Speaker 1 (00:00): Where do you see yourself in five years?
Now, this is a question that comes up a lot in law firm interviews and really stumps law
students, because we don't know where we're going to be one year after law school, much
less five years out.
And so in this video, we're going to walk through exactly how to answer this question
so that you go from feeling completely paralyzed, to really confident and sure of yourself in
responding to this question.
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Speaker 1 (00:50): All right, guys, if you are excited to jump
in smash that like button and let's go.
So for a lot of us, when we hear the question, where are you going to be?
In five years, we immediately go into a panic and our mind goes from, I don't know where
I want to be in five years to, I don't want to lie to them.
I don't want to be dishonest.
I can't necessarily say that I'm going to be here in five years.
How do I respond?
I don't want to blow this interview.
What do I do?
And yes, the law firms are asking this question because they want to see how much of a flight
risk you are.
It's expensive to recruit and train young associates, and they want to see if you're
going to be sticking around that being said, statistically, you're going to be leaving
this firm in the next three to five years, because that's how quickly the turnover rate
is in law firms across the country.
Speaker 1 (01:31): And so we're going to reframe the question
instead of it being, what position are you going to be in or where you are going to actually
be?
We're going to reframe the answer to be, what will you do in those five years?
And what goals are you going to achieve?
So we're actually going to break up our answer into two parts.
In the first part, we're going to talk about what we plan to do in the first two to three
years at the firm.
And in the second part, we're going to talk about what we plan to do in the next two to
three years at the firm.
So my answer would go something like, and the first two to three years at the firm,
I plan to work as hard as I can learn as much as I can and really become a true expert in
master of the legal matters.
Speaker 1 (02:07): I'm entrusted with my goal is to immerse myself
in this position, understand how to do it and how to do it well, how I can exceed expectations
and look for opportunities to bring as much value as possible to the process, to the team
and to the client.
And the second part, I would say in the next two to three years at the firm, I plan to
build on the knowledge and skills that I will have developed.
And I really see myself stepping up and taking on more of a leadership role in the team taking
on more responsibilities and higher level obligations and really becoming known as a
go-to associate that partners can heavily lean on and depend on for excellent work product.
I also intend to mentor the junior associates coming after me to ensure that they are able
to perform at their highest level as well.
Speaker 1 (02:52): You can see from those examples that we have
reframed our answer to be, what are we going to give back to the firm?
What is value going to be that we hope to add?
And we are not focusing a, on any of the positions or the titles or the promotions don't have
anything in your answer about wanting to make senior associate or wanting to make junior
partner equity partner.
It's not about the prestige.
It's not about what the firm could give to you, but instead what you can provide to the
team and to the clients of the firm.
The other thing to not include in your answer is of course, any other potential career paths.
So whether or not you're thinking about maybe going in house or possibly starting your own
law firm or transitioning to a government role or a nonprofit, this is not the time
to talk about that.
Speaker 1 (03:36): The question that they're asking is why should
we hire you?
Are you going to stay?
Are you going to give us value?
And so that is what we want our focus of the answer to be.
All right, guys, I hope that was helpful for you to craft your answer to the question of
where do you see yourself in five years, be sure to download your copy of the best questions
to ask any law firm interviews that you can turn every interview into a wonderful conversation,
which is the absolute most effective type of interview.
Let me know if you have any questions in the comment section below.
I wish you guys the best of luck in your interviews.
Let me know how they go.
And I'll see you guys in the next video.
Speaker 2 (04:11): Yeah.