Is it ok to write my role rather than exact title on my resume?

September 21, 2011 6:34 PM

Is it ok to write my role rather than exact title on my resume? A company has unique titles like for project managers they call them team leads. I rather use titles that are better understood and more common and searchable. Would this be considered misrepresenting facts or lying???

I presume this will be an issue when the background check happens. I guess one could explain this to the HR. Thoughts? Potential Risks?

I dont intend to lie just want to make sure that my resume pops up when recruiters are searching by better know roles/titles.

posted by r2d2 to Work & Money (13 answers total)

"Team Lead (Project Manager)"
posted by Etrigan at 6:35 PM on September 21, 2011 [14 favorites]

I was going to say the exact same thing that Etrigan said. I've seen a lot of resumes that have that sort of thing on it.
posted by magnetsphere at 6:40 PM on September 21, 2011

Yes, a compromise approach is a good idea. But you're not lying by any stretch of the imagination if you use the industry-standard term for your role even if your company does not use the term internally.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 6:40 PM on September 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

Team Lead's a pretty common term.
posted by scruss at 6:43 PM on September 21, 2011

You should put your exact title on your resume so if they check with the HR department at your work, it will check out. Putting the more common term in parentheses is fine.
posted by thinkingwoman at 7:26 PM on September 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

I would take a slightly different approach and put Project Manager (Team Lead). Use the best understood title as your lead.

I think this kind of thing is common. I've done it on my own resume, and no one has ever questioned it - it's just about clarification, and i don't think anyone has a problem with it.
posted by Kololo at 7:29 PM on September 21, 2011 [2 favorites]

Absolutely put the exact title on the resume. Put the explanatory term in parens or in the first bullet point. Why start out with a discrepancy? (In my, admittedly fussy, company, this would be a reason not to hire.)
posted by fingersandtoes at 7:34 PM on September 21, 2011

You'll still show up in all the relevant keyword searches if you list your official title as Team Lead, then in your blurb under it say "Served as project manager for yadda yadda yadda."
posted by argonauta at 7:46 PM on September 21, 2011 [2 favorites]

Both "project manager" and "team lead" are pretty well-understood terms.

However, if your company used something truly weird, then I'd probably put the industry-standard term first and the specific title afterwards, in parenthesis and quotes.

Unless the title was really awesome. Then I'd put it first.
posted by Kadin2048 at 7:50 PM on September 21, 2011

Everyone has it right: do what you have to do to be understood.

Incidentally where I come from "team lead" and "project manager" mean radically different things. "Team lead" would be a person who actually does the work, hands-on, while also managing others below him. Like a "lead developer" if we were talking about web development. Whereas a "Project manager" manages; he doesn't do hands-on work on the project itself.)
posted by drjimmy11 at 7:54 PM on September 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Very Helpful! - Thanks everyone.

I like the Project Manager ("Team Lead")
Does this work?
posted by r2d2 at 9:23 PM on September 21, 2011

No matter how you choose to do it, there will be someone who would have done it differently, but you pretty much picked EXACTLY what I was going to recommend.

No matter how you choose to do it just make sure you thoroughly and accurately describe what you did - particularly if the title wasn't something relatively innocuous like "team lead" but something truly weird.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 9:54 PM on September 21, 2011

Response by poster: Thanks everyone - very helpful!
posted by r2d2 at 7:44 PM on September 22, 2011