What do you want to be doing in your career five years from now?

Good answer
I’d like to be doing what I’m doing now—that is, enjoying
my work, working hard and contributing to the best of my
abilities. Of course, I’d expect that in five years time my added
experience would hold me in good stead for greater
responsibilities, which is something I look forward to taking
on when the time comes. The most important thing, however,
is to be happy, productive and a valued member of the team.
Not so good answer
Basically, I’m ambitious and hard-working, so I expect to
further my career considerably. My aim is to work hard and
get as far as I can. I think I’d be looking at some sort of management
position with greater responsibilities and of course
greater rewards.
Comments
There’s nothing crushingly wrong with the second answer; in fact,
it makes several good points—namely, it gets right to the point and
promotes the candidate’s hard work and ambition to get ahead. The
reason it is not as good as the first answer lies in its limited approach:
the candidate’s primary goal is one of promotion only. The sub-text                                  is that if there’s no opportunity for promotion, the candidate might
leave. On the other hand, the first answer acknowledges the
importance of hard work and promotion but very wisely goes on
to say that getting promoted is not the only thing that matters. The
first answer is less egocentric and more aware of the importance of
making a contribution to the company.