Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with jobtitle

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!

Dragging this museum into the 20th century, what's my job title?

cobaltnine — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 09:43:20 -0800

Name-my-job-filter: I volunteer at my town's historical society and now I do everything except the financial parts. They recently realized that I'm not going away and asked me to come up with a job title. I'm also trying to get hired by someone who will pay me to do this... At the last monthly meeting, the 'executive board' told me to come up with a job title, since I'd been coming to those for the last four months and I'd been showing up to work at least once weekly for a year. At the same meeting I managed to wrangle conference money from them and so I'm going to need a title that works among museum professionals as well.

So far, my responsibilities have included, besides cleaning, being the person who can climb ladders, and being stuck on the damn parade float:
Setting up the computer.
Setting up the PastPerfect database.
Renumbering the entire collection (in progress.)
Entering the collection into the new database (this is way more complicated than it sounds)
Assessing the collection for damage/whether we should keep it.
Creating a new set of protocols for what should be accepted into the collection.
Creating new paperwork for donators, based off other museums' forms.
Strongly suggesting appropriate ways to conserve particular objects in the collection.
(Re)designing exhibits, using only the inkjet printer and any scrap I find in the storage shed.
Giving a public talk/presentation (this was last minute and yesterday they told me they want me to repeat it...on my own dime...at area nursing homes.)

The only thing I'm not actually working with is the financial side; we have a slew of accountants who are long-time volunteers who do that stuff.

I'm finishing my MA in historical archaeology, but I don't have the kind of professional certification or training that museum professionals do, yet.

I don't have any friends in this field yet (that's what the conference is for), so I don't know what to call myself without making it sound like I'm in charge. Thanks in advance.

Job Identity Crisis!

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 07:45:32 -0800

What am I? (Job title question) I want to request my job title be changed to something more appropriate. My current title is something both obscure and generic because when I started, the company didn't know what I would be doing.

Here is the problem though, I still don't know what I am. Though this time its because my job is sort of a mixture of two jobs. I am the company's web designer, but that's not all I do. My job also requires print layout and heavy image editing for print. I'd say I do 75% web related work and 25% other graphic related work.

What I'm stumbling on is would a title like Web Designer be appropriate, or Graphic Designer. Web Designer seems to leave out the other stuff I do, and Graphic Designer leaves out the web stuff. My personal goal is to lean more towards graphic designer (yes, part of the reason I'm looking at this is because I really want to be able to put a good title on my resume when I decide its time to look for a new job)

Here is the breakdown on the web side of my job:
Site design/Layout
HTML & CSS coding
Light programming, (php & javascript)
basic flash animations.
updating/changing content

The "other stuff"
Print layout for things like instruction sheets and brochures
image manipulation for my projects as well as when our other branch needs items for print. This could be making composite images or just simply things like sharpening and color correcting
creating new artwork using illustration programs
helping other employees fix their own images or fixing them for them for things like presentations.
ocassionally take photographs of product. (not sure how relivant that is since it really is occassional)

So I'm stuck. What title would be appropriate for me?

How do I negotiate better job terms?

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 21:43:47 -0800

How do I negotiate better non-salary benefits for a new job I was just offered? Specifically, I am mostly happy with salary but want to negotiate better vacation time and a better title. I was offered a poorly defined IT job at a manufacturing plant, and most of the offer seems in line with what I want, except the vacation time they are offering is horrible (5 days within the first year of service, and its paid time off, which is both your sick time and vacation time.) I was hoping for something more along the lines of 2 weeks vacation, 1 week personal, 1 week sick (or 20 PTO days). At the very least 2 weeks vacation and 1 week sick (or 15 PTO days). Further, I know an employee that currently works there and he said it is usually 15 days PTO, so this is really weird.

The other thing I am not happy with is my title, its listed on my offer letter as "Title (tentative):IT Assistant and Internet Representative. The problem they are having is trying to figure out what to call me. Originally the position was called Internet Sales Rep (even though the position involved no sales). They have no idea what to call it. To be frank, neither do I, but the title isn't what I'll be doing either. My primary function is as a graphic designer that coordinates with their distributors when they need images and web advertising materials. But because there isn't enough work (yet) to be a full time position, my secondary responsibility will be helping the IT manager do desktop and network support as needed (probably how they got the IT position in the title). So, any suggestions for a title, and any suggestions on how to approach the subject?

Some factors that might affect my ability to negotiate:
-They are treating me like I've accepted the offer already, even though I've only said that what they told me about the offer seemed like what I was looking for (vacation wasn't mentioned) but I'd need to see all the details before I decided to take the job.
-The person extending this offer has actually quit the company as of last week, but stayed on part time to help get me into the position. She also doesn't seem to be doing a very good job of it as I've been jerked around all week and they have changed my proposed start date because it too so long for her to get me an actual written offer.

Could you help me pick a new job title?

putzface_dickman — Wed, 05 Jan 2005 10:12:35 -0800

Could you help me pick a new job title? [mi] I work for a ten person government agency in the US that oversees government funded construction projects at non-profit facilities. I've been here 5 years, and have mostly held the title Information Systems Director. Because we are small I do manage network & servers, and spend a lot of my time doing application development.

I've designed and built what we call 'The Intranet' that uses a web interface, but is essential a business process management and business intelligence tool. The director monitors project status and project manager performance through the intranet. Other than authoring / reading correspondences all of the project management work done in the office is either completed or logged on the intranet. It is a thing I'm proud of.

But, more and more I create a spec and have a consultant code. That's because I am monitoring and driving our progress through an operating plan that came out of a formal strategic planning process. I am authoring publications that teach local groups to improve their construction project planning and management. I am creating a strategic framework for the communications plan the Community Relations Director will oversee. I am researching and developing the criteria that will be used to assess the financial health and operational stability of the non-profits we oversee. I am redefining our internal business processes to better serve our mission and customers. I am coaching the project managers on how to move from a reactive management model to a model of constant assessment capitalizing on the intranet tools.

So, I'm not moving to a bigger office or anything, it's possible to see this change as a bout of egotism. I just don't think it serves me, my agency, or my work for me to be considered "the computer guy" anymore especially as I am asked to represent the agency with big wig community leaders. I think I deserve the title Assistant Director, but it won't be given to me. I like what I'm doing, but I won't be here a whole lot longer, so I want something that will help get me a director job as a strategic thinker probably related to technology.

Suggestion?

Need a new work title.

strangeleftydoublethink — Wed, 17 Nov 2004 14:55:49 -0800

I need a new title! Currently, my title is Webmaster. Sure, I mostly do web stuff, but I also do videos occasionally, as well as general communications consulting for different folks within the company. Some key words might include: online, communications, manager (?), etc. I work in the communications department of an engineering firm.