How important is a job title?

[Lottielovescake]

I’ve been asked to interview for a very niche job, close to home and with great pay. I’m currently looking for a very similar role and may have to commute further to get one of those roles. This one is around the corner! But... it doesn’t have the fancy job title that I actually want. Does that matter? It’s great experience, doing almost exactly the same job day to day as the one I’m searching for and with the same pay. How important is the job title? If I want to move on, it won’t look as good on my CV I suppose. Any advice?

It sounds perfect! Definitely go to the interview. If you get the job, ask whether there is any flexibility on the job title. It might be something they're happy to change, as it's important to you and comes at no cost to them.

@Orangebug I went to a meeting with them today (they invited me to meet them prior to interview to discuss) and asked them about the title. They said they have created the job title completely, they know they need someone doing that role but they don’t want anyone with that title currently so they’ve decided to “develop a brand new role” with the same pay and virtually identical role to get around it. Don’t want to say exactly what it is but there is a reason they can’t have someone doing that role technically right now. So there’s no flexibility basically... but they’re keen and I’m highly qualified in a specialist area which means I think there’s a good chance of me getting it. I’m very tempted - liked them! Just the job title making me question things.

Without knowing the sector or role, I'm not sure how we can meaningfully comment. I don't understand your update tbh.

Employers use different job titles for the same roles all the time, what is it you think they're trying to "get around" ?

It depends on how corporate the company is, but if a smaller/less corporate company they may negotiate on job title. I have also in the past negotiated that I will be given a reference at the more senior job title.

Honestly, yes it matters to an extent. But I also think if you would be dealing with recruiters in future moves you can explain to them and they will manage with the client who is recruiting.

@user183688543478 they’re trying to get around having someone with a certain job title, so they’ve developed a new role - which is basically the same and with the same pay.

My question is just around the importance of job titles generally to people. If you’d studied for years to be (just for example, this isn’t the role) a senior accountant, and then someone offered you job with a made up title of ‘chief finance officer’ or some such that paid the same but wasn’t the correct title you wanted.. would that put people off? I’m unsure it matters at this point but if I want to move on in the future, I would expect others to be confused by this role that’s all.

It depends, I suppose, on the field, but the last time I went job hunting I just changed the job title on my cv myself to better reflect the roles and responsibilities I wanted to pursue in the next position. I had a generic job title and was getting interviews for roles that didn't fit my skill set particularly well, so I fine tuned it and focused on the skills I wanted to pursue in the next job rather than the wider picture of the current job. This was recommended to me by a recruitment agent and it did the trick.

@weesleekitcowrantimrousbeastie yes exactly that - I want to progress to the next level after this one in a few years and this is the correct job role but weird title!! Hmm..

Close to home. Trumps everything OP. Take it from someone who moved 2 and a half hrs for a job.

Can you not ask them to change the title?

We were talking about this this morning

Vanity job titles. All these people who are Associate Vice Principal or Senior Associate Adviser or Senior Operational Consultant

I am just going to describe my title as Deity from now on.

@Bobbiebigbum they won’t change it, I asked them about it today.

Depends on your field. Job titles matter for career progression here.

[quote Lottielovescake]@user183688543478 they’re trying to get around having someone with a certain job title, so they’ve developed a new role - which is basically the same and with the same pay.

My question is just around the importance of job titles generally to people. If you’d studied for years to be (just for example, this isn’t the role) a senior accountant, and then someone offered you job with a made up title of ‘chief finance officer’ or some such that paid the same but wasn’t the correct title you wanted.. would that put people off? I’m unsure it matters at this point but if I want to move on in the future, I would expect others to be confused by this role that’s all.[/quote]
Unless the job title sounds very junior compared to the role I wouldn't think it matters that much, unless it is within a field with a very established and linear progressions route.

Although I would say the chief finance officer is definitely a real title and not made up, and a very senior position too, so maybe not the best example.

I’d worry about the reason they’re being rigid about it. If it’s because they’ve recently made someone in that role redundant even though the job still needs doing then it might be a sign that they aren’t the best employers.

“they’re trying to get around having someone with a certain job title, so they’ve developed a new role - which is basically the same and with the same pay.”

This seems strange unless they have made someone redundant because they didn’t need a ‘Senior Accountant’ and are now advertising the same job with a different title, as a way of getting someone new so they don’t have to re-employ the previous person.

@Medianoche
snap

It wouldn't bother me, but I work in an industry where the same job can have many titles in different companies. It's all about how you present your CV to reflect yourself when you do move on.

@Medianoche

I’d worry about the reason they’re being rigid about it. If it’s because they’ve recently made someone in that role redundant even though the job still needs doing then it might be a sign that they aren’t the best employers.

That's exactly what I was thinking.

But also, as a pp said above, you don't have to use the exact job title on your CV as long as you're not being dishonest.

I would assume they couldn't give you the normal job title as they were pulling something dodgy.
Redundancy, internal recruitment etc

Doesn't sound nice.

I echo above posters I would wonder why they can’t change the role name. However I have to say job title has never really bothered me. Possibly because my progression has never relied on a particular role but more on experience and quality of work.

they’re trying to get around having someone with a certain job title, so they’ve developed a new role - which is basically the same and with the same pay.

This would bother me more. Do you know why they’re doing this, is it a legitimate reason? Because it sounds a bit weird.

It matters for your next role and can affect how much authority people perceive you have. Would they be willing to change the job title in say 6 months time?

To those saying just change the job title in your CV in future that can be a dangerous game. I once interviewed someone whose CV I saw for the first time ten minutes before the interview. She had worked directly for me 8 years previously but had completely changed her job title for that job and totally made up what she had done in that role. I had to do the interview, but she didn't get the job!

It’s not for a dodgy reason but I don’t want to clarify further on the field/ exact job role/ reason.

^^ that would be my concern too.

Otherwise, if I was planning on staying a few years I would consider that the issue might be resolved in due course and it could then be sorted.