To find it awkward explaining my job?

[Bluebluesea321]

Does anyone else find it awkward/tiring trying to explain their job to people e.g. when being asked in a social setting? Unless you’re a vocation like doctor, teacher, accountant etc it just feels quite difficult without either sounding boring or show-offy! I work in a senior role in financial services and although it’s a very good job I have people asking what I do!

@Booboostwo I’m so intrigued - how do you actually ‘be’ a philosopher? What does your day at work look like?

@Frouby do you do it every day? I started but once I’d done most of the welcome offers I felt too overwhelmed to continue!

@AudacityOfHope I would find it genuinely interesting if someone said that to me!

I’m an actuary, lots of people don’t know what that is, I basically predict when you’re going to be horribly injured/die.

DareDevil That is interesting, what sort of thing do you actually do though?!

OrchidInTheSun

I say I work in HR, or just change the subject

I always used to get 'actuary' on those careers quizzes you used to do at school. That or 'foreign freight forwarder' as I liked languages!
My friend is an actuary and it does sound interesting!

@LittleLongDog I work 4 days a week usually. Do mainly casino, with about 20% matched betting. Unless it's some big sports event. I do it around school runs and occasionally work earlier or later depending how much I have on.

My job is pretty easy to explain but I hate it when people ask me what DH does - because I haven't got a clue really either! It's something to do with finance, accounts and spreadsheets.

@popehilarious It’s really really boring, but the pay just about makes up for it.

My job title is 'Account Manager' & people assume I work in finance. I don't. So now I just tell people I work in marketing.

LittleLongDog you do a BA, MA and the PhD in philosophy and then you are doomed to a life in academia. I write articles and books no one reads.

I’m a midwife. I hate telling people because I inevitably get a dramatised birth story which almost always ends in ‘and we nearly died’ or ‘we would have died if not for x/y/z’.

Yes but I also sound like a show off twat @Bluebluesea321

I often lie or am v economical with the truth because if I tell them my job title, they feel obliged to say 'oh, I don't know what that is - what does that involve?' and it's pretty obvious they don't want to know the answer!

Same here. Although my job has a "simplified cousin" which would put me into the bottom tier of OldUnits social hierarchy!

I'm a senior IT dev/dba and keep out the global company i work for, I usually get responses along the lines of having to listen to problems with their phones/pc's etc to some people thinking my job is on par to them building their own websites (more often than not using the online website builders or just adding plugins)

I think everyone has it to some degree, you keep it simple and people use comparisons that seem somewhat insulting, if you go into detail it comes across as boring for someone not interested or in the field.

I often found it was a conversation stopper when I told people what I did for a living as I used to work in a children's hospice. People often think it is a place filled with doom and gloom whereas in reality it was often a bright, warm and loving place to work.

I was trying to talk to DD (12) about jobs today.
I mentioned engineering, and she replied "but that's just trains and stuff" and didn't fancy it much!

I tell people where i work rather than what i do.

I’m a forensic psychologist. I can barely explain to myself what I do, let alone anyone else.

People get excited and say ‘oh like csi!!’ and I’m like no. Not at all. 😂

My job is complicated and basically involves clearing up others' mistakes.

I have got a way to sum it up though - I work at the national museum (we've got dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes, you should see them). The Old Museum Clock takes me back in time to when Dinosaurs ruled the world. "Take me to the time of the Dinosaurs", I say, then I just hold on tight, shut my eyes and then I fly away. Then I'm pretty much just looking at the dinosaurs, collecting some things too.

I wrote companies' annual reports, some names you might recognise, before retirement. Most people thought it was secretarial work.

I work in QC...but if I try to explain what I QC people don't really understand or get quite grossed out

OP, in your position I would use a generic term. Something like Manager in Financial Services. People are just making conversation.

I work in HR and generally just tell people that. Happy for peoples eyes to glaze over (I bloody love my job though)

Yes! People inside my profession understand. Others don't get it. I work in entertainment PR.

And because it's all home based, I get a lot of snide comments about how great it is that I can look after the children and do the housework at the same time.