“So, what do you do?”, she asked me.
“I am a Business Analyst”, I replied.
“Oh, so you work with IT?”
“Um, no. I am in Compensation.”
“Oh, so you do payroll.”
“Um, no. I do market pricing.”
This conversation went on for a bit until she walked away, still having no idea what I did for a living.
I needed to change the way I answered this question.
So, what do you do?
The next time I was asked “So, what do you do?” the answer sounded more like this:
“I help companies meet their business objectives by designing and implementing competitive pay structures, benefits packages, and career opportunities for employees in every country. Today I am doing that for X Company.”
The Process – five steps I took to change my answer to this question:
- Forget my job title – to be honest, a title doesn’t say much about you.
- I have worked at three companies where honestly, I didn’t even know what my “official” job title was. I didn’t care. I knew what I was supposed to do, and I was determined to do that, and more. I didn’t need a title to box me into anything.
- In the line of work I do, I have watched people turn down great opportunities, even promotions, because they didn’t like the title that was provided to them. I also know that companies of various sizes use titles so differently. A Vice President at one company could be a Manager at another.
- I would encourage you to have a work ethic centered around growing your influence, scope, and skills, and not be limited by whatever title the company provides for that work.
- Determine what my duties are:
- I took some time to really consider what I did on a day to day basis:
- Answer questions from managers about how and when to give a pay increase
- Analyze where benefits dollars are being spent to see if there is a program or solution that could help employees address their needs in a better and more cost effective way
- Review the market practices by country for competitive merit increase amounts, and work with finance to determine what our company should do based on our financial situation
- Educate managers on the compensation philosophy and practices so they can articulate them to their employees
- This list was a starting point to answering the question – “So, what do you do?”. It certainly would be an exhaustive way to answer the question.
- I needed more.
- I took some time to really consider what I did on a day to day basis:
- Consider a bigger picture:
- The company view:
- Get the right people in the right place to provide the right product/service to the right client/customer in the most cost effective way for everyone
- Others may say – Grow revenue and earnings – knowing this only happens when things are working best for everyone
- The employees view – We know people work to make money, but there is more. We work to:
- Contribute to a cause, provide value, and fulfill a purpose
- Socialize, build friendships, and network
- Grow skills and pursue a career
- Change their current economic situation, grow wealth for the future, provide for their education, or their children
- The customers view:
- Receive – get the right product at the right price at the right time
- Experience – as in a movie, musical, or art
- Simplify – make life easier
- The company view:
- Connect my duties to a bigger picture – When I think about what my role was, I realized my role was to:
- Help the business be successful so the right employees could serve the clients best. Even though I wasn’t talking to the companies clients every day, I did have a part in making sure make sure those who talked to clients knew the importance and value of their role, and that the company supported their success with competitive pay and benefits packages.
- Understand the direction shareholders and leadership wanted to take the company. If I was designing pay and benefits packages that didn’t support the vision, then I was missing the mark. They had to be the right cost. They had to drive the right behavior.
- Know what employees wanted. In the compensation space, you know that everyone would like to make more money. That isn’t my job though. I needed to make sure there were clear career opportunities for employees to growing their skills, influence and scope. This should translate to larger contributions to the company, which should translate to higher pay for the employee.
- Spend the time to wordsmith and summarize “what I do”:
- After working through the first four steps, this did not take as long as I thought. And, It can always be improved.
- Consider your answer to this question for various types of people. I may have a different answer for an employee in the company than I would for a person at a networking event.
Going through these steps helped me see my work as a key part of a bigger picture. It actually showed me where I had more influence than I realized, and, to be honest, where I had less influence than I should have.
Changing my perspective changed my trajectory!
COMMENT BELOW: So, what do you do?