just saying that this is what we want to try to achieve broadly in our industry, but specifically based on trends and the convergence of those trends and a discussion about that, and other factors deciding what your organization from an enterprise point of view needs to look like in that envisioned future.  So you have to do that. You’re giving that opportunity to develop the art of the possible.  That’s the thinking mode of future back.

CURT NICKISCH:  And is that something you just don’t get from a strategy that’s based on responding to the present?

MARK JOHNSON:  Well oftentimes you don’t because the strategies by definition really about where to play, how to win the game.  Whereas vision as we define it is also, is really more about, what is the game that you should play in the first place, and being prepared to play a different game.

And you know in the early 1820s and 30s, when the first locomotive was developed, what was behind it was a set of stagecoaches.  So, their view about how the technology could be applied to a new paradigm of transportation was to think really in the rearview mirror about the way transportation worked.  Of course we know passenger trains quickly developed from there to be something completely different than the stagecoach.  And so, what we’re really trying to do is break free.

And strategy unfortunately can, oftentimes not be about breaking free from the past.  It can be very financially driven.  It can be very much similar to planning, if we’re not careful you know, just a kind of a business planning way.  It certainly cannot think about time horizon as much as it should.

So, vision is complimentary with strategy.  Vision is getting you out in that five to 10-year horizon of what you could and should be, not just about the way things are today, to seize on those opportunities that can develop well past your core.  Strategy is how you get there in terms of the choices you make of where you’re going to play and how you’re going to win within trying to achieve that aspiration, that vision, of what the future of the enterprise could be.

I mean just as a very quick example, and it’s a well-known one in general in terms of Apple and Steve Jobs.  But what’s not well understood is that what Apple did, Steve Jobs did – by the way, in the middle of a crisis in 2000 in the dot com crash – is he took his top 100 lieutenants and they looked out 10 years to 2010.  And they not only envisioned what the personal computer, a niche personal computer could be, but he with his team envisioned that they could go past the computer.  That they could create what they called the “digital hub” to enable all of these up and coming consumer electronic devices to be powered with the microprocessor capability that would come from the personal computer.  He announced that to the world.  What he didn’t announce was that actually they envisioned a white space and said we can actually get into consumer electronics ourselves.  And, of course, we know the history there that music industry and other industries were transformed by Apple’s vision – Steve Jobs and team’s vision – looking 10 years out and then walking that back practically to a strategy.

So, I think we need to build a language and a way of thinking about vision versus strategy and it’s never more important than in a crisis because you can think about the vision as the hope, the purpose and the inspiration that individuals and organizations need to get past these 12 to 24 months.  And strategy’s the means to get there.

CURT NICKISCH:  Number one, it seems like people would have a really difficult time feeling confident about that kind of, having that kind of a vision, at a time like this, where everyone gets perhaps more risk averse.  That seems pretty tough.

MARK JOHNSON:  I think you have to have the right perspective – which, if vision is viewed as a somehow you have certainty about this five to 10-year horizon, then it definitely would seem not only overwhelming, but probably ridiculous.  And I think that’s partly why the long-term horizon gets such a bad rap and vision can be dismissed as not being practical.

But it’s not really about developing certainty about the future.  It’s really about having the opportunity to have a conversation as leaders in a different mindset, in a different mode of learning to talk about the art of the possible and use that as a way to develop a plan to learn.  Because I think what is misunderstood is one, this idea that the future that we’re trying to develop with a vision is a photograph.  It’s actually an impressionist painting.

So we got to change the mindset.  You’re never done with the vision.  In fact, you ought to be coming back to it more often in this time of crisis – I even espoused on a weekly basis.  Rethinking the vision, evolving it as you learn in the market with initiatives that get tested.  How does the vision need to adjust?  How are our scenarios playing out?

So, the operative word in all this is learning.  And vision is just one component of a process that leadership teams need to amp up their game. And this element of looking out to the five to 10 years, and then walking it back to plant the seeds for today, that’s just all part of the process like an innovation team.  To be able to set experiments and figure out what needs to be learned.

CURT NICKISCH:  How do you practically do that?  Are leaders just reserving 10 to 20 percent of their time to sit in an office and daydream, or bring up things that people have suggested in the past and realized, oh well, this vision made this future that somebody thought we could get into once, that timing may now be here or may be coming. What does that practically look like?

