Job titles. Are they important?

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Inspired by a conversation at work, AIBU to think that job titles are important? They aren't the be all and end all but certainly in my line of work they tell someone how experienced you are and what your role is. And they are surely important when prospective employers look at your CV.

A colleague was trying to tell me it shouldn't bother people what they are called. But in our industry we have structure that is used almost without exception across the board. If someone has a job title that suggests they are towards the top of the ladder but experience, salary and a role that's much further down the hierarchy AIBU to think people will get the wrong end of the stick?

I've found in a lot of places you get a fancy title but not a lot of money. Plainer titles seem to be better paid. I worked for a "Divisional Director" once - he was actually just a section leader but I'm sure he enjoyed his title!

In some industries yes.

I have got a fancy job title but I would prefer more pay! And I actually worry that my job title makes me sound more experienced/senior than I am!

In the absence of a decent pay rise, give someone a funky job title and they are delirious for weeks - until they realise no money accompanies it.

My job title is protected by law, so yes in my job it is important.

I don't know... People will look at experience and CV mainly, job titles mean different things in different companies. In some corporate workplaces, VP is more senior than Director, at others it's the opposite way round.

However I do think it should be fairly accurate. I worked for a big corporation and for a while my job title was Software Engineer despite having never been a programmer or a software developer, I was actually in a creative designer role but that job title didn't "exist" in their official role framework so I ended up with a ridiculously inaccurate job title. It happens all the time. Eventually they introduced some new job titles and it changed, but still, it's a ridiculous situation really.

It depends on the circumstances and industry i think. You've already mentioned that it looks good on a CV but it can also look good to clients/potential clients. For instance, you could have a titls of a 'clerk' but handle and manage key accounts so 'key accounts manager' or 'key accounts executive' may look better to potential clients if that makes sense.
But it can also hinder too - we have a sales team where nearly all of them are 'business development managers' but they are on the same level as everyone else... but some of them don't see it that way and will take more liberties or speak down to the rest of us!

They're important in mine. I'm an Assistant Merchandiser which is higher than a Merchandising Administrator or a Senior Allocator even though it has Assistant in it.

I'm a bit wary of anything that uses "Executive" instead of something else, such as Customer Service Executive instead of Advisor. Usually means high expectations for low pay!

They really dont mean much. Im a senior vice president of something and in a vastly (un-fireable) important role, yet get paid less than our sales director, who we could swap tomorrow.

I think so. I left a job once because despite paying me at that level, the MD saying that I basically was one and my experience and knowledge being commensurate with the role in question, they refused to adjust my job title. I got hacked off so went to a company where the 10 years experience and knowledge was recognised - and I moved on the same money. There are only about three or four 'grades' of this sort of role in my industry so by not giving me the title my experience and seniority was being downplayed.

Generally the shorter the title, the more important the job:

Finance Director - obvious

Junior Marketing Executive for Corporate Operations - entry level admin job dressed up to sound better.

They definitely can be - friend of mine has a job titled Project Administrator. The work she (and her colleagues in her team) are doing is, if anything, more involved and with more responsibility than the Project Officers in another team (same company). All of them are basically managing projects but no-one is allowed to put project manager on their CV. It's driving them all batshit and the company are going to start losing experienced staff soon. Pay is all over the place as well (individual salaries negotiated so no parity).

I've always found the people who say they don't matter are usually the ones who have a 'good' one!!

Nothing matters if you have it and can't appreciate the opposite view!

Overall no I would quite happily be called a dogsbody and get paid a good salary! But due to my professional qualifications etc I think they are a good indicator of what you can provide within a role.

Sort of.

I arranged with a previous employer to change my title to 'Executive Assistant' instead of 'PA'

We were having a few drinks socially and he was wonderful

If they are accurate they are useful for external contacts/future employers to get a good picture of what the job actually entails.

If they're not accurate it can cause problems. In my last employed role, they had a habit of handing out "director" job titles like smarties, even in departments of two people. I counted once, and over 50% of the organisation had "manager", "head of" or "director" in their job title.

Definitely important when you apply for another role. I used to be a head of department in essence but called a manager so made it clear that I reported into to CEO on my CV.

Yes, I think they are.

I left a job after a decade because my management line categorically refused to recognise how my role had expanded and changed over those ten years. I was running an entire department but my job title was still the original technician title, while people on other parts of the institution had been promoted with appropriate job titles for carrying far less responsibility.

It made it tricky to prove quickly to other stakeholders what my role and authority actually was, and eventually made my job pretty impossible. When I left, I had to do a lot of pro-bono work just to reinforce what my abilities and skill set actually was.

I do wonder whether this is an issue that could be similar to the gender pay gap: ie. the "gender job title gap." I've never come across any research on it, but it does seem to disproportionately affect women, afaics.

People enjoy status. Job titles reflect your status. It's very rare that someone with low status will say that titles don't matter. It's only people who are already high up who can affect to be above all that sort of thing.

yes, they are, at least they allow your CV to go through when many use software to filter them.

Of course HR/recruiters should check the details.

I know some "directors" who have.. 0 staff in a department of 1 (themselves) doing an entry-level role. The day they will be asked for details about their current role as "director" will be amusing.

When your company tries to average your salary with similar roles in the industry, your job title is VERY important.