Where do you see yourself:

Here's what the resume advice company Resume Edge recommends as a sample answer to the question, "Where do you see yourself in ten years?"

In ten years, I endeavor to have refined my strategic and client relations skills. I intend to be a leading expert in estate planning. After having proven myself as a senior manager, I hope to help shape the strategic direction of estate planning services. I could do this in any number of official roles. The important thing is that I will continue contributing my abilities in a challenging and rewarding environment.

More advice:

• While it is not usually a good idea to try to be a Jim Carey in an interview, depending on how things have gone and who you are dealing with, you might inject a little humor here and ask: "When do you expect to be promoted?" ....or "When are you moving on?... This could easily break the ice. Seriously, you can easily respond that you have no idea as you have no idea what you are capable of so far, although you know it is a lot. Therefore, you want to make sure you are open and flexible to whatever opportunities present themselves. If you actually know what you want to be when you grow up, you could offer to conduct a seminar on how to actuate that.
• You know when you come to that common situation where someone asks you "Where do you see yourself in five years?" Yea you should call a person on that because that question is silly! You have no idea where you'll be in five years nor should you worry. I mean how depressing can that question actually be? If someone asked me that question five years ago I wouldn't have predicted my life to be like this nor would I have wanted to say my life would be like this, I'm not saying I'm unhappy with my life necessarily its just that in a span of five years a persons likes and dislikes change, the people around them either disappear, reappear, or show up for the first time. The things you once loved could become something you hate or vice versa. Aspirations change and feelings lose their magic. Yes you can say what you'd like to see happen in five years but I'm pretty sure it won't and five years from now when you look back on yourself answering that question you'll probably no longer want the same things. There's always hope but no definite so all you can do is live life like you have those five years to look back on...
• When an interviewer asks this question, they're asking where you see yourself within a company. They don't want to hear you say, "Well, in five years, I will be married to a handsome European man, touring the South Pacific in our yacht with a mai-tai in my hand." They want something like, "Well, that will depend on my individual performance and on the opportunities I'm presented with, but ideally, I will be..." Even if you're going, "Yeah, like I'll be here in 5 years..." act like you will be. They don't want to hear you saying you'll essentially use them to get where you want, and the minute the opportunity is presented jump ship.
• Some might think that you should not tell the interviewer that you want to move up the ladder of success, because they will fear that you might replace them or move on to another job. However, most would recommend that you answer with just the opposite: that you do want to be successful. A good manager wants his employees to be successful and grow in their careers because that benefits the whole company. If they don't want this, you don't want to work for them. As for the actual standards of success and specific career paths, they are very different for different people and different industries. It is most important to show that you do want to be successful.
• Think educationally-- higher degree? certification? Think leadership-- at least one step up from where you are at now.
• Think about what your goals in life are. Then think about what you are doing now. The answer will be somewhere in between, for example "I want to be the CEO of Microsoft and right now I'm studying towards a degree in computering engineering." In five years time the person would probably be "working with a decent computer company in a high position, looking to move on to greater things".
• Be ambitious but realistic. If you are applying for a job in the mail room in a large corporation, don't say you are gong to be CEO in 5 years; but try to find out before your interview where a mail room clerk might be promoted to.
• This is a tricky interview question and definitely something worth thinking about before hand. You should come across as being flexible with strong ideas of several directions you are interested in developing. You should be positive, confident and ambitious but not overly so. Don't say "I want to be doing your job"

Where will you be in five years?

This is a very common job interview question. Think carefully about your plans. Really answer it for yourself, Where do you see yourself in five years? Where do you hope to be?

The interviewer is looking to find out a few things with this question. First, are you the type of person who plans ahead and sets goals? You should be. Second, do your goals match those of the company and the position? Your goals need to fit the career path for the job. They don't want to lose you in a year or two.

Colleges vs. Universities vs. Schools:

The difference between a college and a university is that a college just offers a collection of degrees in one specific area while a university is a collection of colleges. When you go to a university you are going to be graduating from one of their colleges, such as the business college. As to which is better, it depends on what you want. Single colleges tend to be smaller while universities are bigger, but universities are better known.

Explanations from other contributors:

