One of the biggest dilemmas that candidates face is articulating what they have been working on and what they have accomplished most recently. Often, they are bound by confidentiality—work that’s being done on products that are still in development, in a space that a company is exploring getting into, or work that’s was done for a client.

In these situations, the trick to succeeding requires some upfront planning.

Think through your contributions and analyze first –  is what you would say truly confidential? For example, “I developed a three-year roadmap that added a significant new product offering, so innovative in fact, that we filed for eight patents on the interface” may not be sharing anything perceived as secret.

Apply creativity to the ways that you can abstract your work. Perhaps you could indicate what aspects of the project you worked on without giving ‘speeds and feeds’ info. And generally, you can talk about how the team was structured, what role you played, how long projects took, and how the results were perceived.

Confiding in a teammate is another good way to gain perspective and feedback on what can be disclosed. And often, your recruiter can help you with smart questions and coaching.  With a little planning, your hard work can still shine.