Pretend I’m 8 Years Old. Explain to Me What You Do & Why You’re Good at It
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
This is a fun question designed to help you demonstrate that you’re a good communicator
I’m Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter. I coach people and organizations.
I do a number of different versions of coaching. Most of my career was in executive search, so I do job search and career coaching. I also do leadership coaching for individuals and, you know, specific people in organizations.
And someone asked me a—let me restate that. I found this great question, and I just thought it would be a useful one to get you prepared for.
Now, the title of the video is a shortened version of it. The question goes, you know, “You’re seven or eight years old. You’re in first grade, second grade at most. Pretend—no, explain to me what you do and why you’re good at it.”
I think this is a lovely question, because it really takes a lot of the BS out of the description, and what you’re designed to do, or what you have to do, is boil it down to the core essence of what it is that you do. Because there are a lot of situations that can be jargon-rich, where people say a lot of BS. And in point of fact, it can really be condensed, it can really be made much more clear.
It also gives the interviewer a sense of how you can explain concepts, or seemingly complex concepts, and make them simple. So here’s how you might answer it: First of all, a one-sentence, tops two sentences to describe what you do.
So, for example, if I were answering it from my time in recruiting, I might say, “I help companies hire people by finding them for them.” One sentence. Notice what I did. Now, that might invite follow-up questions, but the key thing is the one sentence, and then this one: “Do you understand? I just want to make sure you do, because if you don’t, I’ll go back and try and explain it differently.”
Then from there, how do you—you know, why you’re good at it? So in the case of my time in recruiting, I might say something along the lines of, “I’m extremely well organized. I’m very—I’m a good communicator, so I can explain to people what the opportunity is, and explain to my client company, the firm that hires people, why this person would help them fill their job.”
One sentence. It was a long one, but it’s one sentence. Maybe it could get broken into two. And then you’d follow up by saying, “Do you understand, or shall I explain it a little differently?”
Again, you’re talking to a seven or eight-year-old in first grade, second grade tops. So the ideas have to be simple.
Now, if you think that was a more complicated answer than it needs to be, leave a message. Let me know what it should have been. But again, condense what you do into very simple sentences, and always follow up by saying, “Is that—do you understand? I just want to make sure that you do, because if you don’t, I’ll explain it differently.”
And what that does is demonstrate that you have a service orientation, because you care about the listener. You’re not just babbling some nonsense that they won’t understand. And after all, they’re in first grade! They’re seven or eight years old!
And from there, what you’re doing is making it clear that you want to make sure that they understand, and you’ve broken the concepts down, in my case, two sentences, one of which was a little long, but it had space for them to pause and for me to observe whether or not they seem to understand.
So, I hope you found this helpful. If you did, and you have questions about your job search, reach out to me through either PrestoExperts.com, where you can call me over the phone, or through an app called Magnifi, M-A-G-N-I-F-I, which is iOS only, and we can have a video chat. Both of those are pay services.
If you’re interested in my coaching you, reach out to me through LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/thebiggamehunter. Connect with me, then message me that you’re interested in coaching. I want to be clear: I do not respond to questions on LinkedIn, YouTube, or Facebook. No interest in doing that. I just get so many of them, it takes away from my coaching time.
So hope you found this helpful, and hope you have a great day, and I look forward to helping you. Take care.
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ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
People hire Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter to provide No BS Career Advice globally because he makes many things in peoples’ careers easier. Those
things can involve job search, hiring more effectively, managing and leading better, career transition, as well as advice about resolving workplace issues.
He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 3200 episodes.
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You will find great info to help with your job search at my new site, JobSearch.Community Besides the video courses, books and guides, I answer questions from members daily about their job search. Leave job search questions and I will respond daily. Become an Insider+ member and you get everything you’d get as an Insider PLUS you can get me on Zoom calls to get questions answered. Become an Insider Premium member and we do individual and group coaching.
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Also, subscribe to JobSearchTV.com on YouTube and No BS Job Search Advice Radio, the #1 podcast for job search with more than 3200 episodes over 15+ years.in Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Play, Amazon Music and almost anywhere you listen or watch podcasts.
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