When they say “ where do you want to be in 5 years”

and I say..” retired” ...

We don't know the OP's motives for starting this thread but I think it's an interesting subject.

When I think back to interviews I've been invited to, probably the one disappointment has been companies who have not been up-front and honest about the financial package and likely career path.

However - my main interest in this is from the other side of the desk. I have interviewed many people in the last twenty years, mainly for technical posts, often but not exclusively software developers. While I'm obviously looking for strong technical skills I find it really disappointing when candidates have made no attempt to research what the employer does. Just a few sentences will suffice, enough to show they have made some effort. It's so easy these days with the internet. When I went for an interview at M&S HO in the mid 90's there was no mass access to the internet, one had to ask people who you might have networked with, try and get hold of a current annual report to try and find out what direction the company was heading in.

I would never turn someone down just because of this if they were otherwise a good candidate but given how easy it is to research on the web, it doesn't give me a good feeling to start off the interview with.