‘Where do you see yourself in five years?’: Recruitment expert on why you shouldn’t care about this age-old question

“Where do you see yourself in five years?”

It’s a question that most people have asked themselves or been asked in job interviews, by mentors, career advisors or even just their parents.

But it’s not a question people should really be worried about, Aneesh Raman, vice president and workforce expert at LinkedIn, told CNBC Make It in a conversation on the sidelines of LinkedIn’s U.K. Talent Connect event last month.

“Don’t worry about five years or 10 years from now,” he said.

That might seem counterintuitive at first, but as the labor market and jobs themselves are evolving rapidly thanks to technological developments like artificial intelligence, planning for the future can be tricky.

Put simply, we just do not know which jobs will even exist in a few years, Raman said. “The only constant for the coming decade will be change,” he added.

But where does that leave those who are about to start their career?

Instead of thinking about what job title or role you want, Raman suggests focusing on what you want to do, what skills to develop, and using them in an impactful way.

“The thing that matters most is skills,” Raman said. Developing those should be the focus of anyone’s early career, he explained, adding that where and how that happens is secondary.

“Employers are interested in all the skills you’ll bring to the organization, regardless of where you’ve learned them,” he said. “Take stock of your top skills and get really good at telling a story around where you built them and, more importantly, where you applied them.”

Data shows that employers are placing an increasing amount of attention on skills — for example, recruiters are five times more likely to search for candidates based on skills than other accolades like college degrees, LinkedIn has found.

“Once you’ve built up some true expertise, the next step is to ask yourself how you can apply what you know to a specific issue or a topic you’re passionate about,” Raman said.

Next to skills, learning should be another key focal point and goes hand in hand with being able to adapt in an ever-changing job market.

“Find your way to a love of learning, where you are excited about learning because you are curious and determined to get better at certain skills or in certain areas of expertise,” Raman said.

He has said that asking about the culture of learning is the most important question job seekers can ask in interviews. This is due to the changing nature of jobs and the labor market, Raman said. LinkedIn research has also found that learning boost workers’ sense of connection to their employer and adds purpose to their jobs.