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Writer's pictureTina Marie Baugh

Answering the dreaded “What do you do for a living” question

Updated: Aug 14, 2023

You’re meeting a friend for lunch and she brings along a few people. Cool…new friends! The inevitable question comes up. “What do you do?” Of course, this means how you earn your living. Even in today’s society, we ask this question. I’ll give you a better ice breaker question later, but let’s focus on developing an answer for this question now. We also have to be able to answer this question at work, right? A new peer joins the company, a new vendor on-boards, we meet an executive at an event, and they all ask the same thing….”What do you do?”


Your answer? Uh…sales, programming, marketing, project manager, director of IT. Boring! Yawn! I’m going to talk with someone else. You obviously have a J-O-B, not a passion-driven career.



Let’s change this.


Connecting with your professional mission and values

Why do you do what you do every day? I am amazed how many people have “fallen into” their careers and not confirmed if they should stay. If you are not sure why you enjoy your work or even if you enjoy it most of the time, some deep work is needed. This can be scary for some people because what if the answer is this career is not for me? I find, most of the time, a shift is just needed. It is not normal for someone to want to go from being a data analytics expert to a pastry artist. The shift is usually data analytics to a specific application that deeply aligns with their values. This is not a hard shift. Most leaders want to retain good talent. We want to work with you to help you achieve your goals and stay with our organization.


If you are not sure how to do this self-reflection on your own, some great resources are:


No matter the resources you use, put in the time and get your mission and value written down.


Connecting with your organization’s mission and values

Once you know why you do what you do, are you clear, really clear, on your organization’s mission? The challenge here is to look past the official mission statement. I recommend spending some time following the money, even in nonprofits. No matter what is being said, money is spent on what matters.


I’ll give you one example. During the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, many organizations laid off people or furloughed them without pay. “Our people are important” yet their people were laid off and executives took no pay cuts. One organization I know took a very different approach. “People are our most important asset,” they said. The money reflected that. Although they did not have the work, no one was laid off. They found other work, executives had no bonus payouts to ensure everyone kept their jobs, and alternative work was found within the organization for those who could not do their normal work. People were retrained. Thus, when people could go back to their normal jobs, they were there. This is the money flow matching the values.


Putting the two together

Now that you have your’s and your organization’s mission and values well defined, lay them out side by side. If you really enjoy your work, they probably align well. If you are miserable, they probably do not.


Remember that many times we introduce ourselves with our title and people want to know where we work or they already know where we work so tying “what we do” to our organization is important. Think also about what makes you different or what you are most proud of about your work.


Mine goes something like this: Hi, I’m Tina Marie Baugh. I help make sure technology is available and working where it is needed. We are constantly evolving our services, striving to make technology as reliable as electricity, an “always available” service. I will never be a doctor, nurse, pharmacist, or social worker, but our team will work around the clock to ensure their technology is always working. How about you?


So, from this, what is my passion? What type of organization do I work in? What gets me going? Technology for my healthcare customers, right? I am not about the bling. I am about reliability. I love helping customers solve problems, improve workflow challenges, and take their business processes to the next level, always with high availability. Healthcare requires it. How about you?


Your assignment challenge

Let’s get to work. Get your answer written and start practicing. Your assignment is:

  1. Define your professional mission and values and write them out

  2. Dive deep into your organization’s mission and values and write them out

  3. Put your personal and organization’s mission and values together

  4. Develop your “what do you do” answer


As Voltaire is often quoted, “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good”. Write it out, practice in the mirror, and then just use it. It will flow. Post it here or message me. I’d love to hear from you!


For those who know me, I love ice cream! I could not leave it as just an ice breaker.


Better ice (cream) breaker - What are you most excited about right now?

I promised a better ice breaker question. Here it is. Simply ask “what are you most excited about right now?” Each person will answer in the context they choose to share. They might have a vacation coming up, a new baby, a cool hobby, or a fantastic work project. The beauty of the question is it does not assume people are employed in a traditional office. In today’s society, we need to be inclusive in our questions and thinking. This leaves us open to enjoying each other where we are.


So, let me know, what are you most excited about right now?

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