I receive at least 50 resumes a day, and of course I have to review all of them. I am absolutely blown away by the crazy job titles that I see people have. The sad thing is most of them do not seem to think it’s any big deal. I was discussing this with our good friend Terry Sullivan, the founder of Buzzpro https://www.buzzpro.com/, which is a LinkedIn consulting company. He was also blown away by the various titles that show up on people’s LinkedIn profiles.
In fact, here is a list of titles Terry recently received:
- Chief Happiness Officer
- Chief Imagination Officer
- Chief Inspiration Officer
- Chief People Officer
- Director of Employee Engagement
- EVP of Employee Engagement
- Marketing Rock Star
- Marketing Thought Leader
- Software Superstar
- VP of People Management
I could go on and on but I’m sure you get the point.
What people do not realize, or care to understand, is that real people are taking the time to review their resumes or LinkedIn profiles. Hiring authorities and recruiters are only scanning resumes or LinkedIn profiles, not reading it in full. If they do not immediately recognize exactly what you do or if they are confused by some cockamamie title, they will simply move on to the next one.
The usual excuse candidates give me for eccentric titles is, “well that’s my title…” in which my retort to that is, “but if people do not understand it they will move on to the next resume and if you really want the job you’ll ultimately be passed by.”
So, what I recommend candidates do, if they have unusual titles, is to adjust their job titles to a more conventional one in order for everyone to understand their position. The bottom line, if you want people to consider your resume or LinkedIn profile then give them the impression you are a professional.
Traditional titles, while unexciting, allow candidates to be easily discovered and clearly establishes their career history and occupational goals.