• Be aware that there is a very distinct difference in terminology between the USA and the rest of the world. In the US, there is very little difference academically between a "college" and a "university." In the US, the terms are synonymous; other countries use "college" to refer to some secondary schools, but "university" is always used to mean an institution of tertiary education and higher learning. Universities are usually larger and often contain multiple "colleges" within them. However, some of the top-ranked schools in the US have a name including "college" (e.g., Dartmouth College). In other parts of the English-speaking world, the term "university" equates to the US use of "college" and the term "college" refers more to a trade or vocational school.
• Depends on the country you are in. Here in the UK, a university can award its own degrees and has a charter giving it various guarantees of independence. A college usually depends on a fully-fledged university to validate its degrees, or may even be part of a university, as in Oxford or Cambridge colleges. Or a college may be little to do with degree-level education at all, such as a Further Education college.
• Also don't forget Community Colleges. In that usage a college is very different than a University because a community college can't offer a 4-year degree (i.e., a B.A. or a B.S.). Community colleges can offer trade and technical certifications and training as well as the first 2 years of a 4-year program, but they are unable to grant Bachelor's degrees.
• In Canada, a University is an education institution that can grant degrees (BA, BSc, MA, PHd, etc). Colleges can grant certificates or diplomas, but not degrees.
• Maybe it is in Canada alone that universities are different than colleges. Most countries except Canada (developing or developed countries), colleges offers four (4) year course - Bachelor's Degree. Of course, universities are more prestigious and more expensive. Also, universities offers further studies after a Bachelor's degree like Master's degrees, Doctorate degree, and Post Doctorate degree - these degrees can be achieved if you have earned a Bachelor's degree first. Basically, colleges are small and faculties (such as lecturers) are more focused to students. They usually focus on a few courses (for a Bachelor's degree). In universities, a professor handles more students and they most likely can't place a focus on each individual student.
• Australia is in the same boat as Canada, then. Here, Universities offer degrees, but Colleges (also known as T.A.F.E.,) offer Diplomas and Certificates.
• In France, college Grande Ecole is highly reputing than University especially in Engineering. It is part of National Polytechnic Institute taking into account the selection criteria.
• A university confers degrees up to PhD. A 4-year college confers Bachelor's and Master's degrees (BA, BS & MA, MS). A 2-year or community college confers the associate degree (AA or AS).
• The main difference between a college and a university is that the university maintains research requirements for its instructors and that the university is, in essence, a more research-focused institution.
• A college can offer many majors with which to direct your studies. However, doctorate programs are more prone to be offered at universities where they have the money to support such programs.
• This is probably related to the fact that Universities conduct research, which in turn allows them a certain degree of recognition, attracts a larger student body and affords them the capacity to offer higher learning options than a college can offer.
• While the terms today are often used interchangeably, originally a college was a specific school teaching a specific subject, such as Education, Medicine, etc. and a University is a school made up of numerous colleges.
• In general the difference is the level of degree that they can award. Colleges typically award Bachelor's degrees and Universities can confer Master's and Doctorate degrees. The distinction has never been "enforced" by any organization.
• Sometimes a college could have called themselves a university, but chooses not to for historical reasons and/or continuity of its name. The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, founded in 1693, could have long ago called itself a university, with studies available in many areas, undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate. However, to maintain the historical title that dates back to colonial times, the college has never adopted the title of university.

  Those of us who work here commonly refer to it as "the university," and as a Virginia Charter University, which has allowed William & Mary a large degree of independence from the commonwealth, all new employees are now "university employees" vice "state employees" as the college now has its own human resources structure separate from (but similar to) the commonwealth's HR structure. Current "state employees" also have the option to convert to "university employees." Bottom line: While W&M operates at a level commonly equated to universities, it chooses to maintain the title of college for historical reasons. I suspect that Dartmouth College has the same or similar reasoning for not taking on the title of university, although it certainly would be justified in doing so.

• A few notes on some of these comments:

  1) Community colleges absolutely do now offer bachelor degrees and not always in conjunction with a 4-year college or university. This is a new trend in the US and many are fighting it, because that wasn't the purpose behind the community college concept when it was first developed.

  2) Universities are not more prestigious than colleges. I defy anyone to tell me that MIT, which isn't a university, isn't as prestigious as Harvard University.

  3) In answer to this post: "A university confers degrees up to PhD. A 4-year college confers Bachelors and Masters degrees. (BA,BS & MA, MS) A 2-year or community college confers the associate degree. (AA or AS)": There are many colleges that offer doctoral degrees. In the US, a "4-year college" does not offer a masters. That goes beyond the 4 years. As I wrote before, many community and 2-year colleges offer bachelor degrees.

  4) Last point, in answer to "The difference between a college and a university is that a college just offers a collection of degrees in one specific area, while a university is a collection of colleges": Universities contain colleges and universities offer the degree. For example, my degree is from the University of Illinois, not from the College of Education. I earned the degree through the COE, but UI granted the degree.

Sorry I don't agree with your answer.

I have researched the internet and find that this "company" does sell your child's information to many other parties.

It also continues to send letters to people who have graduated, who are already in college, who are now teaching and/or who NEVER had a GPA above a C.

I find it interesting that my grandson, along with EVERYONE in his class got a letter with their name addressed in it.

In the second paragraph it states... "Because only a relative handful of students anywhere in the United States qualify for this honor, we at The Academy are pleased to propose your child's inclusion in the prized USSA National Yearbook." The handful seams to be quite BIG!

So it appears that anyone vain enough to want their child's name, address, phone number and email address (and picture for a fee if they don't want the book) , can fill out the form, send in their money and get their child published for anyone to see. AND they get to purchase the year book for just $59.95 if they want to. WHOOEEE! What an honor.

On the student bio form it asks for the estimated GPA, but I'm quite sure that no one verifies it after they get your money... Just as they continue to send out mailings to people who are no longer in school and to unqualified students to begin with!

Just another scam to get peoples hard earned money. You're better off saving it and looking into legitimate grants and scholarships.