Describing Your Job Duties in a Job Interview

“Describe your current position” can be a tough interview question to answer for many job seekers. Here’s some tips on how to ace this question during a job interview.

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Describe Your Current Job Responsibilities

When you go in for a job interview, there are a wide variety of interview questions you should usually prepare for. In an interview, a recruiter is trying to understand what you do in your current role and how that can help you in a new job. This means that one of the common interview questions you might receive is, “Describe your current job responsibilities.”

Here’s how to answer potential employers when they ask you about your job duties.

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What Are Job Responsibilities?

Job responsibilities are your day-to-day duties on a typical day at your current job. For example, an administrative assistant may describe how she maintained the client database. A project manager may describe how he negotiated a vendor contract saving the company 12% in annual revenue. Regardless of the job you are seeking, tie your current job responsibilities to the new job you are applying for.

You may also incorporate skills into your job responsibilities. If you’re responsible for greeting people at the front door, for example, communication skills may be an important job responsibility to talk about. If you worked as part of a team to accomplish a goal at your company, describe your teamwork skills.

Oftentimes, discovering job responsibilities is as easy as using action verbs. Go through a very typical day in your job, then write down everything that you do in a day. Start each bullet point with a strong verb rather than just a skill description. This way, you might find out that your problem-solving skills become clear, such as “Helped multiple individuals every day who needed administrative support,” for example.

How to Talk About Job Duties

It’s important to remember that you can’t just expect a recruiter will only ask this question when you’re in for an interview. Instead, you should start preparing for your interview by stating your job duties in the skills section, resume summary section, and work experience sections of your resume. Your job titles can also clue the recruiter in as to your job duties. The more you discuss your job duties in the resume, the more likely recruiters will be able to see the benefits you will bring to the company.

It’s also important that you target your answer to match what an employer is looking for. As an interviewee, you can easily look for what an employer may be trying to see in an applicant by reviewing the job description. Oftentimes, the keywords in a job description will show you exactly what type of person a hiring manager wants to see.

Lastly, when you do talk about your job duties in an interview, it’s best to use the STAR method to structure your response. The STAR method stands for Situation, Task, Action, Result. With this method, when you answer an interviewer, you start with a situation you were in, describe the Task you needed to perform, discuss the Action you took, then describe the Result you ended up accomplishing. This is an extremely effective way to respond to many elements of a job interview, including your job duties.

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FAQs: Describe Your Current Job Responsibilities

Q: Where can I find free resume templates to get into an interview in the first place?

Answering this question and any other interview question requires that you first have a great, professional resume so that a hiring manager wants to learn more about you. A resume template can be a great way to structure your resume more effectively so that recruiters have no choice but to call you in for an interview. The best way to create your resume is with the ResumeHelp resume builder. This will help you stand out from other job seekers more effectively.

Q: Why do interviewers ask about your current position?

Interviewers usually ask you to describe your current position because they want to understand what your competencies are on a more practical level. Sure, you might have book knowledge of skills that fit a variety of capacities, but can you use those skills in your new role? The skills you use daily are typically going to be more well-honed than those that you technically know how to do, but you don’t do very frequently. This way, a hiring manager can determine whether you would effectively fill a new role.

Q: What should you NOT say about your current job responsibilities?

The best way to avoid any problems when a hiring manager asks, “Tell me about your current job responsibilities,” is to be polite and professional. This can help you 9 times out of 10. Don’t talk poorly about a company you might have years of experience with, as it tends to make a bad impression on your interviewer. Additionally, avoid phrases lifted directly from sample answers, and don’t just read off a list of skills in your job description.

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