4

I only ask this because I have run into a situation in where a job definition and title doesn't exist for my possition, and my company refuses to "pidgeon hole" me into a title because they want me to be able to do whatever they want me to do. So stating what goes on my resume is very difficult to do. How do you define a title or a job when a company won't?

Here are some of the things I do.

  1. Web Design: HTML, XHTML, CSS, PHP, SQL
  2. Office: Excel, Excel VBA, MS Word, and PowerPoint
  3. Database/Inventory Control: Fishbowl, Excel VBA (Open Order Report)
  4. Keep a photo log of all products that ship from our complex before they leave the dock.
  5. Graphic Design: Gimp, Photoshop, Inkscape.

What would you call my possition?

To describe what I do, I design the website and images for the website, I use Excel VBA to create an open order report, and NCMR (Non-Conforming Materials Report) that intergrates with the Fishbowl Exports, I maintain inventory through Fishbowl, and keep track on all open orders, late jobs, and everything inbetween.

What would you call a job like this beyond overworked? I need a title because honestly if I look for another job at a later date, I need to be able to describe in a title what I do.

Anyone have an idea?

|improve this question
  • 3
    Points 1, 2, 3 and 5 aren't really what you do, they're what you use. What do you actually do? And if all of your tasks became full-time jobs, which job do you think they'd give to you, while hiring for all the other roles? – pdr Sep 11 '12 at 18:20
  • Actually 1,2,3 and 5 are jobs, I describe in loose terms what I do, and what I use after. As for full time jobs, each job is a full time job. That is the problem to some extent. I'm doing the job of five people... so for me I have to ask what I would be called... because I'm not just one specality it seems, but many. I feel like my title should be Legion, cause what I do is what it takes many to do. – Matt Ridge Sep 11 '12 at 19:16
  • 1
    You're not doing the job of five people. You may be doing five jobs inadequately, but that's not the same thing (nor is it your fault) :). Ok, different questions: What jobs do you spend the most time on? Which would they most struggle to replace you in? And which would you consider your comfort zone? – pdr Sep 11 '12 at 20:47
  • The answer to that is Yes... If I left they would need to hire someone who could do graphic design, someone who knows Fishbowl, and Excel VBA, which is a white rhino in it's own right... and someone who knows how to do inventory control, and warehouse management. I do each job all the same, not one job is sacrificed for another. I've learned how to multitask because my job has demanded it of me. This isn't me bragging, this is my reality. – Matt Ridge Sep 11 '12 at 22:32
  • As for my comfort zone, I'm comfortable in nearly everything I listed. 20+ years in the computer field, you pick a lot up. – Matt Ridge Sep 11 '12 at 23:05
2

The simple answer is Staff.

You can put the following into your resume:

Staff

1.Web Design: HTML, XHTML, CSS, PHP, SQL

2.Office: Excel, Excel VBA, MS Word, and PowerPoint

..............

If there are other people who have less seniority in your company than you, you can call yourself Senior Staff.

The hiring managers and HRs pay attention to the things you have been doing. The job title does not matter to them. If they call your current employer for reference, they would ask "Does Matt Ridge work there as a staff?". Your employer would have to say Yes.

Actually, employers would like your title being staff because it means you can take care of a lot things when it's necessary. They pay attention to the skills you have, the more the better.

|improve this answer
  • When I'm reading through cvs, long lists of skills without clear examples to back it up usually leave me with negative impressions. – Reinstate Monica Apr 3 '14 at 22:07
  • @yochannah Did you see the dash lines after the skill list? The question is about the job title. The answer was not meant for how to write the CV. Of course, the CV writer needs to put in details to explain how he acquired those skills, but that's out of scope of the question and the answer. – scaaahu Apr 4 '14 at 2:08
2

Web Design: HTML, XHTML, CSS, PHP, SQL Office: Excel, Excel VBA, MS Word, and PowerPoint Database/Inventory Control: Fishbowl, Excel VBA (Open Order Report) Keep a photo log of all products that ship from our complex before they leave the dock. Graphic Design: Gimp, Photoshop, Inkscape.

You got some set of skills there, and broad too.

If your'e in a position where You don't have a specific Job Title and you will be applying for a Job then You will need to Think Outside the Box a little Bit.

As an example, if you were applying for Web Design Roles and you match the specs and experience of the job, then Use the Job Title Advertised for the Job.

Not a very common thing to do, but its Ok.

However if its a "Senior Web Designer" job and you are not but you still want to apply for the job then use "HTML5 Web Developer" or something like that.

Same goes for Graphic Design. If there's a Job out there with the Title "Graphics Designer" and it looks good to you the by all means put "Graphics Designer" on your CV.

Check the Job, if its something you will be Capable of doing and you have the experience including the Years and qualifications the by all means, either copy the tittle and Add it as your own or change it a little bit to match more to your self, usually the part were the job title say's "Senior, Level 5, Leader", and so forth.

Dont get me wrong i'm not saying you are not "Senior, Level 5, Leader". Its just an example

|improve this answer
1

A title will rarely get you out of work if someone wants you to do it bad enough.

Everyone holding the same title doesn't do the same tasks even in the same company. Most people screening a resume will scan the skills and not the titles.

Just make sure the title isn't completely out of line with your work. The risk of being over-titled would make you look worse the under titled.

The only benefit would be if you are a Senior level employee, but they call you junior. If that's the case, you have a good reason to find another job.

Focus your title on the area you like the best/want to pursue in the future. Seems like you're a web designer with some other duties.

|improve this answer
1

There is an advantage to not having a title when filling out a resume, it means you can tailor it to the job you are applying for, within reason. If applying for a graphics design, then you were the head graphic designer, if a programming position, head programmer, etc.

