Written by Max Loong

Ah Chinese New Year, the time where you get to enjoy the festive gatherings, scrumptious food, and of course, Angbao! Celebrating Chinese New Year might be different from most years with safe distancing measures in place. But if you're still going for gatherings this year, one thing's for sure - The questions you get from your "Kaypoh" Aunties/Uncles!

Just in case if you need any explanation:

Their questions are pretty typical, but some can be pretty annoying too. You might just feel like you’re in an interview session. So how do you answer this kind of questions like a pro? No need to be snarky, let us recruiters teach you to be professional and impress your “Interviewers”!

Reposition

No matter how annoying the questions are, they are still your elders – some with a wealth of wisdom and experience. So treat them with the respect they deserve.

Learn how you can reposition yourself professionally. For job related questions, instead of giving straight answers, tell them what you are involved in. This creates a conversation and discussion between you two, and who knows, you might get to learn some good career advice from them!

A cheat code that you can use is to refer to your LinkedIn profile headline, and make it memorable.

So, instead of saying: “I’m working as a Marketing Executive.”

Say: “I enhance brand awareness within the digital space for my company”

Redirect

Redirecting does not mean avoiding. It means bringing the conversation to a more interesting route. A technique great conversationalists use is to “answer a question with another question”. Because great conversations always come with better questions!

• For example: "Why no BF/GF? Why haven’t get married?"
  • What you want to say: “Walao my relationship status your business meh? So easy to find you help me find la!”
  • What you can say: “Why, do you have someone in mind for me?”

Repeat & Rephrase

Be in the other person’s shoes: okay, this may be hard, but think about this. What makes them want to ask this question at the first place? Usually, their reasons behind these questions are filled with good intentions, but just delivered poorly. For example:

• What they want to say: “Are you holding up well in life?”
• What they say instead: “How much you earning now??”

Try to be more forgiving and see where they’re coming from. Don’t know what they want to know? Just use this method commonly used in interview sessions :

• “I’m not sure what you mean?"
• "Could you rephrase the question? I want to make sure I understand you correctly.”

Equip yourself with these tips in midn for your next CNY gathering, and I'm sure you'll answer them like a pro!

Looking to HUAT your career this New Year? Check out how our

Career Advisors can help with our consultation services!