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LinkedIn Job Titles - when your line of work is known by more than one ..

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    LinkedIn Job Titles - when your line of work is known by more than one ..

    Hi,

    To those with a line of work that is known under multiple titles ... what do you put on LI?

    I've been contracting for a good few years now, and one thing is clear; if the job title on your last role doesn't match that required by the customer (even if the role profile clearly indicates the title is incorrect) then the agent usually bins the application. There's no messing about, it just seems to be a fact of life. In an ideal world the agent and customer would read past any title and form an opinion based on your actual work history, but that never happens. Too many applications and not enough time. Machine sorting. There are many articles on this subject.

    The root cause of the problem seems to be that the same position is known by different titles at various companies. This can be for cultural reasons, or (most commonly I've found) because the recruiter\HR aren't aware of the correct title, so they just use the next best one that they're familiar with, or make it up. The largest companies are the worst offenders in my experience.

    OK. Have multiple versions of an application ready to go with titles that match. Provided you have the experience, have the skills and can do the work there's no moral issue. There is an issue with LI though. You can only have one profile without violating the LI TOS, and that means one profile. The issue arises when the agent or customer looks you up on LI and sees a different title for your last role. When competition for an opening is high, the recruiter or customer can afford to be picky, and in my experience they usually are.

    The work I do seems be advertised under the correct role title (it has one), or one of 4 very different roles, because the job requires skills from each. It's a niche. Explaining this to most agents is a non-starter. I'm reasonably sure they don't even read the email.

    The only solution I can think of is to omit role titles from your LI work history, but in doing so you prevent your LI profile from doubling as a marketing tool. Recruiters use LI to search for candidates, and they invariably use the role title given to them by the customer. It's not an ideal solution, but it prevents a conflict.

    Regards.

    #2
    I wouldn't worry the job titles match is what they do during initial screening, if they look on linkedin they're past that stage. I would use a more generic title at the top of your profile.
    Last edited by BlasterBates; 3 January 2021, 10:30.
    I'm alright Jack

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      #3
      then pick one and stick with it. On your CV and LI.

      And if you decide to change it make sure you change it on all previous work for the last 5 years.
      See You Next Tuesday

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        #4
        Except messing about with job titles when doing background checks for FS jobs gets tricky...

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          #5
          I struggled with this too. Ended up just putting my ltd company on LinkedIn and just wrote about some the projects i worked on. Just avoided the whole title nonsense altogether. As a contractor titles are truly meaningless anyway.

          I never had anything positive come out of an agent cold messaging me on LinkedIn anyway... So don't really care if I don't come up in their searches.

          Downside is now i get harassed by salespeople selling all sorts of services to contractors, but i just ignore them mostly.

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            #6
            Originally posted by ladymuck View Post
            Except messing about with job titles when doing background checks for FS jobs gets tricky...
            Most agencies/HR don’t provide roles when doing references.
            It’s never been a problem for me, although I’ll really only change from o365 architect to cloud architect or similar.
            See You Next Tuesday

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by ladymuck View Post
              Except messing about with job titles when doing background checks for FS jobs gets tricky...
              Never been a problem, they only check (if they check at all) if you were in contract/employed not the jobtitles. I usually just give them the name of my ltd company which I work for since 10+ years and my accountant as the reference. never had to give a list of clients/employers including in FS

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                #8
                Consultant.

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