Just how important is the job title when considering an opportunity? What one company calls an Account Director is another person’s Business Development Manager. Sales Support could be Order Manager and Telesales Executive could be repacked as a New Business Manager – All different job titles but all doing the same or similar daily duties.

So when it comes to seeking a new career opportunity our first thought when faced by the job board is to look for roles with the same title we had – or title we want. But just how many jobs are you missing out on because you are not thinking outside of the box?! Think long and hard about the job you want/are seeking and consider what else it might be called. Having worked on a wide range of roles over the years Robertson Sumner can categorically say that the title of the job you are looking for is completely irrelevant to the actual role you want. If you found your dream job but it had a different title – ‰’King of the World’ rather than ‰’Leader of the Free World’ – would you still not want the job?

We have all heard stories about normal down to earth jobs given ridiculous job titles dreamt up by management and more than a few thought up by recruitment consultants. When you only have a short space to put something exciting to catch a candidate’s attention – what sounds more exciting ‰’Paper Boy’ or ‰’Media Distribution Office’? I think you can expect to have more people apply for the later rather than the former. A quick internet search can throw up some very entertaining attempts by people to make jobs sound more exciting using a ludicrous title but even those not trying to sex-up a job can fall into this trap. An ‰’Account Manager’ could well be called an ‰’Account Director’ in another company’s structure or even ‰’Client Relationship Manager’. For most people the title they have on the business card is an ego trip – who would want to be called an ‰’Account Manager’ rather than an ‰’Account Executive’? Is the job the same? – Yes. Is the pay the same? – Unfortunately so…. What you are called is irrelevant – the job you actually do is the all-important issue. So the point of this little rant? Keep your job search focused on finding the role you want but don’t make the mistake of taking that extra minute of your time to trying clicking on the job advert for the role whose title isn’t quite what you want as it just might be your dream job in disguise!