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Help me define a new job title!

COBRA! — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 08:33:50 -0800

My job is being reclassified, and I was asked to suggest a new job title. As it stands now, my title is "Web and Digital Content Specialist," with the following bulleted responsibilities:

- Write and edit copy for college website.
- Write, edit and produce HTML emails and newsletters sent on behalf of the college of business.
- Manage digital signage within college of business.
- Manage online repository of faculty publications.

After being reclassified, I'll still most of this, including some writing and editing (although I'll be out of the email game, thank god), but there'll be more active web development going on; my particular area will be managing data transfers between various software systems (so, like, populating faculty pages from the system the school uses to manage faculty) and migrating a site from an old CMS to a new one. I'll also be supervising a bunch of student workers. So I'll be a lot more active in managing a website (or, to be honest, I'll be recognized for the management that's currently going on).

I'd really appreciate any thoughts on what a new appropriate title would be.

What should my new job title be?

coupdefoudre — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 10:46:19 -0800

I've been given the opportunity to upgrade my title to anything I choose. Yay! I could use a little help, though. Anyone with experience working with web developers, your insight is wanted! Details of my job inside. I'm the only web person at my small company. My current job title is just "Web Developer." I'd like to have a more impressive title. Other titles I've held have been "Junior Web Developer", "Senior Web Developer", "Director of Web Services" (these were at another company).

I am responsible for everything related to the internet - back end (programming and databases), front end (design and coding), social media, and also giveaway promotions.

Can you think of an appropriate title that I should suggest? I think Director of Web Services could work again, but is that misleading if I don't have anyone reporting to me? I am also not sure that it encapsulates everything that my job entails.

Give this technically-not-a-librarian a job title!

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 17:29:59 -0800

I was hired nearly two years ago at a University Library when starting my MLS program but I was never given a job title. This wasn't an issue, and frankly wasn't something I was aware about until recently when my supervisor said I couldn't put "librarian" on my resume when applying for jobs because I wasn't hired as a full time faculty status librarian. I am quickly nearing the end of my program, so I have been updating my resume because my position becomes defunct upon my graduation.

I don't work the circulation desk (although I am fully capable of doing so). I do reference through email and chat as well as a number of wide ranging projects like uploading media to our online learning management system, ordering materials, processing donations, and copy cataloging with our cataloging software. I've also made reference guides for students. Basically I do librarian work, but as a student employee I do it part time and for a fraction of the price.

I'm not a graduate assistant (my library doesn't have them) and so I don't get the perks that go with that like a stipend and free tuition.

What's a job title that:
1. accurately reflects the responsibility and accomplishments I have contributed to the library
2. is less than four words long
3. doesn't make me just look like someone who does grunt work like "library assistant" or "special assignments"

I'm obviously looking for a librarian job.

Help me figure out a job title for myself?

attercoppe — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 22:47:55 -0800

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.)

assistant (to the) regional manager?

headnsouth — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 10:00:05 -0800

What should my new job title be? Please help this writer-type write a few important words.

I'm in the marketing department of a local financial institution. The department is currently made up of me and my boss, the Asst VP of Marketing. I was brought on as Communications Specialist & I do all the writing for the organization...marketing copy, corporate communications like annual reports and impact reporting, social media, advocacy pieces, communications with our regulator, interviews with grantees/borrowers for success stories, etc. I don't do print buying or a whole lot of media work beyond press releases; we have an education guy who has a regular gig on the local morning news, for example, and that's definitely not me. I'm as behind the scenes as possible.

Up to now we also had a graphics person who was called Marketing Specialist (very hierarchical structure here: outside of branch staff everyone is Representative, Specialist, Analyst, Manager, AVP, VP ... and I'm not an analyst, hence the need for a new title). That person left & will be replaced by an entry-level admin with some graphics skills, and I'll get formalized training in design software (self-taught on CS2 but now have CS6 woohoo!). So production and some design will be officially added to my job, and we'll use an outside agency from time to time on campaigns.

