How do you all deal with interview questions on plans on what you want to do after graduation?
I get the feeling that when I’ve been asked this question that they are looking for candidates that say something like “I want to work in the their field or for a company similar to theirs if not their own company”. I worry my answers have let me down in otherwise good interviews as I am considering a PhD, or companies in different engineering sectors. I don’t want to lie to them so my answers have been very non committal. As I need to complete industry work experience to graduate it’s becoming concerning that this might hold me back.
The reason companies ask you this question is to gauge whether working at their company aligns with your overall career goals. This is usually a helpful indicator of whether you will be committed to your role / the company during the time period of the internship (and maybe even afterwards).
Therefore, the best way to answer this question is just to be genuine and candid around your actual career goals. I think there are two main approaches to this question:
1. You know what you want to do
In this situation, I would talk about my longer term aspirations to work in the industry, and how I think this internship will set me up with a launchpad for a career in this space, or if the company is your end goal, talk about growing to a more senior position in a company such as theirs
2. You don’t know what you want to do
Talk about how you are still exploring your options and want to get the most out of opportunities such as the one you are applying for to explore whether that industry or role is the right one for you.
I think the main thing with how you answer this question is to show that you’ve thought things through, and that this internship/opportunity is not part of the wide list of companies you have applied for, but an intentional decision as part of your longer term career aspirations.