But if you want a title now, then this seems like a good scenario for a non standard title, create a backronym or nifty title and see if you can't sell that to your company. Don't call yourself Programmer, but IT Guru, Trouble Shooter, ATC (All Things Computer). This should still be useful when you apply for another position, but doesn't necessarily limit what you can do now.

|improve this answer
  • I strongly discourage Guru. As someone who interviews people I'm going to read "Guru" and think "bullcrap". Typically the person who does all random tasks in the US is referred to as a "Jack of all trades" it's fine if you want to be creative with the title, but keep in mind people who review resumes constantly get tons of resumes that are utterly false where people claim some completely trumped up and bogus title all the time, you want to avoid looking like one of those, they go in the trash on the spot. It's better to risk underplaying the title than overplaying it. – RualStorge Jul 18 '14 at 20:28
1

How about "Office Operations Analyst" for a title, followed by your description of the tasks that you performed?

You definitely DON'T want "Office Assistant" or "Office Operations Assistant", which puts you just one level above a ringing telephone :)

Leave the door open to changing your title to "Web Developer", though, as others have validly suggested, because you might just go for that kind of job. In other words, keep two resumes on hand :)

|improve this answer
0

I imagine that the company you currently work for is either small or not that large, possibly even a startup. This is a pretty common scenario with smaller companies, you are often asked to perform two or more different roles, paid to do one and when it comes time to find a new position with a larger company you have to try and describe exactly what is was you did/do.

First, based on what you have said here you really have two resumes to build. If you want to continue down the web design and development track then you build a technical resume. You list your technical capabilities as well as the real world experience like that of Excel and Fishbowl in what sounds to be a distribution or manufacturing environment. If you want to stick with the Quality Control type of stuff then build out a resume that showcases those specific talents. Overall though, not knowing anything about you, I would say you fall more into the Web or UI Designer and Developer bucket.

When I read through a resume I am looking to see the benefit you bring to my company. If my company does nothing related to manufacturing I could care less about that experience other than to know you were gainfully employed. What I really care about is potentially what you did in Photoshop or CSS.

Don't try to limit yourself to one single job title or position per se, instead build out multiple capabilities and paths if thats what you want to pursue. This is the benefit small companies provide, you get lots of experience doing lots of different things. If during an interview they ask about your work there, simply explain it was a small company and you performed multiple roles to help the company succeed, go into detail if they ask.

Bottom line: don't try to pigeon hole yourself! You are multi-faceted which is becoming more and more important these days.

|improve this answer
  • Photoshop, I've done quite a bit... created logos, removed backgrounds, people, etc. I've created brochures, and many other things. My Graphic Design background has allowed me to put a uniformed face towards the world for this company. As for CSS, I've re-developed my company's website from an old school standard frames format to a universal, multi-browser and platform viewable website with no restrictions or issues. In English on a PC IE, Chrome and Firefox see the website the same. The same goes for the Mac side, for Chrome and Firefox. – Matt Ridge Sep 12 '12 at 3:34
  • OK, so what do you WANT to do? Do you want to do web development or graphic design. My entire point is that you are multi-faceted and you simply need to present a different resume to obtain a position that you want. You can always list the other experience as well, but pick the role/title you want to have in the future and present that. – Brent Pabst Sep 12 '12 at 11:34
  • Thought you were asking. :) Honestly I don't know what I want to do. I'm good at it all... I just was looking for a subsequential title for today's multi-faceted world in where people are expected to do multiple jobs under one title. I was asking because there seems to be some smart people here that have seen a lot like me, and some may be HR or Recruiters, so I was really asking for their suggestions. Sorry if I was not as clear as I could have been. – Matt Ridge Sep 12 '12 at 11:51
  • I know what you mean, been there done that. I ended up building multiple resumes to submit based on the position I was applying for. One for software, one for systems, another management and analysis. – Brent Pabst Sep 12 '12 at 12:01
  • I do that too but it seems that jobs blur together so badly now that what was once able to be seperated into multiple resumes are no longer, because people are expected to do more for less. I was hoping for something better than Sr. Jack of All Trades as a title, because that is about where I'm at now. – Matt Ridge Sep 12 '12 at 12:34
0

I've had a similar situation where I worked as a jack-of-all-trades with graphics, java development, web development and advertising material in a start-up-ish kind of company. We didn't have any formal titles over there, and there was no need to as people worked with several things at once. I ended up choosing a title that closely resembled with what I really want to do with my future prospects.

In your case, ask yourself the question "what do I want to really want to work with?". Pick a title that closely and with no hesitation relates to that.

The beauty with working as a jack-of-all-trades is that you can tailor the job description/title to your advantage when sending out your resume/CV.

|improve this answer
0

Better idea: Don't.

You've got a broad set of skills from working a single job, but no title to file them under because of how your previous employer structured your work.

Put their own trick to good use - don't organize your skills by a single job title, instead list your skills and your capacity in each field.

In fact, you already did a considerable amount of that in your question by categorizing them into different fields the way you did. If you want, you could even list the company name, and duties you performed at that company, thus re-categorizing it as a list of skills from your position at that company, rather than a list of skills connected to a specific job. Especially useful if that company is geared towards a particular goal - a web-design company or an IT support group.

Important Addendum: Some of these skills may not be relevant to the job you actually want. That's okay. You don't have to include every skill you have from a previous job on your resume - focus on the skills that ARE relevant to the position you want.

And if it's a question of knowing what job you actually want, as yourself this - which of these tasks did you most enjoy doing, and would like to apply again? If you know that, you can paint a clearer picture of what job title you actually want to look for (searchign for those key words would help), then apply towards that job with those skills in mind.

|improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.