MARK JOHNSON:  I think the first is to recognize that sometimes you have to change behavior before you change mindset.  And so yes, one thing this is about is making the choice as a team, to say, we’re going to spend some time, 10 percent up to 20 percent of our time, and in the middle of a crisis like this we’d say, the repetition of that is, it’s more frequent – weekly.  Spending time in the future.

Now maybe it’s not five to 10 years.  Maybe you’re in a software company and it’s going to be four years, or if you’re a pharmaceutical or defense contractor, it could be 15 years.  But it’s a further out horizon to start, in order to be able to have these conversations and you know, the conversations are structured.  They’re not, it’s not daydreaming, it’s a lot of hard work.  It’s being able to take trends, to take where the consumer’s heading, to take points of inflection, you know, how to trends converge?

And think about them coming together and being able to say, what does that mean in terms of the environment and especially where’s the customer going and how can we shape the customer?  And using that to define implications, you know, we talk in fact, very practically about implication archetypes.  You know, is our business on a trajectory to keep moving onward and upward, mainly with what the core operations and core innovation can do?  Or do we see it plateauing?  Do we see commoditization setting in and we’re actually going to have what we call a growth gap?

Are there not just this threat of things plateauing and declining, but are there down the road some real opportunities to do things cross industry, or industry transforming where it’s as much about an opportunity that we could see out in the future as it is a threat, and begin to start talking about that?

The example which we went just very deeply in lead from the future is Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Division, which is their pharmaceutical division, and a great visionary leader named Bill Hait, who was the head of Janssen’s R&D, looking, looking into the future at a time in 2012 when Janssen was very, very successful, and it is still successful, you know, overseeing a very, almost $10 billion budget of R&D, but as an oncologist by training, looked and said you know, we can look out to 2030 and see, see a vision of where we not just are in a break fix mode of disease, fixing diseases or treating diseases, but we can actually look to intercept and to prevent disease.  Because we can see the convergence of life sciences with biomedical devices, with the ability to monitor and have biosensors, and a whole set of things converging together to where we could begin – that group could begin to see that diseases like lung cancer, or colon cancer could be intercepted well before they manifest into a stage 1, 2, 3 or 4 cancer.

They were able to convert a vision that was developed in their case, over 15 years out, to a set of choices that are actually taking place today.  That as you can imagine are highly disruptive to a pharmaceutical company which has a business model around the development of therapies, of actual drugs that treat versus trying to figure out, you know, how do you make money?  How do you develop things that prevent problems happening in the first place has taken a lot of work and continues too/ But without that future back approach, it would be very, very difficult to get past all of the challenges and realities of the day to day business model of a pharmaceutical company.

CURT NICKISCH:  So, if I can apply this a little bit to say the owner of a store, a food market or some other essential kind of service like that.  You can communicate to your team, we are here to help people, but then also thinking ahead to OK, what are our customers going to want in the future?  Do we have to change our plans for how we’re expanding into certain places?  The architecture of the new store that we’re building – how are we going to do that differently based off of what we’re learning today?  Responding to the current situation and keeping a mission and vision that’s the same, but looking at the data and imagining how the future is going to be and trying to work yourself to that?

MARK JOHNSON:  Yes. And thinking about it, Curt, as it’s not a one and done.  It’s about carving out this time.  Spend a little bit of time in the future, being able to think about how things could be different and where opportunities will arise.  And what are those changes like in the grocery store example to adjust the business model, to keep it viable as it looks to get past the post-Covid crisis.

And think of it as three pieces coming together.  Maybe that vision gets set pretty quickly, but it just confirms the direction we’re going to head and we’re not going to over index to something that’s not where we really want to head.  That’s part one.  Part two is to embrace the right way this uncertainty through developing how we’re going to address things over the next 12 to 24 months with scenarios.

But then the third piece, and where it all comes down to anything around vision or strategy or planning, is the choices you make.  The resources you allocate in terms of leadership time, bandwidth, dollars and people.  And using that to say, we have to learn certain things and we have to experiment and that’s where we’re making choices of dollars and people to be able to, in this high degree of uncertainty, start to move forward.

