What's in a name?

JOB TITLES: Are you happy with your job title? Would you feel more motivated if it were changed? Office workers in Britain say they would. In fact, many of them would rather have a better title than a pay rise.

The UK recruitment company Office Angels recently questioned 1,500 office workers on the subject. Seventy per cent of those questioned said that they would rather have a more motivational role or job title than more money. For example,filing clerks said they would prefer to be called “data storage specialists”. Post-room clerks said they would rather have the title “office logistics coordinator”.

Stephan Maidhof, HR partner at IBM , agrees that job titles are important. “Job titles need to be motivational,” Maidhof told ivillage.com. “Our employees want to easily see the next step on their career path. We call our professionals by what they do for our clients: data detectives, cyberspace pioneers, art directors, process innovators, creative technologists.”

"Job titles need to be motivational." Stephan Maidhof, IBM

Sandra, whose job title is senior administration assistant, says this term is not an accurate representation of her responsibilities. “I manage six clerical staff, deal with enquiries from the public and am responsible for a sizeable budget. I particularly hate the word ‘senior’. It makes me sound old rather than able!” She usually tells people she is the office manager if asked about her job. “I think having the word 'manager' in my job title would give an application for a higher-level post more credibility.”

Career advisers say that the performance review provides a good opportunity for discussing a new job title with your boss. In many organizations, job titles have remained the same for years, even though the jobs themselves have changed greatly thanks to new technology. Experts warn, however, against choosing impressive but meaningless titles. For instance, if you work as a cleaner, don’t call yourself a director of hygiene.

The title “secretary” is one that some workers feel is undervalued. Increasingly, secretaries are calling themselves “management assistants”, “executive secretaries” or even “executaries”, according to ivillage. Office Angels say they invented the term “executary” more than ten years ago to reflect the change in secretarial responsibilities.