“Where do you see yourself in five years?”

Behind this question is a worry. Organisations here lose good staff quickly: to a UN agency that pays more, to a scholarship abroad, to a family business. Training a new officer takes months, so the panel wants to know whether you have a direction and whether that direction runs through their organisation for a while. They are not asking for a prophecy; they are asking for a plan.

1. 1Start with this role: say you want to become genuinely good at it in the first year or two, and name the part you want to master.
2. 2Name one realistic next step in the same field: leading a small team, covering more districts, owning a bigger budget, becoming the focal point for a system.
3. 3Say which skills or qualification you will build to get there, and show you have already looked into it.
4. 4Connect it to them: “and I would like that growth to happen here, because…”, with a true reason about their work.

• “In your chair” or “running this department”. Meant as ambition, heard as a threat by the person asking.
• “Abroad, or in Nairobi with the UN.” Honest, and it tells them you are already leaving.
• “Running my own business.” Fine as a life goal; as an interview answer it says the job is a waiting room.
• “Only God knows” and nothing else. True, and every Somali panel agrees, but on its own it is scored as no plan. Say it if you like, then give the plan.
• “Married with children.” A private matter and not what was asked. Keep the answer about work.