so what do you do?

Society Business and Career
1

Ever get that question?
in some cases it is very easy to answer
conversations like these are common

Q-what do you do?
A-I am a doctor

Q- oh what kind
A- I am a cardiologist

where do you work, that is another one that comes up

same goes for teachers,

so are you in a profession where it is very hard to explain what you do?

how do you do it?

2

Re: so what do you do?

Why do you hang around the goof to whom you have to explain what you do and they still do not get it ?
I tell them I don't do anything I get it all done.

3

Re: so what do you do?

Mirch,bohat mircheela jawab dia hy aap ne.

4

Re: so what do you do?

:hehe: You need to wait till Pir sahab gives more mirchila jawab. He is nahlay pay dahla.

5

Re: so what do you do?

you mean eent ka jawab pathar se.

6

Re: so what do you do?

more of eent ka jawab pahar say/

7

Re: so what do you do?

your nick suits you!

8

Re: so what do you do?

Thank you , you are not the only one who told me so. :D

9

Re: so what do you do?

In a professional setting I can give details what I do and what else. With frineds, family, acquaintences, very limited answers and very brief. If you start going into details ..it never ends with them :bummer:

10

Re: so what do you do?

Sometimes, even ppl at my work have a hard time understanding what I do sigh .

In my case, it's hard to explain to many people, the difference between "information systems" and "information technology", so many people don't understand the type of teaching, research, and consulting work that I do.

Khair, examples help... and if I don't have the patience sometimes, I refer them to my publications or website to learn more.

11

Re: so what do you do?

You know what, I have the same dilemma but the opposite--I still haven't established a career yet, I don't feel comfortable saying I'm __ or __ when my degree was in one subject but I'm trying to cross over into another field...and in the meantime taking temp jobs along the way which may or may not be related to my field (more often than not) and knowing that its a temp job, I don't want to really explain exactly what I'm doing. That and these kind of reactions:
"I work in a gym."
*pointing, giggling, laughing, teasing*YOUWORK IN A GYM?!"

So whenever somebody asks what I do, I just say nothing (jokingly) or mention that I'm looking for work. If they follow up to the latter, then I'm more comfortalbe in explaining and getting into details.

12

Re: so what do you do?

I ask myself the same question :frowning: believe me I try to get out of going to social events where prematurely “uncle-ing” guys will sit around and talk about pakistani politics of now and unees soh derh. and then the only other conversation is work related.

back in the day I worked for a bank and was working on a project to make the 401K and mutual fund transactions and reporting online, among the first ones in the industry to do that. however people asked where do you work not even what do you do, and as soon as I named the bank, they asked me which branch. :smack:

13

Re: so what do you do?

konsa pathar, konsa pahar, hum toh kankariaan mar rahay hain..sirf 7.

14

Re: so what do you do?

So, is it like this? :smiley:

15

Re: so what do you do?

hahaah this explains it

16

Re: so what do you do?

Contrary to what you said, I feel kinda weird saying I'm a doctor. So usually I tell them I'm a student- when asked specifically I say medical student.

17

Re: so what do you do?

Actually one of the best things one can do, even if its just for social gatherings, but specially for people in the job search is to prepare what's called an "elevator pitch". Here you sit and think out a description of exactly what it is that you do or are good at. Then pitch it to people around you who may not understand what you do and then refine it till you get there.

If you can't describe what you can do and what you're looking for (when you're looking for work) its the most awkward thing.

18

Re: so what do you do?

same with me. Miost of my family isn't that educated .. so when i started my job. my discussion was somewhat like this

They: so what do you do
me: I am a software developer
they: what is it
me: i develop and code softwares for computers
they: so you works in computers
me: urgggg!! .. G Uncle
they: acha beta meray beta ka computer khrab ho gya hai .. on hi nahi ho raha .. aaa kr us ki "taarain" to dekh dena. Now since you know this so you can help us out
me: g uncle .. :@

Discussion now
they: what you do
me: i work in computers
they: can you fix computers
me: g
they: can you fix ours
me: sure uncle .. I will see when ever i will be free i will drop by ..
(and i never drop by) .

19

Re: so what do you do?

Tofi, but an elevator pitch works on people who have some idea of the field or industry. in social gatherings there is a very high probability of it being too much fluff if you keep it simple or too much jibber jabber if you hit on specifics. Needs some serious thought, but that is if you care. Half the time people just want to get an idea of what type of work you do, and are really not interested in whether by sales ad marketing you mean you are a call center cold call guy or a biz dev VP for some software house :D

20

Re: so what do you do?

Have a version of the pitch for the clueless too. Under extreme circumstances I take the same road as T1000.