So I need a new job title to go with my new duties and my bump in salary/grade. HR wants "marketing" to remain in the title somewhere and suggested "Marketing Coordinator" but that actually sounds more narrow and like a step down from "Communications Specialist." She's leaving it up to me & my boss, who is traveling at the moment so I get to (over)think about it. I introduce myself to some vendors and others as "Staff Writer" because I don't have to explain it and it includes the corporate communications stuff, but now that won't include the new graphics duties.

If this were a large company then "Project Manager" would make sense but "manager" in this company is a loaded word. I've googled around some but haven't seen anything that sounds right. Can y'all help me come up with some job titles that make sense here? Thank you.

Choose your own job title.

French Fry — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 09:43:36 -0800

I need a new job title... and I get to make it up. Help me come up with something both awesome and professional. I'm leaving a full time position that I enjoy to take a job with a new company for drastically increased pay, yeah! My old company also wants to keep me on retainer as I had a very public position and don't want to lose face or those connections. Double yeah!

My old title was National Director of Field Operations.

I need a new title for this role as a consultant. Senior Consultant comes to mind but seems a tad dull and forgettable. I need to put in a request as part of the contract negotiations but I am drawing a complete blank.

I'd like something memorable with pop but also professional, I work in Business Intelligence and Healthcare, so it's a suit and tie gig. It is very client facing so it needs to be something that clients (hospitals) can see and not be put off by.

Job Title to Solve My Woes

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 15:33:26 -0800

Job Title Help: What would you call me? I'm a reference librarian who does teen programming and teach computer classes at a library. Director and I can't agree on what my official title is. Of course, there is more to this story. I applied to be the "Youth Services Librarian", a new position, that replaced a Technology Librarian at a small rural library. Fresh out of my MLS and eager to please, I happily accepted an office attached to our Technology Lab that reads "TECHNOLOGY LIBRARIAN." I've been here for 9 months and run into a lot of issues. I am constantly told that "[Person in Tech Librarian position who left] used to do this for me" and I am not sure how to handle it. My director has signed a contract with a local IT consulting business and they come and fix our computers and take care of everything Tech related. Staff still come to me with computer issues so I contact our IT guys. Now I am basically a receptionist for all computer issues which I pass along to the IT people. Not an ideal set up.

I have approached my director about this both in a casual and formal sense. I have explained that I am happy to teach computer classes, but I don't think that using me to change everyone's printer ink is the best way to go about things. I've talked about the difference between an IT Technician and Technology Librarian but it still doesn't seem to click. Not to mention that I don't have the training necessary to be an IT technician (and I didn't apply for an IT position).

Anyway, this came to a head the other day when I mentioned that I still don't have business cards. My director suggested that my title be Youth Services and Mobile Technologies Librarian. I'd like a title that best reflects my responsibilities that I can use to help when explaining my role to other staff.

Here is a rundown of what I do:
General Reference Desk hours (day, night and weekend shifts)
Teen book collection development
Teen programming (crafts, video games, book clubs, SAT prep, etc.)
E-reader/E-Book workshops
Computer classes for seniors
Website redesign and maintenance
Social media stuff - Facebook, Twitter, etc.

I'd like to come up with a title that describes what I do but I can't seem to find one that properly fits the bill. Normally I would say that Youth Services and Technology Librarian would be appropriate, but as I mentioned before, they seem to equate Technology Librarian with IT Technician. They fail to see how the Technology Librarian is the liaison between our patrons/community and technology, not the person that you go to when you have a virus on your computer.

I should note that this small rural library is staffed by, surprise, technophobes, who proudly describe themselves as dinosaurs when it comes to computers. To give you an example of the level of comfort the staff has with technology, we have had two laser printers die this month because the toner cartridges were replaces without removing the plastic strips. Two separate full time librarians (half of our professional staff) did this on two separate occasions! So the fact that I can attach files to an email, use Dreamweaver, etc. make me a Technology goddess here. But that's not a good thing. For example, this morning I was told by the director, "OUR SERVER IS DOWN, YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO RESTART THE SERVER?" No, sorry. I am great with personal computers but I am not a network administrator.

Any ideas? Have you been in a similar situation where a position was eliminated and you were hired in a new title but people still expected you to do the other job as well?

