When Your Job Title Doesn't Match Your Job
Kent R.
“ I'm currently at a road block with my current company in terms of career advancement and I'm looking to move. My current job title doesn't really reflect my actual job and also doesn't really exist out in other career spaces.”
Many people are unsatisfied with their job titles. Following are some things to keep in mind if you feel that the scope of your position isn’t adequately represented by your title:
In most cases, do not change your job title on your resume. In the current employment landscape, your job title is one of the very few things that can be easily verified. So keep your job title as is and use language in the associated position overview and bulleted achievements (you do have bulleted achievements, don’t you?!) to more accurately capture what you’ve done and the impact you’ve made.
If your official title is “out of the box,” consider changing it. If, for example, you are the Chief Ideas Officer, feel free to change it to a more universally understood job title on your resume. When verifying employment, future employers will understand (and accept) – in these rare cases – why you opted to use a broadly accepted job title.
Focus on communicating your responsibilities and your impact. Savvy employers can spot job title inflation a mile away. If your bullets don’t rise up to meet your job title, you’ll land in the “no” pile.
