A typical interview question and roughly translated are you planning on staying within this company for five years and if so where do you think you will be?
An employer wants to know that if they take you on that they can guarantee you will stay in their employment and they also want to know what you think your career path is and whether its suited to what they see the role and company panning out.
When answering this question try to stay on a safe level by not aiming too high but also not aiming too low. For example if you say in 5 years time you would like to be a Director of the company and there just is no room for another Director they will discount you because they think that when you don’t get promoted you will leave anyway and that’s not what any employer wants. And if you aim too low by saying you are happy doing the job you are doing and have no ambition to move up then if they are looking for a career minded person you will also rule yourself out. Best to stay on a safe ground here and say that you are very interested in the role that you are being interviewed for now but over the next few years you would like to continue learning and if opportunities come up that are matched to your skills you would of course like to be considered for them and would like to move around the company but within the company.
Any employer wants a long term employee who can fit into their company and providing that works out for both parties’ long term employees are usually well respected in a company and do move around and keep learning new skills.