What should my job title be?

[aprilleigh]

So I've been thinking about posting this question for a while... then saw all the discussion about off-topic threads... I guess this should go here, then?

Right now, my title is Office Manager. I don't think it really fits, though. Basically, I work for a small, family-owned company. I pretty much handle anything office- or paperwork- related. Tasks:

Payroll
Accounts Payable
Accounts Receivable
Benefits Management
Material & Supplies Ordering
Answering Phones
Bid & Contract typing (not creating, though)
Probably more that I can't think of....

So what do you think?

[Deleted]

what does the finance department look like? CFO, Controller, bookeeper?

[hoops902]

Office Manager sounds pretty accurate.

[aprilleigh]

May 8, 2012 12:28:24 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

what does the finance department look like? CFO, Controller, bookeeper?

Uh, just me. We have an accountant that we send all the year end stuff to, and he prepares the tax returns.

[aprilleigh]

May 8, 2012 12:29:22 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

Office Manager sounds pretty accurate.

Thanks. That's what my dad said the position was (he's the owner/ my boss) but I always thought an office manager ... managed all the other people doing the stuff I do? But we're not big enough to have separate positions for all that. Does that make sense?

[hoops902]

May 8, 2012 12:33:56 GMT -5 aprilleigh said:

May 8, 2012 12:29:22 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

Office Manager sounds pretty accurate.

Thanks. That's what my dad said the position was (he's the owner/ my boss) but I always thought an office manager ... managed all the other people doing the stuff I do? But we're not big enough to have separate positions for all that. Does that make sense?

Is there a reason you care what your title is? I mean you could give yourself all kinds of titles if you needed to, VP of Operations, etc. I don't see anything wrong with Office Manager though.

[shanendoah]

My title is Operations and Administrative Programs Manager. I never tell people that. I tell them I'm an office manager.
What you are doing is precisely what I would expect an office manager to be doing for a company your size- you are managing the office.

[Deleted]

Another vote for Office Manager. That is what you are.

[Sum Dum Gai]

So what do you think?

I think office manager sounds boring. I'd jazz it up a bit. Junior and Son's (or whatever your business name is) official queen of awesome. Vice president of paperwork. Director of getting crap done. Whatever.

[aprilleigh]

May 8, 2012 12:40:12 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

May 8, 2012 12:33:56 GMT -5 aprilleigh said:

Thanks. That's what my dad said the position was (he's the owner/ my boss) but I always thought an office manager ... managed all the other people doing the stuff I do? But we're not big enough to have separate positions for all that. Does that make sense?

Is there a reason you care what your title is? I mean you could give yourself all kinds of titles if you needed to, VP of Operations, etc. I don't see anything wrong with Office Manager though.

Meh, just curious, mostly. And for accuracy. I don't want to go around calling myself and Office Manager, and then find out that's a completely different position!

[aprilleigh]

May 8, 2012 13:18:30 GMT -5 Sum Dum Gai said:

So what do you think?

I think office manager sounds boring. I'd jazz it up a bit. Junior and Son's (or whatever your business name is) official queen of awesome. Vice president of paperwork. Director of getting crap done. Whatever.

Queen of Quitealot?!

Thanks everyone! This has been really helpful!

[hsclassic]

Chief Operating Office

[movingforward]

"Is there a reason you care what your title is? I mean you could give yourself all kinds of titles if you needed to, VP of Operations, etc. I don't see anything wrong with Office Manager though."

I personally don't care about titles but they do seem to matter when you want to change jobs. I am having a little bit of an issue with this myself. My job encompasses a lot more than what others with the same title do. In many ways it is great because I have a great deal more to put on my resume but I am afraid they might take one look at my wimpy title and not even read any farther.

[hoops902]

May 8, 2012 16:19:20 GMT -5 movingforward said:

"Is there a reason you care what your title is? I mean you could give yourself all kinds of titles if you needed to, VP of Operations, etc. I don't see anything wrong with Office Manager though."

I personally don't care about titles but they do seem to matter when you want to change jobs. I am having a little bit of an issue with this myself. My job encompasses a lot more than what others with the same title do. In many ways it is great because I have a great deal more to put on my resume but I am afraid they might take one look at my wimpy title and not even read any farther.

That was my point, if you're changing jobs, then maneuver your title to align with the new job you want. If you're looking for something in the financial reporting area, focus on that, if you're looking for a job managing projects, focus on that. OP is in a prime spot to just give herself whatever title she wants, but unless it's for a meaningful reason probably doesn't need to. And if she does have a reason, then we'd need to know that reason in order to steer in the right direction.

[movingforward]

hoops - I see your point but I would be afraid to just give myself whatever title I wanted because employers can often check that information out quite easily. My name and title is listed on our company website. I would hate for it to appear I was lying on my resume.

[Sum Dum Gai]

My name and title is listed on our company website. I would hate for it to appear I was lying on my resume.

Are you the one who updates the company website?

