#18. Confessions of a Job Seeker – Dec. 2012
This series is based on a design journal that I kept between 09/12 – 02/13. New? Start here.

There’s that lingering pause and I cringe because I know what’s coming. “So, what do you do?” they ask. Depending on my attitude at the moment I either mumble some incoherent response about freelance consulting or I ask them back “What do you mean… like what do I do in life?” This doesn’t really make sense, so sometimes it throws them for a loop, but mostly it just draws out a long and painful response. The ‘so, what do you do?’ question is one of those social norms that no one particularly loves, but it exists for a reason. Mostly it’s a way for people to find commonalities with each other. Worst-case scenario, the person literally just wants to size you up based on your job.

At times I find myself guilty of asking people the same question. I try not to do it out of principle, but sometimes it just comes out because I’m genuinely curious about who someone is and what drives them. As we all know, jobs aren’t necessarily the best way to have that conversation. There’s got to be better a way, a different question. On occasion I’ve heard people ask, ‘what are you excited about?’ or ‘what’s the best thing that happened to you this week?’ I really don’t have a great solution though and would love to hear how other people handle these moments.