If you have ever been interviewed, you will know the dreaded question asked by the representative of the Human resources department: “What do you bring to the table?”
This is a tough question to answer. Especially if it is asked between “Tell me about yourself” and “Why should we hire you?.” I have been guilty of asking these questions, myself. Now I can’t think of these questions without a smile lighting up my face.
There is a world of advice around the question “What do you bring to the table.” For instance, they say “If you can’t bring anything to the table, at least set it up.” A few others – the perennially unsatisfied ones – quip, “It is not what you bring to the table, but how you serve it that is important.”
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Some experts have said, “If you don’t bring anything to the table, give up the chair,” and then some motivational gurus have advised: “If they don’t give you a chair at the table, bring your own folding chair.” All of this makes it difficult to answer the question “What do you bring to the table?”
Today as we stand at the crossroads, with the need to outwit AI, which will soon be taking away our jobs…we need to smarten up. Every profession must dig deep and come up with a creative answer to impress the human resources lady sitting across the table.
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Here is our humble attempt at imagining what funny answers different professionals will have.
Criminals
I agree that a criminal may never be sitting in front of an HR for an interview, but I am sure they get asked this question a lot – probably by the head mafia.
Doctors
Doctors mostly deal with beds. Sentences such as “Get some bed rest,” “lie down on the bed and lower your trousers” are their favorites. When you deal with a doctor, it is not a question of which side of the bed you will get up from. The question is more like, “Will you get up at all?”
Waiters
Waiters have a special quality – the distance they are from you is inversely proportional to the amount of food on your plate. Just when you need them, they are counting the rings on Saturn. They are also a clever lot. They always walk up to us when our mouths are full and ask, ‘Sir, how is the food?” To cut-short the discussion, even as we munch on the mutton (or broccoli!), all we can do is give a thumb-up sign and send him off happy.
Software Engineers
Software engineers are guilty of the biggest crime in this World. They invented computers to save our time, which then led to mobiles and today all the time we waste is on these two gadgets. So much for foresight!
Firemen
When I was growing up my father used to take me along whenever he went to watch pole dancing. I would be intrigued. I would ask, “Father, why are these women dancing around a pole?” Without blinking an eye, he would reply: “They are training to be firemen.” As a result my whole childhood was spent thinking only women could become firemen.
Carpenters
We all have played carpenter some time or the other in our lives – we all have got hammered and nailed someone. But the carpenters in question here are the ones that work with wood. Damn, that came out wrong again – I mean the ones that make wooden beds, tables, chairs and stools. Since we talking about carpenters, you should know that they can never show their stool samples to doctors.
Negotiations are part and parcel of life. Here is a real conversation with my boss
Database Administrators
I think database administrators are one of the most selfish of all professions. They are always talking of MySQL. I haven’t heard one database administrator who has gone on record saying, “hey, whatever differences we may have…it is alright. Let us just use YourSQL.”
Writers
Writers are scary. They can’t talk back, but they can add you a character in their novels and mock you for life. That is, if they can get over what is known as the writer’s block.
Politicians
We all know that finding an honest politician is as easy as finding a virgin hooker. Probably that’s why they say that politicians are like diapers and must be changed often. The problem is, we all change our politicians often but only by falling for another fairy tale which starts with ‘Once I get elected….”
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Lawyers
Working with lawyers is a case of morally bankrupt making you financially bankrupt. I won’t go around joking about lawyers, because then they will sue me and I will be forced to hire one of them to save me.
Psychologists
To be honest, deep down we all are psychologists – just that you need a degree in psychology before we can make money out of it. For instance, if you have kids you must have tried the ‘reverse psychology method’ by asking them NOT to do something when in fact you want them to do it.