A rose by any other name.
The Recruiter writes...
So, what's in a job title? Who wants to be a Head Of Romance? Or a Genius?
Last week, one of my colleagues went off to the Apple store in central London. After drooling over the new i-Phone, she went upstairs for advice on upgrading her ancient iBook. The Apple guy was great; very knowledgeable and friendly and he sorted out her queries in double fast time. Before she left, he gave her his business card. His job title was ‘Genius’. Genius.
Yesterday I was poking around on the internet trying to find out the name of the Head of PR at Friends Reunited. On my search I came across another of their employees, whose job title is ‘Head of Romance’.
What does Head of Romance actually mean? It doesn’t tell you anything except that they are probably head of a department, in which case I wonder if her team members are called Romantics?
When you are starting out on your career, how hung up should you be on job titles? Does a title really reflect what you do, or your level of responsibility?
Some people get very hung up on whether they should be called an Executive or an Account Manager, a Personal Assistant or Secretary. On a day-to-day basis, job titles don’t mean much – they are what you make of them.
That said, job titles are free. They don’t cost your employer a penny. Large firms may have a set hierarchy which says if you manage X number of people and earn Y, you must have the job title of Vice-President (a title that is particularly North American and doesn’t say a lot about what you do). In an organisational structure like that, it may be difficult to negotiate a more meaningful job title, so you have to let your CV reflect what your role actually involves.
However, in a smaller company you may be able to pick your own title, or change the one you are given to something you think more accurately reflects what you do. You may take a job as an Administration Assistant but find that 90% of your time is researching on the internet. At your next annual review it may be worth asking if your title can be changed to Researcher – and as it costs your company nothing they really don’t have much to lose.
When all is said and done a title is just a label. It may give other people a vague idea of your status in a company – most people understand the difference between a Managing Director and a Personal Assistant for example – but a PA working for an investment bank on £50,000 a year with a place on management committees and responsibility for a secretarial pool is a world away from a PA on £18,000 working for a small kitchen fitting company, where at most they are responsible for sorting out the post. Here, the job title doesn’t convey the extent of the role at all.
Keep that in mind when you are applying for positions. Don’t be fooled by glamorous job titles – they may not be as exciting as you think. Do your research, find out what the job actually involves. Ask people already in similar positions what they think. On the other hand, don’t discount jobs which may sound dull. Any position with the word ‘Administration’ in the title may not sound like it will set the world alight, but you may be pleasantly surprised by what you have to do on a day-to-day basis and it may be the foot in the door you need.
Posted Tuesday August 5 2008
