Asked to change job title - what to pick?

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chilimango
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Asked to change job title - what to pick?

Post by chilimango »

I have been in a "director"-level position at a small 12 person organization for about 2 years now. Our upper management team wants to change our titles away from "director" because they're concerned the title could be misleading to funders (while we do run and develop our entire departments, neither of us were particularly experienced coming into the job). None of our actual job responsibilities or salaries will change (they suggested a possible pay increase with the title changes?), nor will the structure of management. They said we directors could pick our own new titles, suggesting options like "Senior Manager" or "Head of ___". My coworker who is in the same boat brought up “associate director”.

The structure of management is the ED -> the Sr. Director -> 3 Directors - > 3 organizers and coordinators (each director manages one organizer, who manages a coordinator)

Going from "director" to "manager" feels like a bit of a downgrade, and like it doesn't quite encompass what I do. In addition to supervising multiple people, I have built my department's programs from scratch, planning out all of our activities for the year, including several new projects our org has never done before. "Head of __" feels more nebulous to me.

Any ideas for what a good new title could be that reflects the full scope of my work?

Another question: I plan to leave this organization and put in my month’s notice in 2-3 months. How would I put this change on my resume? Since my title was "director" for the majority of my time here, should I just leave it as that on my resume? Or should I somehow put both on there, or just the new (less shiny) title? I'm fairly early on in my career so what goes on my resume is crucial.

Thanks so much in advance for your advice!
Last edited by chilimango on Thu Oct 28, 2021 8:05 am, edited 5 times in total.
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rob
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Re: Asked to change job title - what to pick?

Post by rob »

Do what the banks do.... SVP (which might be the mail boy)..... I've seen a lot of "head of x" last few years.
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dailybagel
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Re: Asked to change job title - what to pick?

Post by dailybagel »

What is the field of endeavor here? As in engineering, software development, marketing, or something else?
GreendaleCC
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Re: Asked to change job title - what to pick?

Post by GreendaleCC »

Just my two cents… without knowing the full context, I’m glad you’re planning to leave. A leadership team that’s suggesting “Directors” downgrade to a “Senior Manager” title seems out-of-touch, like they are unable to grasp the implications for you and your peers’ careers. My vote is for “Head of __.”

The rationale of funders potentially feeling misled seems strange to me, too. If you have an ED, I assume this is a nonprofit? Seems to me that institutional funders would be able to reconcile your team size and titles. Is management worried about the perception of individual donors?

If you’re planning to leave in 2 months, aren’t you circulating your resume now? You’re still a Director today.
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Orangutan
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Re: Asked to change job title - what to pick?

Post by Orangutan »

I like “Head of ____”
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Soul.in.Progress
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Re: Asked to change job title - what to pick?

Post by Soul.in.Progress »

“Head of “ is at least two levels higher than “senior manager” in three Corps / Megacorps I have worked at. I’d use that in this scenario.

On resume you can use Head of X (Director) or something like that.
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AllMostThere
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Re: Asked to change job title - what to pick?

Post by AllMostThere »

Agree with several others. Go with "Head of....." for the short term, but don't change your resume from "Director" and get it circulating. Vote with your feet and move on. Title change today followed by what next week??? Pay cut, etc. is coming next...
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riverant
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Re: Asked to change job title - what to pick?

Post by riverant »

Very strange but leaving in two months gives you the option to have some fun with it.

Chief ____ Officer

I’ll add that companies have very non-uniform titles nowadays. I’ve seen managers be above and below directors at the same company, in the same department. Currently managers are above senior directors in my department. Far more important is how you describe your role vs what it is called. Mention the size of your Department and that you led it and hiring managers will mentally retitle you based on their current company anyways.
1moreyr
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Re: Asked to change job title - what to pick?

Post by 1moreyr »

go to linked in, look at similar positions and compensation. either make your case to your boss of your current title or pick a new one that fits.

a recruiter told me long ago that titles between different companies were always .confusing.. compensation was the great equalizer. a $50K/year director and a $250K/year director was not the same thing
MAKsdad
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Re: Asked to change job title - what to pick?

Post by MAKsdad »

I think you need to go with something that sounds at least as good as Director. "Head of " makes the most sense. Definitely don't switch to Senior Manager or Asst. Director. Both of those sound like demotions.

