'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