Where do you want to be in 5 years? It’s okay not to know.
Do you know where you want to be in five years? Odds are, the answer is no. And let’s just say up top, that’s okay!
A 2017 survey by DMH Research found that two-thirds of Americans don’t have a written-out life plan. Yet, your uncle, your mom and your job interviewer all want to know yours?
The five-year plan still haunts us all, although many career experts no longer see the framework as relevant or necessary for a successful career.
“The five-year plan is one of those oversimplified, unhelpful one-liners that exist in college and the career world,” says Gorick Ng, a Harvard career adviser, UC Berkeley faculty member, and author of The Unspoken Rules: Secrets to Starting Your Career Off Right. “You don’t necessarily need one and most people don’t know where they want to be in five years.”
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For one thing, the idea is out of date with the realities of today’s working world. “The job you want in five or ten or fifteen years may very well not exist yet, just as the job you have now maybe didn’t exist 15 years ago,” says Ng.
The “five-year plan” framework can also backfire if taken too seriously. Career coach Melody Wilding tells Business Insider that she’s seen clients trapped by their long-set goals. They over-analyze their every move, turn down great opportunities that don’t fit in with their “plan” or get so discouraged by setbacks they simply give up.
Still, there are still elements of the five-year plan that can be helpful.
“It’s important to think about the journey you want to take, and what success looks like to you,” says Ng. Here are some ideas for thinking productively about the future in ways that feel good — and what to do when someone does ask where you see yourself in five years.
Figure out if you’re goal-oriented or experience-oriented
The reality is that there are lots of ways to think about and prepare for the future. Having a clear plan will be helpful for some people; for others, it’s a shame and stress-inducing trap.
“Imagine you’re taking a road trip from New York City to Los Angeles,” says Ng. “Some people will want to plan out their route to make it there as quickly as possible. Others might want to enjoy the scenery and make plans as they go. It’s the same in our careers: Some people are more goal-oriented, while others are more experience-oriented.”
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Some people know in high school that they want to launch a startup or become a doctor or get on the fast track at Goldman Sachs. But for others, planning a career is more about guiding ideas like: I want financial stability. I want work-life balance. I want to do something purposeful and work on projects I enjoy.
Ng says that most people will sit somewhere along a spectrum from goal-oriented to experience-oriented, versus being strictly one or the other. Reflecting on what style of career planning feels right to you can help you avoid holding yourself to someone else’s standards.
“It’s important to know what matters to you and why, or you’ll see yourself as ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’ through the eyes of someone with different values,” he says. The knowledge that you’ve considered — and feel good about — how you’re approaching your career planning can inoculate you from those heart palpitations and cold sweats every time someone brings up the dreaded five-year plan.
Experiment, experiment, experiment
You might be thinking: “Sure… but it’s better to be goal-oriented, right?” I did when I spoke to Ng. But he says he doesn’t believe that’s the case. In some ways, it’s a tough time right now for goal-oriented people. Our rapidly-changing economy and culture reward professionals who are more flexible and comfortable pivoting quickly.
Not to scare the goal-oriented folks: You can truly be successful with either approach.
“What matters most is that what we do is aligned with our values,” Ng says, adding that the most important thing you can do early on is an experiment, throwing yourself into different experiences and using that data to figure out what your values are.
“Take classes in different departments,” he continues. “Join different clubs, try internships in different fields, meet lots of people. During and after college, collect experiences and after each one, ask yourself: Do I like the topics? Do I get energy from this? Do I enjoy these people? Did I dread or feel excited for this job/class? Your body will tell you what you’re interested in and what you’re good at.”
In other words, try seeing every single experience in college and your career as helpful information that can nudge you in the right direction, instead of as a do-or-die decider of your entire future.
Look for role models
For a helpful (and potentially less stressful) alternative to the five-year plan, Ng suggests the “career role model” method: Using people whose careers you admire as inspiration for your own trajectory.
Start by finding your role models. Make a list of people you look up to from a professional and personal perspective — 3-5 people is a good, non-overwhelming number to start with. It can be people with cool jobs or who got to be involved with exciting projects, but it can also be people who have the work-life balance you strive for or who just seem really happy and fulfilled.
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Once you have your list, it’s time to scour their online presence. Listen to their podcasts, read their blogs and websites and scroll through their LinkedIn profiles. Learn everything you can about their whole journey that brought them to where they are today. And make sure to scroll all the way down on their LinkedIn, expanding every section.
“Make note of what steps they took to get where they are,” he says. “Where did they go to school? What internships did they do? What was their first job out of college? Their second job? Their third? What roles do they have? How long did they spend at each company or organization? How did job one set them up for job two?”
The idea isn’t to replicate these paths identically. It’s not realistic, and potentially not even wise given you may have slightly different skills, interests and values. Rather, Ng says, “You’ll soon find that every profession has its patterns.”
These patterns can help you strategize and structure your job searches and career transitions. Maybe you’ll notice that a lot of successful people in your field spent time in an adjacent industry first. That can help you decide to expand your job search. Maybe they jumped from smaller companies to bigger companies, which can empower you to apply to smaller organizations you wouldn’t have otherwise considered.
When you have to share your plans, try this approach
Unfortunately, it’s likely you’ll still encounter the five-year plan question every now and then. With family and friends, feel empowered to answer honestly: Maybe something along the lines of “I’m interested in working in X field and enjoying it right now for Y and Z reasons, but I could see doing one of a few different things next.”
If you get the dreaded question in an interview or networking meeting? Still be honest, just maybe with a little more confidence. A good solution might be to speak in terms of skills, projects and mission-driven goals you’d like to work on, instead of the exact job title you want to have.
The five-year plan question is, at its core, a set of open-ended questions. “When people say, where do you want to be in five years, what they’re really referring to is: What are your values? What does a good life look like to you? Who inspires you?” says Ng. Next time someone asks you about yours, try answering these questions for them — and for yourself — instead.
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