But if you don’t carve out how to think about things down the road, then I think you end up in this problem of what we call the “present-forward fallacy.”  A great example here would be executive education or other forms of higher education.  Yes, they could be dealing with how do they address what’s going to happen in the fall, but what about thinking about what is the role of online and virtual learning that maybe they hadn’t thought as much about?  How do things just have to be organized in a world where social distancing might be here for the long term?

CURT NICKISCH:  Yeah, let’s play that scenario out a little bit.  I think online education is one of those things that people have seen coming for a long time and of course there’s a lot out there.  And universities, higher education institutions, everywhere have spent a ton of time thinking about that world. Now all of a sudden, the trajectory to reach that just seems a lot shorter, certainly a lot steeper right?  So, if you are an administrator, what should you be doing now?

MARK JOHNSON:  Well, again I think, I think especially for the purposes of those that support higher education or a specific institution, you need to think about again, how would you have discussions about what is – what stays true to the purpose and the collection of various elements of learning and how you serve the right students and all of that – and do that probably pretty quickly. But that still needs to be there.

But then just as a very practical element, I think these members of faculty and others have to ask themselves, what is, what does the academic year look like, not in 2020, but in 2021?  Where does that need to be?  Systems would have to be in place, having certain curriculum locked down.  How much is a conventional offering versus an online offering?  How do you have people trained and hired?

Looking at the scenarios of how things could be at least a year out or more, and then working that backwards, will allow for a better sort of point of view about how things could and should be, that as opposed to just again, incrementing off of today and just if you will, putting people, you know, putting classrooms online.

It’s a little bit equivalent in the early days of the newspaper with the internet.  You know, the early days of that was essentially a lot of newspapers just went online, didn’t really change the business model.  It almost just looked like a newspaper literally on the internet and didn’t change the whole nature of how media would unfold in terms of advertising and just readership and everything that we know today of how it all evolved.

I think the same thing here.  If we’re not careful we’re going to be in a present-forward mentality and not understand that there’s going to be some discontinuities.  It’s not going to just be a straight line out to 2021.  But it actually could be a transformation.  And the best way to deal with transformation is to work from whatever that future needs to be and work backwards.

CURT NICKISCH:  Are you in trouble if you’re a business that hasn’t done this already?  I mean you could pick any industry and they’re probably organizations in there that have really kind of wracked their brains over some of this already. Other organizations have kind of drifted with the market. So, I’m just wondering if a propensity to wrestle with the future is something that, that helps a company right now, or if you haven’t really done that in the past and you’re being forced to now, are you in trouble?

MARK JOHNSON:  Naturally if this is something that’s part of your organization, you have a head start.  But it’s never too late to learn.  Making that choice to say, we are going to spend 10 percent of our time thinking about the longer term and then the mid-term future.  We are going to say, what is it that we need to learn?  We are going to be more questions-oriented.  We are going to open up in an egalitarian way and debate and discuss, and really try to understand trend lines and what things are going to converge or deal with scenarios and their implications.

So, that you anticipating to use a Wayne Gretzky analogy, not just too where the puck is going, but how you might shape the puck through all of the things that are going to unfold over these next 12 to 24 months and beyond.  Again, I think it’s never too late to learn.  And it’s never too late, and I’ll give you one other example of this actually, is Satya Nadella in transforming Microsoft of when he took over was in real trouble.  The first thing he said basically, one of the first things he said is we need to switch from a culture of know-it-all’s, to learn-it-all’s.  It wasn’t too late for Microsoft to change its culture in the way it did things to look further out and to have this mindset that we need to be more focused, not just as leaders, but as the overall organization, to be learn-it-all’s as opposed to know-it-all’s.

CURT NICKISCH:  How does this apply to you if you are a regular employee, a lower-level manager, a middle manager?  How do you play a part in this – how does this apply to you?

MARK JOHNSON:  You know, to use analogy of my, of my colleague who passed away too soon in January, Clayton Christensen, you know, professor at Harvard Business School, and co-founder of Innosight.

And he had a number of folks at Intel who really embraced the theory of disruption and saw that as actually happening, or could happen to Intel.  And it sort of developed within the organization at midlevel, with an innovation teams and other places, a common language in a common way to think about the mechanics of disruption and how it applied to Intel.

