What does one call oneself?

March 12, 2012 9:01 AM

Dusting off the old resume and started thinking about eye-catching descriptors. Leaving aside the question of whether or not it's a good idea to include terms like "Turnaround Artist," "Thought Leader," etc on one's resume, what are some other business terms like this?
posted by bluejayway to writing & language (7 answers total)

Innovation officer

Creative officer

A friend of mine is in charge of "ideation."
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:06 AM on March 12, 2012

Change Agent. A friend-of-a-friend of mine had this job title for a massive international company. Apparently it was a very well-payed position, but not a great way to make friends.
posted by Rock Steady at 9:09 AM on March 12, 2012

"Foo Evangelist", where "foo" is a particular product or service.
posted by magicbus at 9:12 AM on March 12, 2012

I quite liked one I saw that had 'Interstitialist' on it, with the intended meaning that the person was a generalist who basically filled the gaps between other positions and did anything that needed doing.
posted by true at 9:53 AM on March 12, 2012

Just as a contrary data point, in the many hundreds of resumes I've read when hiring, creativity in job titles has never gotten my attention, and indeed the most jargony ones ("change agent") just induce eye rolls.

Channel your creativity into describing what you do uniquely well, and in describing your past accomplishments in terms of meaningful, measurable results.

Someone who says "Division Lead" followed by "700% increase in new business with no increase in advertising outlay" will always do better than "Change Agent" who says "Improved performance within the division."
posted by anildash at 9:59 AM on March 12, 2012 [12 favorites]

Domain Expert
posted by diogenes at 1:08 PM on March 12, 2012

I agree with anildash. Very eye roll-inducing.
posted by radioamy at 5:27 PM on March 12, 2012