Creative use of job titles

FortuitousFluke · 10 Mar 2016 at 14:39

Afternoon all, just after a bit of advice. I'm currently looking for new employment opportunites as the possibility of advancement within my current organisation is not fantastic. I have a slight issue though.

My current job title is business development analyst, and whilst the "analyst" part applies to a portion of my job role, my actual skillset and job description are procurement and contracting related, not business development (which is viewed by most industries as lead development and sales).

This cam about because my role didn't previously exist and, due to the way our HR system works, I was shoehorned into the nearest relevant job title.

I'm worried this might damage my chances of finding work in the procurement field and wondered if anybody could offer any guidance on using a more appropriate job title in preliminary applications. Would this be frowned upon?

Any help much appreciated.

tom_e · 10 Mar 2016 at 14:42

Make up whatever you like which suits your current role, no one cares.

Yaayuh! · 10 Mar 2016 at 14:46

tom_e said:
Make up whatever you like which suits your current role, no one cares.

This, pretty much.

Though you will always have to state that you are employed as "<insert your actual job title>" where official, but you can expand on it and describe exactly what it is you do.

Can you not talk to HR and get it changed to something more suitable?

FortuitousFluke · 10 Mar 2016 at 15:08

Rossi~ said:
This, pretty much.

Though you will always have to state that you are employed as "<insert your actual job title>" where official, but you can expand on it and describe exactly what it is you do.

Can you not talk to HR and get it changed to something more suitable?

If only, I work for a Local Council so unfortunately sensible suggestions which offer quick wins are traditionally frowned upon. Our job family is pretty rigid, there's not much scope to amend without the involvement of panels and what not.

Good to know I'm not setting myself up for a fall though, with how little time is given to scanning a CV, having to use an inappropriate job title is probably enough to rule me out for a hefty chunk of procurement roles.

randomshenans · 10 Mar 2016 at 15:11

tom_e said:
Make up whatever you like which suits your current role, no one cares.

Yea, this. According to my current contract org chart I'm an Software Analyst, but according to SAP I'm Backend Developer (I don't do any development at all).

So you know, just do whatever fits your prospective new role, as long as the duties match.