Think Function, not Title.
Posted by rhys on May 26, 2008
Filed Under Resume Writing |
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by Pierre G. Daunic, Ph.D., CCM, CEEC, CCRP, CRW
President, Fast Forward Career Services
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other word would smell as sweet.” – Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Sc. 2
Sorry, Shakespeare, but I have to disagree—at least as far as job titles on resumes are concerned. Some of the names given us by our employers don’t smell so sweet at all. In fact, they stink!
Why does it matter what your job title is? Within a company or government institution where your title is readily understood and accepted, it may not. However, if you are forced to seek employment elsewhere, an inappropriate job title may make it that much harder for you to find employment at a worthy level.
Mark, for example, was dubbed an “Office Manager” within a closely held realty company. However, although he did manage an office of some 17 employees, a much better job title for him—which he soon adopted—was “Director of Operations.” Why? Because this was Mark’s true function: he held total responsibility for running all operations within a multimillion-dollar business.
How Inappropriate Job Titles Handicap You
Titles that do not truly represent your function or range of experience can handicap you in any of three ways:
- The relevancy of your experience may not be readily understood. This is particularly true forthose transitioning from the military. For example, those unfamiliar with military job titles maynot understand that the management responsibilities of an Air Force “Wing Commander” mirrormost of those of a CEO in the civilian sector.
- Your amount of experience may be undervalued. For example, I have seen many productionworkers, often with special skills or over 20 years of varied experience, unfairly called just“Assembly Workers” as though they had just started their manufacturing careers yesterday.
- Prospective employers may misinterpret your actual level of experience. Hiring managers orhuman resources professionals today often receive hundreds of résumés in answer to a postedposition. With such a large pool of candidates from which to choose, they tend to examine thoseresumes that most closely match their initial parameters. For example, if they are looking for a“Director of Operations,” they will be drawn first—and perhaps solely—to those résumés thatcontain that job title. This tendency is even more pronounced when résumés are scanned forkeywords electronically.
FAQs
“But isn’t it dishonest to give yourself a title you did not earn?”
You could also argue it is unfair to be given a job title beneath your capabilities and experience. Regardless, here is a possible way around the problem. Select the function that you think best exemplifies
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