When someone asks what you do

For when your work is changing and someone, at a meeting, a dinner or a party, asks "so what do you do?" Your usual answer isn't quite true anymore, and the new one doesn't exist yet.

1. Notice how you answer today

This week, before you change anything, write down how you answer when it comes up: do you say the old thing? "I'm in between things"? Do you change the subject? It isn't to judge it. It's to know where you're starting from.

2. Write three sentences, in three sizes

One line each, with facts and no big words:

• What I did: "For several years I worked in [what you did]."
• What I do now: "Right now I'm [working on / studying / trying out] [whatever is true today]."
• What I'm looking at: "I'm interested in [a possibility] and I'm finding out what it's like."

3. Pick one depending on who asks

For someone who barely knows you, what I do now or what I did is enough. For someone you trust, what I'm looking at. And if you don't want to get into it today, a kind way out works too: "I'm going through a change and I'd rather tell you when it's clearer. What about you, what are you up to?"

4. Say it out loud once

Before the meeting, in front of the mirror, or to someone close. The first time sounds odd. The second time, a lot less.

You can answer with one fact and leave the rest: "I wanted to try something different." Someone asking to be polite isn't expecting the full story, and you don't owe it to them.

This guide is for the social question. If what you need is to talk about what you're going through with someone close, "How to ask for a conversation about your career transition" is the one that helps. And if you want to find out what something that interests you is really like, "Twenty minutes with someone who already does what interests you."