[movingforward]

May 8, 2012 17:01:07 GMT -5 Sum Dum Gai said:

My name and title is listed on our company website. I would hate for it to appear I was lying on my resume.

Are you the one who updates the company website?

Ha! Unfortunately not...

[findingdeadbeats]

I had a similar position and was the "Operations Manager" since I was managing the day-to-day operations of the office/biz.

[Labcat]

Whoa, I had to check the dates on this post to make sure it wasn't one of my old posts.

I also work for my parents running the office and everything else. I do everything you listed and more and my title is also Office Manager. Whenever someone asks me what I do I usually say my official duties are "whatever the owners don't want to do". My father (president) has also told me that my title can change to whatever it needs to be to get stuff done. I find that people don't always want to talk to the Office Manager so sometimes I have to become a Director of .... or VP of ....

[Deleted]

Office Administrator is the title of the person in our office who does what you do.

Google search: (not sure if I agree)

Administration: It is concerned about the determination of objectives and major policies of an organization.

Management: It puts into action the policies and plans laid down by the administration.

[shanendoah]

With the exception of the health care field (everyone seems to know that the hospital administrator is running the hospital), most people seem to hear "administrator" and think administrative assistant- ie secretary.
So unless administrator is a common title in your industry, I would stick with manager.

[movingforward]

May 9, 2012 10:32:54 GMT -5 shanendoah said:

With the exception of the health care field (everyone seems to know that the hospital administrator is running the hospital), most people seem to hear "administrator" and think administrative assistant- ie secretary.
So unless administrator is a common title in your industry, I would stick with manager.

I agree. Also, another word that is used a lot these days (at least in my industry) is "coordinator." Everyone, with the exception of our Executive Director, has the word coordinator slapped on the end of their title.

[Deleted]

May 8, 2012 16:59:42 GMT -5 movingforward said:

hoops - I see your point but I would be afraid to just give myself whatever title I wanted because employers can often check that information out quite easily. My name and title is listed on our company website. I would hate for it to appear I was lying on my resume.

Meh. At my old job, the university called me one thing (and if you called HR, that is what they could confirm) and my department called me something else. I had that happen in 2 different departments actually - man, people were in love with the word "coordinator."

Screw that. The coordinator job was a lower pay grade. I'm putting whatever I want on my resume.

[hoops902]

May 8, 2012 16:59:42 GMT -5 movingforward said:

hoops - I see your point but I would be afraid to just give myself whatever title I wanted because employers can often check that information out quite easily. My name and title is listed on our company website. I would hate for it to appear I was lying on my resume.

I'm not saying "give yourself" what title you want. I'm saying you work in a very small company which your father owns, it wouldn't seem that hard to get him to agree to a title change if there was one that you really wanted.

[Angel!]

May 8, 2012 12:33:56 GMT -5 aprilleigh said:

May 8, 2012 12:29:22 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

Office Manager sounds pretty accurate.

Thanks. That's what my dad said the position was (he's the owner/ my boss) but I always thought an office manager ... managed all the other people doing the stuff I do? But we're not big enough to have separate positions for all that. Does that make sense?

I always thought that too. But, the senior engineer in our office who is in charge of our office (all 3 of us) uses the title "office manager" even though most of his time is spent doing marketing or engineering. It is weird to me. It seems like a proposal or something would seem better coming from a "senior engineer", but apparently to at least some people "office manager" holds more weight.

[hoops902]

::I agree. Also, another word that is used a lot these days (at least in my industry) is "coordinator." ::

Yep, my title right now is "Problem Resolution Coordinator". That should really clarify exactly what I do to anyone who sees that.

[michelyn8]

May 8, 2012 13:37:38 GMT -5 aprilleigh said:

May 8, 2012 12:40:12 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

Is there a reason you care what your title is? I mean you could give yourself all kinds of titles if you needed to, VP of Operations, etc. I don't see anything wrong with Office Manager though.

Meh, just curious, mostly. And for accuracy. I don't want to go around calling myself and Office Manager, and then find out that's a completely different position!

If that's the title your boss gave you then it accurate for your current position. My title is project accountant but my day to day duties do not match the job description on our corporate website. Who am I to complain? This title puts me in much better pay grade than if they matched my title to my acutal duties which are 90% invoice related (so in some places I'd be less managerial and more clerk).

[Bob Ross]

I dunno...Darth Gofer?

[ken a.k.a OMK]

I once got a title upgrade instead of a raise. I agree with some of the posters who said your title should be picked by the company and published that way.

[shanendoah]

And if you're looking for a new job and you don't feel like your official title matched what you did, use your cover letter to say so. At my previous company, my title was Admin Assistant. My boss's title was VP of Purchasing. My boss did almost nothing purchasing related as he was also head of Research and Development, IT, and Production Line Manager (small manufacturing company).
I did some admin assist work, but most of my duties were tier I & II tech support and database management.
So in jobs where I was applying for something I had the work experience for, but not the title, I made sure to call that out in the cover letter and focused my resume on those duties. But I always listed my title as Admin Assist.