A long story short is that grassroots effort if you will, started to really inculcate within Intel and it didn’t take long for a very capable visionary leader like Andy Grove to hear what was happening in his organization and to actually embrace it for himself.  And then to really drive the thinking, top down, which then ultimately led to Intel coming up with its own version of disruption with the celeron processor to compete against itself, compared to the Pentium chip.

So, I think one is that individuals across the organization can develop a language of thinking future back, within their functions and within major innovation initiatives so that they’re thinking in this clean sheet, careful to not be stuck too much in the present and the past like the stagecoaches behind the new locomotive. That they’re literally walking a process to do that future back. There’s an absolute role that they need to play along with what executive leaders do.

CURT NICKISCH:  Mark, thanks so much for coming on the show to talk about this.

MARK JOHNSON:  Thank you Curt.

HANNAH BATES: That was Innosight co-founder Mark Johnson in conversation with Curt Nickisch on HBR IdeaCast . Johnson is also co-author of the book Lead from the Future: How to Turn Visionary Thinking into Breakthrough Growth .

We’ll be back next Wednesday with another hand-picked conversation about business strategy from Harvard Business Review. If you found this episode helpful, share it with your friends and colleagues, and follow our show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. While you’re there, be sure to leave us a review. And when you’re ready for more podcasts, articles, case studies, books, and videos with the world’s top business and management experts, find it all at HBR.org.

This episode was produced by Mary Dooe, Anne Saini, and me, Hannah Bates. Ian Fox is our editor. And special thanks to Maureen Hoch, Rob Eckhardt, Nicole Smith, Erica Truxler, Ramsey Khabbaz, Anne Bartholomew, and you – our listener. See you next week.

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Insights from a Career Cluster Interest Survey

How it works

Figuring out what you want to do for a job can be like trying to find your way out of a really complicated maze. School gives you a lot of basic knowledge, but it doesn’t always help you figure out what career to go for. That’s where the Career Cluster Interest Survey comes in handy. It’s like a map that helps you find your way through all the different job options, matching what you like and what you’re good at with potential careers.

In this essay, let’s talk about why these surveys are important, how they work, and how they can help you make better career choices.

• 1 Why Career Cluster Surveys Matter
• 2 How Career Cluster Surveys Work
• 3 How They Affect Career Choices
• 4 Personal Thoughts and Future Outlook

Why Career Cluster Surveys Matter

Career Cluster Interest Surveys are super useful for connecting what you learn in school with what you want to do for a job. These surveys put jobs into groups based on similar skills and interests. This makes it easier to look at jobs that fit you. The idea of career clusters started because people needed a better way to get career advice that actually made sense.

The main thing these surveys do is give you personalized career advice. They help you find jobs you might not have thought about. Like, if you’re really into being creative, you might end up looking at jobs in the Arts or A/V Technology & Communications. This could lead you to careers like graphic design, broadcasting, or multimedia artistry. So, these surveys are like a light that shows you the way to jobs that match what you really care about.

How Career Cluster Surveys Work

The way these surveys work is based on a lot of research in psychology and education. They usually have a bunch of questions that ask about what you like, what you don’t like, and what you’re good at. This helps you think about what you really enjoy and what you’re good at.

After you finish the survey, your answers are looked at to find patterns. Each answer is linked to certain career clusters, showing which ones fit you best. This method is not only scientific but also flexible. It can change as your interests change. You can take these surveys at different times in your life to see how your career interests evolve.

How They Affect Career Choices

The impact of these surveys on your career choices is huge. They help you make better decisions, which means you’re less likely to hate your job or switch careers all the time. When your job matches your interests and strengths, you’re more likely to be happy and successful at work.

For example, if a survey shows that you’re a good fit for the Health Science cluster, you might look into jobs like nursing, physical therapy, or medical research. With this info, you can choose the right classes, find internships, and build skills that help you in that field. The survey helps clear up the confusion around career planning and gives you a sense of direction.

These surveys also show you skills that are useful in many different jobs. This is really helpful in today’s job market, where being adaptable is important. Skills like critical thinking, communication, and problem-solving are valuable in lots of jobs. By finding clusters that need these skills, you can keep your career options open and improve your chances of getting hired.

Personal Thoughts and Future Outlook

Thinking about what you learn from a Career Cluster Interest Survey can really change how you see your future. It makes you more aware of yourself and helps you think about not just what you want to do, but why you want to do it. Understanding your motivations and values is key to being happy with your career in the long run.