[P.S. I hope this post doesn't make it sound like I'm not willing to help people if they need help, but as most librarians, I have a full plate. We pay our IT consultants $800 a month (don't get me started) to take care of everything. While I could Google and read forums to fix most of our issues, I think it is best left to the people we hired to do it.]

[JOB FILTER] Position Title for two-person team?

andrewmarc — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 12:13:07 -0800

After spending most of the past year working on a cool project in a two-person team of contractors where we didn't have specified positions, what would be an appropriate job title to put on a resume? I've spent much of the past year in a two-person team working on an awesome game design project for a large UN agency. The project has wrapped up, to significant acclaim, and we're both moving on to different projects. Now that I'm starting to move on, I need to consolidate this experience into a position on a resume. We never had specified job titles, and I'm struggling to contain all the stuff I did on this project in one particular position.

I was the main person on the project, taking care of things from a large part of the game design, overseeing the budgeting, writing all needed proposals, doing a large amount of the coding, doing a lot of the training on how to run the project, etc. Based on this, I think I could realistically call myself "game designer", "project manager", or "team lead".

My instinct says that "team lead" is the best choice here, since it can cover more of the range of duties -- I'd love some other ideas, though, in case I'm missing something here.

I swear I'm not an intern!

moshimosh — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 10:59:49 -0800

Help me find a new job title and job description and defend my cause when asking for a raise at what is an undeniably screwed up organization. Many more details inside. Roughly a year ago I left my full-time position as a case worker for a social service non-profit to start a full-time graduate program. When I left, they offered a part-time position with the title of "Program Evaluation Intern" described as largely data entry and some analysis. Normally this position was a short-term (<3 month) unpaid position filled by current college students on summer break. I accepted the position at a rate of $12/hour and roughly 15 hours/week. I didn't challenge the pay or the title, largely because I was planning to stay only for a few months until school became too busy.

Fast forward 1 year and I'm still here. I wound up being able to stay on and work around school commitments. It hasn't been easy, but I'm grateful to have some income (aka beer money). This summer I increased my hours (20-30) while maintaining a part-time unpaid internship in my new field. I plan to stay on in my part-time position for most of the school year, or even until I am able to find full time work after graduating in June.

Now for the question - after 1 year in this position I'm realizing that my responsibilities and qualifications have eclipsed those on the job description. The intern position is largely data entry, phone-based surveys, etc. I performed those tasks but have also managed my own projects (including project proposed by me), assisted others in data analysis for grant writing, created documents synthesizing our program data for external dissemination and more.

In strategizing how to move forward, I plan to draw up a list of tasks/responsibilities from the past year of work, as well as on-going projects and futures goals. I would like to develop a new title, job description and ask for a pay increase, that would more accurately reflect the work I am doing and have done to this point, my new skills and qualifications from graduate school (largely statistical which have been very important on the job), and responsibilities I'll have going forward.

What kind of job title would include those responsibilities? The smallest change I could think of was something like "Outcomes and Evaluation Specialist" or something with "analyst" in the title.

What is a fair pay increase to ask for? I currently make $12/hour and through some research have found data entry positions averaging $14/hour and data analysis positions closer to $17/hour. Also, my organization has advertised a part-time case manager position at $14.50/hour and I personally know a co-worker who is leaving a full time position for graduate school and was offered part time administrative work at $16.50 an hour.

Sorry for the long and drawn out explanation, but I'm really at a loss here.

Name this data management job!

Meatbomb — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 04:19:37 -0800

Need this quick: what is this technical / data management position called? Trying to talk my way into a job that is very necessary in my organisation and doesn't exist.

-It is a managment level guy who is overseeing the collection of data in the field for a big project.
-He has an IT / DB worker under him actually creating / managing the database and creating reports as required, under his guidance.
-He is liasing with about 8 provincial project managers to help train them on how to get reports and use them effectively
-He is liasing with project managers, or maybe directly with the 80+ workers in the field, to make sure that data is being collected in a timely fashion, and reported correctly.
-He is advising the Executive Chairman / Big Boss on all of these issues, how to improve data colection, etc etc.

My imagination is telling me this is the "Data Management Officer".

