I’m no recruiting specialist, but as I see it the often asked “where do you see yourself in five years” question, merely allows a recruiter to gauge that you have intentions, any intentions, beyond I guess, “stapling reports together” for the rest of your work life.

This because there can be no real answer to such a question.

Besides meaningless speculation about your future, this is another question that hands the interviewer reasons not to hire you. If you answer “I’m just happy sitting in a cubicle stapling reports together,” the interviewer can mark in your file that you lack ambition. If you answer “I want to be CEO in ten years,” they can decide that you’re too ambitious and will leave your job the second you get a better offer. There are many more ways to get the answer to this question wrong than right.

Given people tend to change jobs every two to three years, an answer like “running my own business” couldn’t therefore be seen as being too threatening, overly easy-going, or even completely disinterested.