I wouldn't bother updating it on your resume especially if the job description doesn't change.
fortunefavored
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Re: Asked to change job title - what to pick?

Post by fortunefavored »

If it is anything technical, include the word "engineering" in the title. Every company wants to think they're hiring engineers, even if they aren't.
Flyer24
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Re: Asked to change job title - what to pick?

Post by Flyer24 »

Several posts were deleted that were just trolling. Please do not derail.
KlangFool
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Re: Asked to change job title - what to pick?

Post by KlangFool »

Orangutan wrote: Thu Oct 28, 2021 1:29 am I like “Head of ____”
+1,000.

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cockersx3
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Re: Asked to change job title - what to pick?

Post by cockersx3 »

chilimango wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 10:55 pm I have been in a "director"-level position at a small 12 person organization for about 2 years now. Our upper management team wants to change our titles away from "director" because they're concerned the title could be misleading to funders (while we do run and develop our entire departments, neither of us were particularly experienced coming into the job). None of our actual job responsibilities or salaries will change (they suggested a possible pay increase with the title changes?), nor will the structure of management. They said we directors could pick our own new titles, suggesting options like "Senior Manager" or "Head of ___". My coworker who is in the same boat brought up “associate director”.

The structure of management is the ED -> the Sr. Director -> 3 Directors - > 3 organizers and coordinators (each director manages one organizer, who manages a coordinator)

Going from "director" to "manager" feels like a bit of a downgrade, and like it doesn't quite encompass what I do. In addition to supervising multiple people, I have built my department's programs from scratch, planning out all of our activities for the year, including several new projects our org has never done before. "Head of __" feels more nebulous to me.

Any ideas for what a good new title could be that reflects the full scope of my work?

Another question: I plan to leave this organization and put in my month’s notice in 2-3 months. How would I put this change on my resume? Since my title was "director" for the majority of my time here, should I just leave it as that on my resume? Or should I somehow put both on there, or just the new (less shiny) title? I'm fairly early on in my career so what goes on my resume is crucial.

Thanks so much in advance for your advice!
Wow. This seems like a pretty dumb move on behalf of your company.

In my line of work, the trend nowadays seems to be the exact opposite - i.e., we hire people in as "directors" doing pretty much what AD's would have done just a few years ago. Most companies have figured out that job titles carry a lot of value to people, and there are many people out there that will make a job change solely to get the different job title even at the same salary. Pushing the job titles down as your company is doing would just unnecessarily get people mad and increase turnover.

If the company insists on changing the job title, the only option you suggested that I would accept would be "Head of " whatever your department is. I suppose it depends on your line of work, but in my line of work the "head of ..." job title would be considered at the same level as "director" or maybe "senior director" - so basically equivalent to what you have now.

Regardless of what your job title changes to, I would still call it "director" on your resume if you feel that it is in line with what other directors in your industry do. I have done that in the past on my resume, since some of the companies I've worked for had very weird job titles that external companies wouldn't necessarily follow. For example, we had "principal engineers" that did everything from individual contributor work through & including leading large departments. Since I think most people outside that company would interpret a "principal engineer" as an experienced individual contributor, I put my job title down as "Head of ..." or "director" to reflect what I actually did.
MathWizard
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Re: Asked to change job title - what to pick?

Post by MathWizard »

GreendaleCC wrote: Thu Oct 28, 2021 1:25 am Just my two cents… without knowing the full context, I’m glad you’re planning to leave. A leadership team that’s suggesting “Directors” downgrade to a “Senior Manager” title seems out-of-touch, like they are unable to grasp the implications for you and your peers’ careers. My vote is for “Head of __.”

The rationale of funders potentially feeling misled seems strange to me, too. If you have an ED, I assume this is a nonprofit? Seems to me that institutional funders would be able to reconcile your team size and titles. Is management worried about the perception of individual donors?

If you’re planning to leave in 2 months, aren’t you circulating your resume now? You’re still a Director today.
This must be some trend among HR .
If you are leaving, keep the title as long as you can.

My official title was changed from Director to Senior Manager as well, during the pandemic, and Director was no longer a title. No salaries were changed.
I fought against it, and was allowed to maintain using Director in external communications so that it didn't look like a demotion to my customers.

I'm heading out of the organization soon. Any organization that causes such disruption and demoralization while we were in a huge disruption, has leadership that are not worthy of leading. Note that
VPs and C level and above had no title change.
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