Job titles cost nothing. But they can make you feel really great about yourself. Sometimes the addition of “senior” to your title can rate as highly as a pay rise.
Perhaps you’re an administration assistant, but you’re really doing a trainee underwriter’s job. Or you’re a caretaker, but the guy down the road doing the same job is being called a facilities manager.
Should you care? Some careers professionals say “yes” and others say “no”. What’s right depends on your personal circumstances.
Think about this:
The YES camp:
- A good title can make you feel better about yourself and enhance your dignity. It can also make you feel valued by your employer and colleagues.
- Customers may respect you more if your job title is a little grander. Some only want to deal with a “senior” employee or “director”.
- Better titles open doors. If, for example, a recruiter has hundreds of CVs to weed through, a job title might just be the one thing that stops your CV getting the shredder treatment.
- Titles matter much more in some overseas countries such as Singapore and the United States, says Jacqui Barratt, director of recruitment agency Salt. If you plan to work there, then your job title is important.
- Sometimes jobs grow without managers noticing how much responsibility you’ve taken on.
- If you can’t get a pay rise at least a new title would give some recompense for your experience.
- Titles are free and if they’re important to you then go for it.
The NO BUT WAIT camp:
- Being managing director or business development manager is very different in a five-person company compared to a multi-national. Good recruiters will always look past the title, says Robert Walters’ Auckland sales, marketing and communications manager, Richard Smith, and determine what experience the candidate has.
- Inflated titles can look a little vain or silly.
- Sometimes you’re better to move to a role with a lesser job title at a much larger company. Barratt had one client who refused a great job opportunity because of the job title. His career was held back as a result. “He would have got a bigger piece of the pie and be exposed to more growth opportunities (in the new position),” says Barratt.
- You can use the cover letter to explain your seniority, experience and transferrable skills regardless of your title, says Smith.
- Sometimes titles have more to do with how long you’ve been at an organisation rather than your abilities. Recruiters know this, says Barratt.
How to go about it:
If you really want a better job title then plan your attack. List all of your responsibilities in your job, evidence of how you fulfil them, special achievements, additional tasks you have taken on and any cross-team projects you have been involved in.
If you have a case to argue then make an appointment to see your manager, bring up the subject, and be clear about how you have added value to the organisation, says Barratt.
If you have a case to argue then make an appointment to see your manager, bring up the subject, and be clear about how you have added value to the organisation, says Barratt.
Or if you realise you need to do more to reach that goal put a simple action plan in place and seek tasks that can help both move you to the next level and demonstrate your new capabilities.
