One of the main reasons that employers ask this question is to determine if the job you are interviewing for is consistent with your long-term career goals. One of the biggest expenses for most companies is the high cost of turnover. Employers want to hire people who have a high likelihood of succeeding and staying. Keep this in mind when you prepare your answer for this question. If you are applying to work as a medical billing clerk in a hospital, it probably isn’t a good idea to tell the interviewer that you hope to be writing scripts for Hollywood sitcoms in five years. If this is your response, you have given the interviewer several reasons not to hire you.
First, by responding this way, you have let the interviewer know that you have no interest in a long-term career in this hospital, or any hospital. This sends a loud and clear message that you are not going to be committed to the job, and that you are not going to be a long-term employee. Medical billing is a detail-oriented, stressful job that requires a high degree of concentration. Someone who doesn’t want to work in medical billing isn’t going to be very good at it. Additionally, the interviewer knows that if you want to become a script writer that you are probably to be spending a lot of time actually writing scripts. The interviewer might wonder if you might spend time that you are supposed to be doing medical billing work actually working on scripts.
You don’t need to lie and tell the interviewer that you want to be a medical billing clerk for the rest of your life. Ambition isn’t a bad thing. Just keep in mind that employers need to reduce turnover. An hospital administrator is going to be more likely to hire a medical billing clerk who sees themselves as a healthcare social worker or a nurse five years from now rather than one who wants to be a sitcom writer in Hollywood. If you really do want to be a sitcom writer in Hollywood, your long-term career goals might be better served by seeking a different type of job anyway. It will be in your best interest to seek employment in publishing or media. That way, you will be getting experience related to the industry that you really want to be in. You’ll also be able to answer questions about where you want to be in five years truthfully, without hurting your chances of getting the job.
