Don't understand why interviewers ask such stupid questions like where do you see yourself in 5 years?
If I goddamn knew why the hell would I be applying here.
Also why do you want to join our company?
The obvious answer is money. end of story. Why do you expect me to say the work environment blah blah blah

It's an easy way to gauge candidates depending on how they respond.

@Jilano

It's an easy way to figure out ... what story the candidate chose to tell ...

@rutee07 Nailed it bro

@N00bPancakes they should ask something practical related to the job itself.

To often when I have been interviewing people they honestly say they will work with something other than what out position offers, indicating that they are not seeking it as a long term prospect.

Which is not really the answer we hope for since that means we will not be able to invest in them.

Like one that actually said he only saw us as a temporary position because he needed work experience to apply at a bigger company.

The question might seem stupid, but only because you are not stupid.

Also, sometimes they actually have future dreams that align with our goals which is a big plus.

All other cases its just one question that might not add anything.

But even those that do not know can give us clues to how they react in situations they was not prepared for.

Do they panic, become aggressive or afraid.

It all helps to build a picture of the person, and some of the soft values that are important for anything but a very temporary position or when you really need some specialist competition and all else including social skills is secondary to that.

I have never been in such a situation :)

@N00bPancakes why does that matter? Genuinely asking.

@corasan

Because the interview game is about giving the 'right' answer, not an honest one.

Folks who think they can sniff out some truth out of these kinds of questions I think greatly under appreciate how much gamification there is for everyone.

@N00bPancakes I can tell you that you are wrong.

Sure, some come “prepared” but that means they are smart enough to prepare which is a trait we can have use of.

If they can fool us you deserve the chance to prove hour self in real work ;)

And at least we filter out the lazy or useless applicants :P

@Voxera I get the idea here but I'm not sure 'well at least they came with a story' really tells you much about how useful they will be. Good at the meta game /= good at the real game.

In 5 years I'll have moved on because you, like every other company, don't reward based on merit or production and the only way to get a raise in this field is to get a new job.

And YOU made it this way. I'm just surviving in the environment YOU created.

So the faster we can get through this interview the faster I can give you 18 months of solid work followed by 12 months of decent work while I look for another job while burning out at the crazy pace you've set for your dev cycle.

With any luck in 5 years I'll be two jobs and 20 grand per year better than this job.

Thank you.

I’ll just say “still working for you”. That will boost my chances of getting the job and if I want to leave before that time I’ll leave.

@Jilano most HR, recruiters whatever just ask the 'normal' questions but don't know how to asses the answer, so I also think those are stupid questions based on stupid reasons.

Job interviews are hell. One of the best motivators to not switch jobs.

I guess that labor turnover also depends on the political situation.

If your situation is stable, you'll go for the job that better fits your personality, and in this case the interviews reveal that.

But if the situation is not stable (so like, whole world), you're gonna go for the highest-paying one so you can save up in case of emergency. Interviews are useless here. If the company wants to retain employees, they must buy out their loyalty in wages.

I've seen so many times that management tries to replace a good salary for HR motivation activities and rhetoric.

@N00bPancakes Sure, but we do more than the interview, like check up references.

Also its always two interviews a few days apart with different people and a coding test in between where we at the second interview discuss their solution.

If they really manages to hold up a lie, thats impressive and it also do require some skill :)

Of cause we could be fooled, but as I said, we filter out most of the useless and also, if they later are proved to be a fraud, we always practice 6 months of trial employment where we can terminate the contract.

So you would need to keep fooling us for 6 months.

The interview is to avoid spending time onboarding to many useless people.

Almost 30 years of experience tells me it really mostly works since we almost always catch any problems there.

Almost all cases when we do hire someone that proves to be a fake its because we out of desperation ignore warning signs to fill a position.

There still is the major problem that there are less skilled people than jobs so its hard to find good people.

I legitimately answered with "I'm really passionate about not starving to death or being homeless"

They laughed for so long the interview ran overtime. I didn't get job, unrelated reasons though

@Voxera

Yeah but that laundry list has nothing to do with

"where do you see yourself in 5 years?"

@N00bPancakes Sure it does.

Have they thought about advancing in the company or do they admit they have other plans.

Maybe they dream about going abroad which would mean they do not plan to stay on.

Or they plan on family which probably do mean they are looking for a stable work situation, which we actually is a good thing.

As I said, it not always an enlightening question, but sometimes it can be a real break or make question and therefore its still valid even if many just have no good answer.

There are many similar questions, some works on some people, other questions work on other people.
You often do not know in advance which are good or bad so you often use all of them.

@Voxera

Are you back to thinking you're getting candid answers with these questions?

@N00bPancakes I am back judging by 30 years of experience that tells me I am more tight than wrong :)

And my experience tells me that while some tries to fake answers, few does it successfully enough to get a job at our place that we later regret.

And as long as we do not regret hiring someone, they answered good enough.

You know the saying, fake it until you make it, and if you can fake it ling enough it might just make you learn it :)