It needs to sound better / more senior than "project manager". There is also a "Senior Director" in this project, the number 2 guy on the totem pole. I would want this job to sound like just below that #2 or even coequal with it.

NAME THIS JOB! :)

Help me figure out what my new job title should be.

matrushka — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 08:06:01 -0800

I'm primarily an art director and I manage the look and feel of both online and offline assets for my company, in addition to creating original art for print + web, doing user experience design, and managing our art asset library. However, I'm also going to manage the online marketing (email newsletters, ads, and the like) and social media (blogging, Twittering, etc.) My boss and I are trying to think of what my new job title should be. Any suggestions? Art Director + Social Media Manager is too long. Director of Online Marketing & Design?

Which Title(s) Do I List?

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 11:37:57 -0800

Resumè-filter: One of my jobs included a number of title changes. This is complicating my attempts at an efficient, informative resumè. Your help vastly appreciated. Job before last was a Big Deal Job and represents half my employment of the past decade. I held many roles, learned many things, and each one required a different set of skills and abilities. It seems I should leverage that...or at least pick the one that best exemplifies my time there.

Added difficulty: the last one had very little to do with my actual skills/talents/responsibilities and was mostly a final stop before being speed-bumped out due to disability/organizational politics.

Here's my progression & how long I spent in each role:
- Operations Manager - 8 months
- Project Manager (no certificate) - 1 year (overlaps with above for entirety)
- Product Planner - 3 years
- Product Operations Coordinator - 1 year
- Escalation Response Coordinator - 2 months

I'm using a resumè template that breaks things down as Summary of Qualifications/Core Competencies/Professional Experience/Employment History (name of company, title, location, years goes here).

So, how do I reflect what I did while there? Pick the one I did the longest? List them all? Something else? Admittedly, I'm hoping you won't say I need to stick to last role performed, as it had so little to do with my time there and who I am as an employee.

If you'd like to comment outside of this thread, please email askmeresumehelp2010@gmail.com. Thank you!

System Administrator or Systems Administrator?

theclaw — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 13:54:25 -0800

Which job title is correct: system administrator or systems administrator? Alternatives like sysadmin are too informal and the actual job title is unrelated.

I work in IT. What should my title be?

thedotorg — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 09:00:05 -0800

I work for a nonprofit organization and am moving to the IT department. I can choose my title, but I don't know what title accurately describes my work. Looking for suggestions! I work for a nonprofit organization and was originally hired to do logistics/operations. The IT department consisted of only two people (the CTO and a network guy) and so they often needed assistance with their development projects. I frequently offered to help (my bachelor's degree is in computer engineering), and over time decided that I preferred to work in that department instead. I was unofficially moved to the IT department four months ago, and shortly it will become official and my title will be changed.

Because of the small size of the IT department, I do a wide variety of tasks, which makes it difficult to sum up my job in a few words. Also, because I have never worked in IT since finishing my bachelor's degree, I am not familiar with the commonly used and understood titles. I'm looking for your suggestions!

Here are the guidelines:
- I am currently a "Director", and this is a lateral transfer, so my title should include the word Director.
- If it's possible to include the word "engineer" or "engineering", I would prefer that.
- I would like it to sound impressive without being inaccurate.

And here is a description of what I actually do:

- We are developing a number of software tools that allow our donors to more efficiently donate to us, as well as tools that help our member charities to view and request products from us. These tools are mostly web-based and include an ecommerce site. We use outside developers to do the actual coding, and I coordinate that process, which means that I spend a lot of time on the following:
(1) talking with staff members to gather process requirements, and translating those into technical requirements
(2) explaining projects and processes to the developers
(3) testing the results
(4) training staff as new changes and tools are rolled out
(5) managing the development timeline

- Here are some other tasks I spend a decent amount of time on:
(1) creating, editing, and troubleshooting Jet Reports (a special programming language through which you can pull data from databases into Excel)
(2) other data gathering and analysis projects
(3) database troubleshooting (mostly Dynamics NAV)
(4) project management (for small and mid-size projects)
(5) basic coding in Dynamics NAV, SQL, and HTML

