The fact of the matter is, there is a framework to every job and you want to speak of the framework to your job and speak of the framework of your role, rather than it being well-defined.
Why don’t you want to talk about it being well-defined?
Because you would seem like a clerk. Like a low-level individual in an organization when it becomes well-defined.
You want to talk about the framework of your job, rather than the specifics in answering the question. For example, you might talk about, “Every day is a bit different. The framework is…” And then you lay out a few different things.
“It’s not like from 9 o’clock to 9:15 AM, I do this. From 9:15 to 9:30, I do that. It is nothing along those lines. I do my time management, I control my own circumstances. I am asked to produce an outcome and to work within the framework of our organization to accomplish my goals.”
“What are my goals?”
You might talk about 1 or 2 of them. “Ultimately it is up to me to do my job within the framework of my relationship with others, how I’m going to accomplish these things. I have milestones and benchmarks, deliverables to my tasks that allow me to fulfill it. So, is it well-defined? I don’t think so. I am given a framework to work from and ultimately, these are my choices.”
Some of you do have jobs that are very well defined. Where you can direct the answer, as I just did, it serves you better.
Why?
You may want to take a step up in class and do something a little bit more high level than what you are currently involved with. This idea of speaking to a framework and making your own choice serves you better.
Again, by pointing out that you have decision-making over your work, deliver at a high level and achieve the deliverables that you have to you separate yourself from the “order takers,” and demonstrate that you can think independently.
Ⓒ The Big Game Hunter, Inc., Asheville, NC 2020
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. His work involves career coaching, all as well as executive job search coaching, job coaching, and interview coaching. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with more than 1800 episodes, and is a member of The Forbes Coaches Council.
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