How To Speak To Anyone: Part 2

Following on from my previous installment, How to Talk to Anyone - part 2, I wanted to dip further into what is the best way to communicate to people when they work in an industry within which you have no knowledge nor experience in. Or let’s be honest, no interest in learning about either.

I have pulled the most common vocations in the U.K from this article I found on Indeed; and I've done some research on the most hot button topics within that sector. You can use this as a template, but ultimately remember this, the best thing you can be is curious. And people love talking about themselves. They might not be that interested in talking about their job, it's a party after all and most people want to forget about the 9-5. However, you're trying to communicate to strangers, and most people fall short at the first hurdle once they discover the stranger has a job that is tough to talk about in an interesting way.

Let's get into it.

Teacher

When someone tells you they're a teacher, it's probably best to ask what kind of teacher. What particular age group do they teach, what subjects do they specialise in. What school do they teach in? But don't get too serious, hopefully they teach a subject that could be of interest to you. Maybe if they teach History you can tell them a funny story about your old History teacher. But be careful not to turn the conversation into your past. So long as you have a funny story it will help lighten the chat.

Potential follow up questions:

• Were you ever a teacher's pet?

• Did you ever get in trouble at school?

• Where did you study for that?

• What's your favourite film about teachers? Dead Poets Society or Mr Holland's Opus? (Damn that's a great question, tough answer also I'm going to have to think on that one).

Hot button topics are lack of funding in schools. You could ask what the pupil/teacher ratio is and do they think their particular school is well funded?

Administrator

Christ even I had to look that one up. Basically when someone tells you they're an administrator it means they oversee office operations, such as record keeping, document management and scheduling. I would quickly shift the conversation on to something funny because this job sounds like a conversation cul-de-sac. But the person must have very high organisational skills.

Potential follow up question:

Perhaps touch upon something light and say, I bet you're never late for anything. And in fact go one further, and say, I think you'd probably walk out of a restaurant if you're date was more than 15 minutes late. Administrators are highly vigilant and organised people and punctuality is considered good manners. But it's funny, and you're also leading the conversation onto dating which will be a much more interesting subject for the two of you.

Hot button topics are remote work / work from home and employee use of social media. You could also ask if she embraces the office and work from home hybrid model.

Graphic designer

I find this a real common one these days. It feels like most people either have a hobbyist level of graphic design skills, or work professionally as one. They help create logos, websites, advertising imagery. You could ask how creative they get to be within their job, what is the scope for climbing the professional ladder? Do they freelance or have aspirations to set up their own company? How saturated the market is?

A fun question would be to ask them what they think is the best logo ever. If they fumble, over this tell them you'll buy them a minute and talk about how the McDonalds M logo was not originally intended to be an M. It was in fact two golden arches that bookended the original McDonalds store to make it more alluring for hungry motorists. Full story on Business Insider.

Hot button topics for Graphic Designers are dealing with people that steal their intellectual property. Also you could ask, does it irk them when people ask you to do stuff for free?

Account manager

Their objective is to build strong, lasting relationships with clients that benefit both the organisation and the customer. Ultimately here, customer is king. So to be an account manager you have to have incredible people skills and be an amazing listener.

I would ask what kind of accounts they manage. Their job is to basically nurture relationships. But what do they do on a daily basis? I would be naturally curious and ask what it is they like about their job? Now you could say that about any profession, but being an account manager will have quite specific rewards. If I was talking to one, I would like to know what would be considered a good day at the office for them.

Also they would need to have great negotiating skills. Their job is to negotiate contracts and deals between clients and customers all the time. Perhaps ask, how they came to be a decent negotiator. Is it something that comes naturally to them? Are their book they can recommend?

A fun thing would be to ask, if they've ever negotiated their way out of a speeding ticket. Or a parking fine.

Hot button topics for Account managers are clients coming up with ad-hoc requests. Especially when they change their mind about something last minute. How do they keep their patience?

Delivery driver

Self-explanatory really. I don't know if anyone sets out to be a delivery driver. It's the kind of job you get when things don't work out. But don't say that to them. I would ask, what do they listen to when they're out delivering. If it's complete silence, no radio, no podcasts, just reply, 'so just the crazy voices in your head then?'

In all honesty, it's humble jobs like these that finally got their time in the sun during COVID, everyone applauded out their windows for the NHS, but what about the guys going door to door delivering people's superfluous pieces of plastic they shopped for mindlessly on Amazon? Where would we have gotten our daily Christmas presents from if it wasn't for these guys.

Hot button topics for delivery drivers. Where do you go to the bathroom? How can you stay healthy on the road? Do you ever get angry customers, and reply, don't shoot the messenger?

Accountant

'You're an Accountant, I see. Tell me how realistic is the movie 'The Accountant' with Ben Affleck?' Good funny starter that one. If they reply 'I never saw that.' Just say, 'No one saw that movie.'

Seriously, Accountants are have very crucial roles and every business needs one to track expenses, income and other financial transactions to make sure they comply with accounting standards and regulations. An interesting question to ask an accountant would be;

'Do you freelance? Because I need someone help me keep track of all my I.O.U's.' See it's funny, effacing, and it proves you're listening.

One question I always wanted to ask Accountants is 'at least you'll be the first to know whether you're in line for a raise or a Christmas bonus right?'

Hot button topics/ conversation stimulators for Accountants: How is A.I affecting your industry? I heard that are lot more firms are committing accountancy fraud, trying to make the company’s financial performance appear better than it is in reality.

Summary

There you have it, a lot to take in there. The main thing to keep in mind is to not be afraid of asking stupid questions. Their job might sound like it's simple, but it could also be ambiguous and broad. Take the mind of a five year and just keep asking questions until you understand the minutia of their job. But don't get too bogged down, as I said, it's a party. No one wants to think about work when they're not on the clock.

Ultimate ending: 'If you love what you do, you'll never have to work a day in your life'.