- Here are some "traditional" IT tasks that I DON'T do:
(1) anything network-related
(2) troubleshooting basic computer problems

I would be glad to answer any questions. Thanks!

forced to change job title

diode — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 22:01:39 -0800

Should I fight an attempt to change my job title? Okay, new job, maybe 6 weeks. Title is 'Internet Marketing Manager.' In reality, my responsibility arena is more in terms of managing an online web store for the company, plus relevant marketing. Nevertheless, that was the title of the position when I was hired.
One week after I was hired, the company hired a marketing director. Since we work in different departments, there hasn't been a lot of contact between us work-wise. There's definitely been bit a bit of primate ranking going on, though I tend to simply mind my own business and stay relaxed if possible about it. Overall, the marketing director seems like a fairly typical marketing nerd, kind of an alpha type, very social, where I'm a bit of an introvert, technical type.
So, I learned today that the marketing director is 'concerned' that clients will misconstrue my title. It will confuse them.
Really no one cares about it but him and me. It's one of those silly turf things that get started in companies. This is a small family-owned manufacturing business, so the currents can sometimes be a bit intense and idiosyncratic.
So, for me, the title is one I like. I want to keep it and I don't want someone reaching out a godly finger and altering my job title in this way. It's irrelevant to anything except internal politics in my opinion.
I think it's an alpha way of sidelining a possible opponent. I'm not an opponent, more likely I'd be helping him in this very area of Internet marketing though that's not my position's ostensible focus.
I can speak to the person responsible, perhaps try to frame things to his advantage to leave things as they are, I can be stubborn or use what internal capital I've accumulated to attempt to stop this...throw a fit in other words, or acquiesce and use my buddha-like nature to simply roll with the change.
I've even been asked to suggest new titles for my job. 'Grand Poobah of the Internet Dominions and Parts Unknown' comes to mind. Any suggestions appreciated as to the appropriate course of action, or non-action.

What would you call me?

relucent — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:06:28 -0800

Time to update my resume. I think I have very marketable job experience in the software development industry, but I am not sure what to call my job title so that it describes what I do. I work at a small software company of about 40-50 employees. I was originally hired as a "Software Analyst", which is business speak for "you do everything". I installed the software at clients, travelled onsite for go-lives, fixed bugs, configured according to project plans, tested, wrote documentation, and was tech support for advanced questions or problems.

Within two years, I literally knew the software better than anyone in the company, so they moved me over to the development department and created a new position for me. My job is to act as the gateway between project managers and development so the developers didn't just develop everything that the project managers told them to, which had started happening a few months prior and was causing a lot of problems in the software.

I assumed the Scrum role of product owner, and I have the complete freedom to reject requests that were not in line with the vision of the product or to modify them so that they are. I also have complete freedom to design new features or modifications that are not related to any project requirements, in the interest of improving the quality of the software. In summary, I have near-complete creative control over enterprise-grade software that we are selling for upwards of a million dollars.

Fast forward to now... the company is not doing too well, and while I am in no danger of being laid off, the company is in danger of going under. We may have a few months or even a year left, or we could even come out of it, but I have reached the point where I need to cast my nets back into the water. I am not desparate yet, but if a really good job opportunity comes, I will take it.

So, here's my question: What would you call me? When I first moved into the new position, my boss issued a temporary job title of "Requirements Analyst" while he thought of a better name. He never did, and Requirements Analyst sort of stuck. But this is a made-up job title that won't mean much to anyone outside my company, and analyzing business requirements is only a small part of what I do, so I'd rather include something more accurate on my resume. (Product Owner is a process role rather than a job title, so I don't want to use that one either.)

Does my job have an equivalent in other companies, and what is the job title for it?

What are the job titles between job A and career B?

neznamy — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:14:06 -0800

I want to go from Data Entry Clerk / Executive Assistant to Business Analyst or Technical Writer. Please help suggest some job titles I can use in interviews or search for online. Can you help me think of some job titles I can use to say "Right now I'm looking for temp work as a data entry clerk / secretary, but in six months time I hope to have a full time job as an XX." Or, "I'm only interested in full time job opportunities if they are XX or on the road towards XX"?

