“What Exactly Would You Say You Do?”
Posted on | November 10, 2009 | 4 Comments
This is a famous line from one of my favorite movies, Office Space. If you have not seen the movie, I highly encourage you do so. In the scene, an efficiency auditor asks a manager what he does for the company and the manager just can’t come up with a comprehendible answer. After a number of questions and still no clue what the guy does for a living the auditor finally asks, “What exactly would you say you do here?” The employee ends up getting laid off. As ridiculous as it may sound, I run into people all the time who are unable to describe what they do for a living.
I’m not a recruiter, a life coach or anything like that but I think everyone should be able to come up with a brief truthful answer to what they do for a living. This seemingly obvious skill seems to escape many but for business communications or looking for a job it’s extremely important. It might even be something you want to practice. What does it say to a recruiter if you are asked about a prior job and you either obviously embellish your duties or at the end of the questions they still have no clue what you do for a living. It’s amazing how often I run into this. I’ve had people approach me about various business arrangements and honestly, if they can’t provide me a brief explanation of what they do that any person of average intelligence can comprehend, it’s not worth my time.
The Embellished Answer
I asked a friend of a friend one time what they did for a living. They replied proudly that they sold optimized employee hydration equipment. I had to think about those four words for about five seconds before I rudely blurted out asking if he sold water bottles. My directness and clever deductive reasoning seemed to surprise him. He said yes but again said it was optimized employee hydration equipment. Then he proceeded to spend the next twenty minutes trying to convince me how important a job he had. People have to drink so I guess the job is important but the conversation was not necessary. I was not going to hire him and I really didn’t care but imagine if this was his answer in an interview or a reply with a possible business partner. In an interview ,maybe you need to add a little marketing but still be truthful as to your past or present job descriptions.
The Confusing Answer
I have a friend’s wife who told me that she was a project manager at a software company. I was generally interested because project management was a lot of what I did in the past as a human resources software reseller. I started to ask a few questions about her job. I don’t ask these questions because I like to be nosy. I usually find that people like talking about their work. Thirty minutes later I still had no idea what she did for a living. I eventually managed to find out that her job title was not project manager but something entirely different and unconnected. The scene was almost identical to the Office Space scene but I did not ask the question. I tried open questions, closed questions, and even summarizing and I still don’t know what this person does. It eventually became a puzzle I had no interest in solving. It just was not worth the effort to find out. If I was considering a business venture or hiring this person, how on earth could I do so?
I have a brother who’s a rocket scientist and another who is a tax attorney. You might not want me programming a rocket guidance system or doing your taxes but at least I can provide a brief description of what each one does. One makes rockets go straight and the other keeps people out of tax jail.
My Advice
I have a simple short answer I provide for anyone asking what I do for a living. I own a HR Information Systems website business. Many times this answer is sufficient. If someone asks follow up questions, I’ll provide a few additional details. If I were asked the question in a business negotiation, I would be far more detailed and perhaps even provide some traffic statistics. But I would still start out with a very basic clear explanation and then expound on that original simple answer.
Tags: human resource technology > human resources software > Office Space > what do you do
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November 12th, 2009 @ 10:09 am
The confusion of job titles is dominoing most everywhere from political correctness — Business Analyst vs implementation specialist, Project Managers vs team lead, Project Sponsors vs project managers… With many of the opportunites I have been presented with in the past year, the job title and the job description have been totally out-of-synch…. very few titles actually lined-up to the job description.
Just how out-of-synch is our industry if the most basic of fundamentals (knowing what you need) is unclear or is being embelished to those needing the resources? A fancy title and $5 will buy a cup of mojo at any coffee shop — aren’t we are supposed to be counting the beans here (and not brewing them) until the project is complete?? Many are doing the same to job titles — giving out titles that are above the job descriptions only waters down the titles and does nothing to enhance them or create value to them…
Because we can not regulate ourselves we have organizations that regulate for us — examples being PMI, IHRIM, SHRM, etc… if they fail to regulate properly then the next step will be government mandates… and once the titles have been watered down, then what? New titles? Government intervention?
We already know how ineffective both of those are… We as an industry have to regulate ourselves — or someone else will do it for us.
November 12th, 2009 @ 10:58 am
Garrett,
Thanks for the comments. I wrote the orginal blog about people in general not just our industry but you are correct on how this same issue applies within the technology world and human resources.
I’m not real sure if other industries have the same problem. If you are a CPA, you had to pass an exam and meet the requirements of a particular state to hold that title. If you are an engineer you have had to do the same to be hold a title of professional engineer.
What are the requirements for product manager, project manager, HR manager or HR director?
Clay
November 19th, 2009 @ 11:00 am
I’ve run into the same experience that Garrett describes. I know that a Business Analyst is fundamentally different from an Implementation Specialist who is fundamentally different from a Project Manager.
It’s the letters after your name that carry the clout, not the title itself. Call me a business analyst, project management, implementation specialist, or onboarding consultant but if I have CPP, PMP at the end of my name, you know that I’m a specialist in managing payroll-related projects.
Each of the certifying organizations has a specific description of Project Manager (PMI), Program Manager (PMI), HR Professional (SHRM), and Payroll Professional (APA). It’s simply a matter of time before the rest of the industry becomes more familiar with the descriptions.
The CPA certification has been around for long enough that people understand what are qualifications are implied by the title. As the software profession and the certifying agencies cement themselves further in the culture, SPHR, CPP, PMP and the others will become as commonly understood.
You’ll still have organizations try to distinguish themselves by attaching different titles, but look to the letters at the end of the name for the truth.
We must simply continue to educate our clients and business partners about the meaningfulness of the certifications in the industry while we wait for the public to catch up.
November 19th, 2009 @ 11:49 am
Jessica,
Let me know if you ever want to be a guest blogger or write an article for the site. How are things? Shoot me an email response at C.Scroggin@comparehris.com.
Clay