Looking ahead, these surveys are only going to get more important. As the job market keeps changing with new industries and different demands, being able to adapt will be critical. Career Cluster Interest Surveys give you a flexible way to explore careers, helping you stay on top of these changes.

In the end, Career Cluster Interest Surveys are more than just tools for career advice. They’re a way to grow personally and professionally. By giving you tailored insights into career paths, they help you go after jobs that match your interests and are fulfilling. As we keep dealing with the complexities of the modern job market, the value of these surveys will last, guiding many people to their true career paths.

Cite this page

Insights from a Career Cluster Interest Survey. (2024, Sep 17). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/insights-from-a-career-cluster-interest-survey/

"Insights from a Career Cluster Interest Survey." PapersOwl.com , 17 Sep 2024, https://papersowl.com/examples/insights-from-a-career-cluster-interest-survey/

PapersOwl.com. (2024). Insights from a Career Cluster Interest Survey . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/insights-from-a-career-cluster-interest-survey/ [Accessed: 18 Sep. 2024]

"Insights from a Career Cluster Interest Survey." PapersOwl.com, Sep 17, 2024. Accessed September 18, 2024. https://papersowl.com/examples/insights-from-a-career-cluster-interest-survey/

"Insights from a Career Cluster Interest Survey," PapersOwl.com , 17-Sep-2024. [Online]. Available: https://papersowl.com/examples/insights-from-a-career-cluster-interest-survey/. [Accessed: 18-Sep-2024]

PapersOwl.com. (2024). Insights from a Career Cluster Interest Survey . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/insights-from-a-career-cluster-interest-survey/ [Accessed: 18-Sep-2024]

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If you were a billionaire, would you want to be on TV, too?

Apparently, yes, if you’re bill gates (and he’s not the only one).

There are many great things about being a billionaire (not that I speak from experience). One of them, presumably, is getting your phone calls returned. Among those who have recently returned Bill Gates’s phone calls — or registered letters — or, most likely, considering the source, emails — are, in alphabetical order, Bono, James Cameron, Mark Cuban, Anthony Fauci , Lady Gaga, Mitt Romney, and Bernie Sanders . We know this because all appear on “What’s Next? The Future With Bill Gates.”

“What’s Next?” (not to be confused with “Who’s Next,” which may be why Pete Townshend isn’t one of the guests) started streaming on Netflix Wednesday. This isn’t Gates’s first Netflix go-round. There was the 2019 documentary “Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates.” But he was the subject of that show. Here he’s the host.

A highlight of the five-episode series is Gates’s encounter with Sanders. “We have the obscene situation where we have three people, you being one of them, who own more wealth than the bottom half of America,” the (very) independent senator from Vermont says to the Microsoft mogul. “Is the system working? In your judgment, is it working? What do you think?” Gates’s net worth is an estimated $138.6 billion.

Income inequality is among the issues “What’s Next?” tackles. Others include climate change, misinformation, AI, and infectious diseases. “If Bill Gates didn’t exist we’d have to make him up,” Bono says. “If we did, no one would believe the character.”

What’s equally unbelievable is that billionaires seem to have a thing for appearing on TV. It’s not just Gates. In August, there was “Just the Facts With Steve Ballmer,” on Fox, based on the USAFacts website of Gates’s fellow Microsoft alum. Ballmer’s estimated net worth is $125.5 billion. David Rubenstein (who made his $3.7 billion in private equity) hosts two shows on Bloomberg Television, “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer to Peer Conversations” and “Bloomberg Wealth with David Rubenstein,” and, on PBS, “History With David Rubenstein.” If that wasn’t enough, he hosted “Iconic America,” also on PBS, in 2023.

When not being interviewed by Gates, Mark Cuban ($5.7 billion) has been a regular on ABC’s “Shark Tank” since 2011. This upcoming season, which debuts Oct. 18, will be his last. The creator of the series was Mark Burnett (not a billionaire, but $500 million will buy you a lot of egg noodles). Burnett was the creator of another billionaire-hosted series, “The Apprentice.” Maybe it’s in emulation of the career trajectory of that show’s host that these other guys do so much TV. Or maybe not: His estimated net worth is just $3.9 billion.

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Mark Feeney can be reached at [email protected] .