This question is mostly about what job titles are out there that I can use to signal my career intentions, but I'll give you some more detail just in case it will help.

I'm 26 and I have about 3 years experience temping as a data entry clerk, EA, admin assistant, and receptionist. This has been a great way to make money as I've done other things with my early 20s, plus I've gained a lot of valuable general workplace knowledge - I'm a much more mature worker than when I first started. I'm finally at a time in my life, however, where I can stay in the same city for over a year, so I'm looking to move ahead with my career and do something more interesting and with more responsibility.

All of my previous temp roles (lasting from a couple of weeks to a few months) have quickly developed past their initial job descriptions and I've been given project management duties, technical writing duties, and business analyst duties. I have really enjoyed these and would really like to have a job that has less of the answering phones/stapling and a little more of the thinking and analysing and writing. I am also confident that I can do these roles and that I might even somewhat enjoy it.

I'm not exactly sure what job titles I should say I'm looking for. Obvious ones are "business analyst" and "technical writer", but it seems to be quite difficult to get these jobs if all one's previous titles have been "executive assistant" and "secretary". I am more than willing to use my current experience and get a "compromise" job: I will answer some phones and do filing and mindless data entry and copying, but I would also like to have the opportunity to think and manage my own time somewhat. Bonus points if this job doesn't have the title of "Secretary" or the like.

Many of my previous temp employers have offered to hire me full time for roles above that which I was brought in for, but I've unfortunately never been in the position to take a full time position before. Of course, now that I'm in a permanent place for a bit, I'm continuing to take these temp roles with the hope that I might run into a company wanting to hire me, but I don't want to rely on that solely.

Mostly, I want to be able to speak the lingo and signal to potential employers and especially recruitment agencies what type of work I'm eventually after. I don't have one specific career path in mind and have no special qualifications (other than a BA in English and a minor in math and three years of office drudge experience).

What job titles or code words can I use to say that I don't mind admin work, just want to have more responsibility and a different title?

Name my job, please?

anastasiav — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 07:01:43 -0800

I have the opportunity to select my own job title for my new position. Given these duties, what should my job title be? Its a large public-mission nonprofit. I report directly to the CEO. My duties will include some administrative items related to the board meetings (including taking minutes), writing the content of the website and making sure all info there is up to date and correct (some evaluating usability, but no coding), coordinating an email newsletter as well as communication via Facebook and Twitter, and doing the bulk of the writing and layout for the print newsletter. I'm also taking responsibility for at least one large-scale special event, with a focus on recruiting and managing volunteers at that event. In addition, I will be conducting donor prospect research, and some work maintaining the donor database. (There is no development director, the CEO fills that role). I imagine, given the dynamic in the workplace, that there will be a limited amount of general administrative support for the CEO as well.

The last person to do this job called herself the "Executive Assistant" but that feels to secretary-ish to me. The CEO has suggested "special assistant to the CEO" but I would like something more descriptive of these wide and varied duties.

What would you call this job?

Who's in charge?

bookmammal — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:04:41 -0800

Can you clarify the differences between a director, a manager and a coordinator in the typical corporate hierarchy? Which title is considered to have the most responsibility/power, etc?

Yet another JobTitleFilter question.

cockwaffle — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 09:20:40 -0800

It's time once again for "Name That Job!" What would you call someone who will be fulfilling the following role(s) for a small company? Think Dunder Mifflin.

Some assistance to the sales team, mostly administrative and managing leads, etc. No actual selling responsibility.

Some assistance to the marketing team, mostly administrative but also some strategic and creative work.

More specifics: the position would include supervising the outgoing company newsletter and probably also some web content... assisting at trade shows and exhibits... there would be some client interaction... there would be no direct reports.

Hopefully, the right candidate would move quickly into a manager role that will be opening up in the fall. The company wants that to be an internal hire but there isn't really a candidate, so this is essentially "grooming / training" someone for that role.

There isn't an "equivalent" position on our organizational chart; this is a whole new role and there aren't really counterparts in other departments either.

