Your Answer to "What Do You Do?" May Reveal You Need More Money

How easily can you answer the dreaded “What do you do?” 

The easier it is to describe your job, the less money you make.  If you can answer “what do you do” in a single sentence that is understandable to anyone, then you’re probably not making as much as you should and certainly not as much as the people higher up in your company with fuzzy titles. 

If you can say, “I teach kindergarten” or “I’m a janitor” or “I work in a flower shop” or “I’m a writer", you’re not paid enough. 

Conversely, if you’re a Corporate Tactics Liaison, or the East Coast Division Internal Functionality Facilitator, you’re probably paid more than the above folks.  If the description of your job is an amorphous word cloud, particularly focused around strategy or consulting, and especially if you feel the need to wrap any part of it in air quotes, you make more money. 

I view this as a corollary to David Graeber’s proposition that the more your job directly benefits society, the less likely you are to get paid for it.