Help me figure out a job title for myself?

January 23, 2013 10:47 PM

In my organization, we're not great at job titles. Mostly they aren't really needed. But for what I do it would be helpful, when contacting people both within and without the organization, to have a title to use that both speaks to what I do and gives folks an idea that I'm someone who is authorized to [get information/make changes to accounts and procedures/make decisions/spend money/whatever].

The organization is a medium-large church, with multiple sub-ministries spread over a handful of campuses in a smallish city. I'm the de facto assistant to the sort of second-in-command of the Facilities department, whose title, if he had one, would probably involve Special Projects. (I told you we don't do titles well.) He does a fair amount of the day-to-day operations of managing the maintenance side of the Facilities department. He also (as do I) does things like logistics for events like conferences; traffic and parking (mostly on Sundays); oversight/planning on remodels and office moves; and we generally try to prevent problems from happening and solve them when they do.

I am additionally involved in some of the other areas of Facilities (which also includes custodial, security, transportation, and room scheduling), and am increasingly our technology guy. We have an IT department - that's not me (though I do work with them too; I run and terminate nearly all the network and phone cabling). I'm the researcher/consultant for things like the proximity card access system and the computer-controlled HVAC on the building we just bought. I'm the guy that comes up with higher-tech solutions that others in Facilities don't, just because I know more about what's available to throw at an issue.
I also do quite a bit of low-level logistics work, just seeing that things run smoothly and that good communication happens; that when there is a proposed change the people who will be affected have input and buy-in, and the things and processes that will be affected won't break or be obsolete.

And coming up...I'm currently training on AutoCAD, the plan being we will get all the as-built plans for all our various buildings digital and in-house, and update them as we make changes (like the aforementioned remodeling). I also have been doing some number-crunching on growth statistics - facilities management kind of stuff like square footage of space as compared to number of maintenance personnel.

So as you can tell (if you read all that), I do a variety of things. As a group my tasks are largely related to technology and (what I refer to as) logistics. So what's a good title for me that indicates the area(s) I work in yet signals that it's legit for me to be poking into other areas as well? (Feel free to totally make up titles too, they don't have to be existing real-world examples.)

posted by attercoppe to work & money (8 answers total)

Logistics and Facilities Specialist/Consultant/Coordinator/Assistant/Associate or Associate/Assistant Logistics and Facilities Specialist, etc.
posted by Madamina at 10:50 PM on January 23

Director of Facilities and Technology.
posted by (F)utility at 11:18 PM on January 23

Logistics support officer
Facilities services technician

Or any combination of the above with "specialist"
posted by mightshould at 2:05 AM on January 24 [1 favorite]

I'm assuming US here. In other countries the terminology may be different. The posting time of this question makes me wonder if you might be in a non-US time zone.

gives folks an idea that I'm someone who is authorized to [get information/make changes to accounts and procedures/make decisions/spend money/whatever]

If you want to be seen as a decision-maker and money-spender, you need to have Director or Manager in there somewhere. I'd go with "Facilities Manager" or "Facilities Technology Manager". You could add an "Assistant" onto the front of those if it needs to be made clear you are subsidiary to your boss, but that weakens the sense of authority you are trying to convey.
posted by Rock Steady at 5:54 AM on January 24

Assistant Director of Operations?
posted by DoubleLune at 6:16 AM on January 24

Assistant manager of facilities, special projects and technology
posted by J. Wilson at 6:32 AM on January 24

I agree with Rock Steady that the key is to have manager or director (plus assistant if that's more appropriate) in the title and whatever comes after that is less important. If you call my widget factory I don't care if you're going to use my widgets to make cookies or fly a rocket ship to the moon; I just need to know you actually have the power to choose me as your widget supplier and the authority to get me paid on time.

However, in your case, I think it might also be important to clarify what the chain of command is. You kind of have to know what your boss's and your boss's boss's titles would be before you can determine your own. If you're the assistant to the second-in-command, it seems like neither director nor manager is appropriate (both of those things imply you direct or manage staff). Unless, I suppose, your boss would be the director and his boss the vice president of operations, which could make you manager (again, though, who do you manage?).
posted by looli at 6:59 AM on January 24

I work in human resources and I've classified positions similar to yours with the title "Integrated Resource Specialist". I admit it's kind of nebulous. If that's not suitable I'd recommend some variant of "Facilities Manager" as mentioned above.
posted by auntie maim at 6:51 PM on January 24