Because of the rapid advancement opportunity, the candidate needs to be degreed and have several years experience in the workforce. So, an "assistant" title wouldn't be appropriate, even though it seems most accurate to me. Someone else in our office said "[something] manager" but is that really accurate if the person wouldn't be supervising anyone? One of the HR people wants it to be "business analyst" but I think that's something different altogether.

In the Northeast, if it matters or helps. TIA.

Very Specific Character's Job Title?

np312 — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 17:53:46 -0800

Help me ascertain the correct job title for a character I’m writing who deals in high stakes international finance. Difficulty level: I have a limited understanding about stocks, bonds, or securities. Hi there—now there are several plot points that can’t be changed that I must work around, so it would be a great help to find a job title/description for this character that fits the following constraints.

The character I’m writing needs to be a high-paid person in finances, the type who might get sent down to Argentina in the months immediately preceding the 2001 Corallito/2002 Bankruptcy in order to broker some sort of high-stakes financial deal involving a US firm (hers) and an Argentine company of some sort.

Here’s the most important part: she’s trying to get these Argentinean businessmen to come on board with her JP Morgan-ish company in some way (invest abroad? Partner up for some reason?) and they are all set to do so –until- the country’s fiscal crisis spirals out of control in the fall of 2001, and she loses the contract/client because of it.

Some job titles that seem to fit are Emerging Markets Bond Trader or Financial Analyst, but I’m still a bit unsure of what those jobs actually entail. So! Any ideas of what this character’s job is and what kind of financial deal is she could be responsible for in this particular situation?

Thank you for all help/ideas!

What's my job title?

twiggy — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 08:59:18 -0800

Job / Group Title help: I have a hybrid job, currently called "Maintenance Director / Project Manager", but we're looking to fix that up a bit.. what's best? So I was hired on to a company that wants me to do two different roles kind of split-time:

1) Project Manager - easy enough to title!

2) "Maintenance Director" .. what's that? Well, we do web applications / content management system type stuff for clients. When clients ask us to make updates, add features, etc, we currently call that "Maintenance", but my boss is looking for a better name because things like additional sections / features aren't really maintenance. I will be managing the group that handles this.

So, 2 questions:

1) What would you call this group? "The Maintenance Group" just doesn't sound great. It's also somewhat inaccurate since new functionality isn't "maintenance" in the same way that bug fixes, text changes, etc are.

2) What's the best job title for my business card / resume? is "X Director / Project Manager" OK? Do I just put "X Director" because director sounds better?

As much as I like "Demi-God of Marketing"...

damnjezebel — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 07:58:37 -0800

My boss asked me what job title I want on my business cards. Help! I've been at my new job for a little over a month, and my boss just asked me what title I want put on my business cards.

I work for a small company (less than 5 workers including my boss). I handle accounting, marketing, sales, tech stuff, design, office misc... pretty much a bit of everything. I don't do one more than the others, and my duties change every day.

We've thought about Personal Assistant, Creative Director or Marketing Manager, but those don't really explain all that I do for the company.

As much as I'd like a cute, quirky job title for my business cards ("Dictator", anyone?), I'd like something that is a bit more professional. A tad tongue-in-cheek is good, though. I've been given full leeway as to what my title can be, but I have to decide on the title today! HELP!

Please help me find a job title!

ysabet — Tue, 29 May 2007 22:33:52 -0800

I'm joining a startup soon, and I've been told that I can choose my own title. I'll be doing end-to-end software QA including testing, doing design, coding, and writing specification documents. I suppose the generic term is 'Software Engineer', but I'd like something a bit more interesting. I appeal to the hive mind for ideas for a cool (but still descriptive) job title!

Name that job!

MrToad — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 06:02:22 -0800

JobTitleFilter: What would be your suggestion(s) for a job title for a quality manager + process improvement manager position? I've been tasked with coming up with the job title for my new position.

I had been "Quality Process Manager" (maintaining ISO9001:2000) but have now gotten more responsibilities and with that a new position has been created for me. Job functions will include everything as before plus implementing a company-wide process improvement project along with the implementation of AS9120 (a more strict quality standard for distributors to the aerospace industry).

"Quality and Process Improvement Manager" had been suggested but I thought I'd throw the question to the masses before settling on it.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!