What (Not) To Do When Someone Asks You “What Do You Do?”

You’re at a cocktail party and are socializing with group of unfamiliar faces. The conversation starts with the exchange of names and some interests. And then the dread question arrives, ‘so, what is it that you do exactly?’ While you make think that referring to what your business card says is a safe bet, it can be quite the conversation killer.

If you waste this opportunity to impress by just reciting your business card, you will either wind up leaving your contact associating you with the stereotype of your profession (which can be quite negative), or speechless because of your completely obscure title. Remember to keep in mind that some titles only have significance to those that work in the industry, company, or department.

Instead, aim to deliver a description that packs a punch. Think of it this way: when you are writing a resume, you try to highlight your experiences and performances. In this case, you are selling yourself verbally and need to make a good first impression. When mixing and mingling, a bad impression can result in you losing your possible contact and them moving onto the next person in the crowd.

So try introducing yourself by throwing a quick who, what, when, why, where, and how into the mix. There’s no need to answer everything, but by answering even a few of these questions, you can provide a wealth of information for your contact to pick at in a short amount of time.

For instance, give this one a go (instead of just saying ‘I’m a writer’):

I attend and write coverage for fashion events in New York City for an online magazine called ZXY publications.

On a related note, the concept of jazzing up a bland description also extends to introducing friends to contacts. Simply saying ‘this is XYZ’ doesn’t give the other person a lot to work with. Next time, try adding an interesting fact about them; for example, ‘meet XYZ, she recently spent a lot of time in Europe recently.’ By doing so, you are helping out by building a bridge for your two contacts on which to tread.
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 12:20 pm and is filed under Job Search, Online Career Space, Personal Branding, Resumes, Specialization. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.