Where do you hope to be professionally in five years?

This is one of those standard questions that someone thought up years ago and for some reason it has continued to grow in popularity. It is not a bad question because it is open-ended with a time line. The applicant is expected to provide a realistic answer that portrays neither a lust for power ("I want to be your boss") nor a lack of focus and ambition ("I want to be right where I am, or win the lottery and spend the rest of my life watching TV"). Instead, the candidate is expected to showbridled ambition (except in a few organizations that want to see a "killer" attitude):

"I hope to continue to be with this organization in a position of increased responsibility where I will be able to continue my professional growth while making an ongoing corporate contribution to the organization's continued success."