What to Say When an Interviewer Asks for a Long-Term Commitment
During a typical interview, you can usually expect to answer familiar questions such as “What are your strengths?” or “ Why exactly do you want to work here? Sometimes, you may also ask less-than-legal questions from the hiring manager, such as those related to your personal business or family plans. (If you are in this position, it is perfectly normal not to answer.)
And between these two areas lies a gray area of questions that aren’t necessarily illegal, but probably not easy to answer, at least without taking the time to consider your options. One such question is whether you are willing to make a long-term commitment to a potential employer – even before you are officially hired.
One Forbes reader is faced with this dilemma. “When I came to work a year ago, my boss made me sign a paper that said I would stay in this job for two years,” she wrote, asking for advice. “… I’ve only been working for a year, but I’m ready to go.”
You may have been asked something similar in the past, such as how you see yourself in five years, which could be a simple question about your long-term goals – or just a subtle way to better understand your commitment to this company.
As you might have guessed, this commitment requirement is mostly about the company. “I know companies need long-term employees, ” Brianna Rooney, CEO of Millionaire Recruiter and Techees.com , a staffing firm, said by email.
However, if you are asked to enter into a contract with a company, you should be aware that this is not some kind of binding agreement. (Unless you sign a binding contract when hiring that includes this contingency. Even then, as Forbes writes, chances are your written agreement can be easily terminated depending on the contract and employer.) But first, you need to think about what “yes” and decisive withdrawal might mean before your time runs out.
As Ask A Manager’s Allison Green writes, if you quit early because of a verbal commitment to this company, you risk hitting your reputation in your field or the opportunity to ever get a job at that company in the future, but you don’t. other tangible consequences. If this is a binding agreement, you may risk losing a bonus or other incentive in addition to the issues listed above, but this depends on your particular case. You should take the time to understand these risks if you do not want to seize the opportunity in the long run.
Saying no to commitment is okay too, especially if you feel uncomfortable with the question being asked from the beginning. On the other hand, there are other ways to answer questions about your future, not necessarily limited to any time frame. Green recommends an ethical answer to the question, “Obviously I cannot predict the future and nothing is set in stone, but if all goes well on both sides, I hope to stay for a long time.”
When asked specifically about your five-year plan, Rooney recommends another good starting point for an answer, which should be something like, “My intention is to find a company where I can grow and learn.”
And if you’re still worried about an upcoming interview, check out our interview guide so you can better anticipate what questions you might be asked.