Interviewing 101: Know How to Explain Your Job!

June 8, 2011

While this is not a new phenomenon, it bears mentioning due to my perception of upcoming job market changes. Many of you out there need some work on explaining your job and your company to the lay person.

Are you in sales or account management? Or you in business development or channel sales? Is your product sold as a product…or sold as a service? What does your product or service do, and for whom exactly? How is your success measured?

You should be able to explain these concepts to someone not working in your company in ten minutes or less. Most importantly, anyone who has been in the business world for three years or more should understand and be able to explain your job and your company to a peer when you are done. Why is this important? Because unless you are interviewing with only direct competitors in the exact same space, you’ll end up being asked to explain what you do. Put simply, if you can only explain what you do to people from the same exact industry segment (and those familiar with the specific job you’re performing)…you will be limiting your prospects to some degree. Maybe you only lose out on one opportunity, maybe two, maybe zero…but why take the chance? Case in point, if you sell software you should be able to meet with a recruiter or an HR professional and have them understand the basic gist of what your product does. Easy way to test yourself; try explaining your job/products/company to a family member or friend with business experience but no experience in your space. After trying, ask them if they could explain it to someone else. That will tell you how well the HR professional or recruiter is representing you when they make calls on your behalf.