So, uh, what do you do?

I've been in my current position for a year and about 8 months. (Wow, that's longer than I thought it had been.) I love it. I really do. The only problem is that I am constantly struggling to figure out HOW to answer the questions people unavoidably ask about where I work and what I do.

If only I could easily respond with: "I'm the communications director for the Utah County Association of REALTORS."

Alas, that's not even easy to type.

There are two major hurdles to my explanation. One, people don't usually know that there is a REALTOR association or what it does or means. Two, people don't really know what "communications" mean.

Usually my encounters go a little something like this:

Random person: Oh hey, Karianne, so what do you do?
Karianne: Oh, I do communications for the local REALTOR association.
Random: **Blank stare** Uh, who?

Sometimes, I try to separate it out to make it easier to understand. This usually makes it a more complicated, long and unnecessary conversation.

Random person: Oh hey, Karianne, so what do you do?
Karianne: I work for the local REALTOR association.
Random: Oooh? ...
Karianne: It's just an organization that all REALTORS in Utah County are required to be members of.
Random: Oh, I gotcha. (They don't). So what do you do?
Karianne: I do the communications.
Random: **Blank stare** What does that mean?
Karianne: Well I do writing, editing, marketing, and such.

I go through phases of trying different approaches. For a while I was trying this:

Random person: Oh hey, Karianne, so what do you do?
Karianne: I do communications for a non-profit company.
Random: Oh that's great! You are such a good person to do that.

Hmm, non-profit is true. But it still seems deceiving. Ultimately I've decided to drop "communications" entirely from my explanation. And yes, this was difficult. I was a communications major; I *am* the communications director. But I've decided to go with something that people seem to be better familiar with: PR.

That simple change seems to clear SO much up.

Random: Oh hey, Karianne, what do you do?
Karianne: I do PR for a small company.
Random: That sounds like something I've actually heard of before. That's great. Let's move on.
Karianne: Yay!

Perhaps I have too cool of a position to be able to answer that question in a simple manner. I mean, how would you describe my job? I do a huge variety of things including—but not limited to—organizing and e-mailing a weekly newsletter to our members, writing and distributing press releases, designing flyers, promotional materials, logos, ads, brochures, programs, posters, banners, displays, etc., planning events, photographing and video recording events and editing those materials, managing and updating our website and social media pages, overseeing our IT support (this one was huge in 2011 and, oh, such a pain), coordinating the efforts of our social, technology, and awards committees, recruiting interns and managing their schedules and workload, promoting and tracking registration for events, developing external relations campaigns, and helping with everyday administrative tasks, such as phone calls and emails to the association staff.

Whew.