What's in a name?
Let's talk titles.
A conversation with fellow YAEC-er LaKesha McGuire inspired this post, as we discussed what's in a title? Mostly as it pertains to lateral and vertical movement through the association world.
What's "lateral" though? Sometimes, a Director position to a Manager position can be lateral or even upward, depending on the naming structure. My mother is as high as she can possibly get at her mid-sized association, and has a Director title, as it's their top title. I work for a small staff association and have a Director title, but our jobs could not be more different.
Similarly, I've seen seasoned employees called "coordinators" who do incredibly high-level strategic work, and I've seen new part-time customer service reps called "coordinator".
How do you get around this in reviewing resumes for potential hires? How important is title to you? As important as a raise/promotion?
Some associations call their highest employee "CEO", others go with "Executive Director" or "Executive Officer" or "President". But "President" could also be your top board member. I think that structure seems to often mimic the structure of members' companies.
What structure does your association use? Have you had any confusion explaining it to people or in the HR process?
| | Permalink |
Comments
Odd that nobody commented on this one as it's so personal to our careers.
I think/hope most experienced hiring managers know to look past the title on the resume, and get into accomplishments & scope of responsibility, but it always creates some confusion with the diversity of job-title practices. We all want to move up early in our career, and if we do so in one organization the ascendant path seems clearer--if you move from organization to organization over time, it's less clear because of the low correlation of accomplishment with job titles.
I still remember how proud I was to be named a director at NAHB when I was 24, even though I was one of 45 or so out of a 300-person HQ staff! It was a nice asset when seeking a new job, as I was a technical/subject matter expert with a staff of zero at the time, so it gave me a veneer of management skill.
Looking back I am still proud of my career but it would require quite a bit of reading to see if I was rising or just job-hopping. I later was a VP with two staff, a division director with one, and finished my career as a director with a staff of 17 and a $14 million expense budget.
Early on I was concerned with conventional wisdom but since I stayed in associations I dropped the idea that every new position needed to represent an x bump in salary and a better position, but of course this is a consideration for every younger professional contemplating a move (whether voluntary or not) and what story it might tell on their resume and to employers. It was always harder for me to judge someone's quality from a resume especially when they have only a few years of experience under their belt...
Posted by: Kevin Whorton | April 21, 2011 7:51 AM