Do you have a fancy job title?

[Zanza]

German companies don't seem to be big on job titles but that's different elsewhere as far as I can tell. In our foreign subsidiaries, everybody has a fancy title. Lots of "vice presidents", "directors" and so on. I work in the corporate HQ in Germany, so a "vice president" there is some really high-ranking person who usually has a multi-billion budget and thousands of employees. But in our foreign subsidiaries, every mid-ranking manager seems to call themselves "vice president" or "director".

So when I am asked what my title is, I never know what to say as my job in Germany doesn't have a title as far as I know. Maybe "associate" or "clerk", but when even low-ranking staffers in our foreign subsidiaries have a fancy title it sounds strange to them.

Do you have a fancy job title?

[DGuller]

In US, some companies inflate titles way more than others.  I know one company where it seems like every second person is a Vice President of something.  In my company, only the most senior of senior people ever get that title.

[merithyn]

I'm a Vice-President of Operations at my company.

Of course, I'm only the second employee of three at the moment, and I got to pick my own title.

[Barrister]

Do you have a fancy job title?

Crown Counsel.   

[Syt]

I'm an accounting specialist (one rung below a "real" accountant - for our Yankee overlords "accountant" means basically "certified public accountant" at minimum).

Oodles of job titles in our company, usually in the ranks associate, vanilla and senior. One of my favorites is "Director of Value Creation".

[DGuller]

My title is Senior Business Analyst.  Got bumped to that from Senior Actuarial Analyst after failing one too many exam.

[Zanza]

In US, some companies inflate titles way more than others.  I know one company where it seems like every second person is a Vice President of something.  In my company, only the most senior of senior people ever get that title.

I just looked it up for my company. 0.00037% of the employees are vice presidents.

[DGuller]

It's approximately 0.5% - 1% for my company, but my company is pretty small.

[Eddie Teach]

That would require having a job. 

[Razgovory]

That would require having a job. 

It's okay.  I feel for you Teach.

[Zanza]

It's approximately 0.5% - 1% for my company, but my company is pretty small.

As I work in industry, my company has huge numbers of blue-collar workers so that obviously skews the proportion.

[garbon]

I was a Business Analyst but then they decide to rename people at my level to Associate.

[Monoriu]

Things vary greatly within the HK government.  Outsiders are usually confused to no end about our titles.  To start off, there are different types of titles.  Then, some humble sounding titles actually convey the opposite meaning, and vice versa. 

Administrative Officer Staff Grade 'B' (AOSGB).  What do you think about this title? 

What about "Chief Executive Officer" (CEO)? 

Admin. Officer, sounds very innocent.  That's a 'B' grade, to boot.  Actually, an AOSGB is well within the most senior 500 employees in the whole government establishment, which employs more than 160,000 people. 

CEO is not the guy at the helm of the organization.  "Executive Officer" just means he is one of the guys in charge of office furniture, personnel matters etc.  "Chief" denotes the person's rank within the "Executive Officer" establishment.  In this case, "Chief" means the third most senior rank within the EO grade, but that doesn't even qualify you as a directorate officer. 

[Jaron]

I did until I got laid off.

[Razgovory]

Things vary greatly within the HK government.  Outsiders are usually confused to no end about our titles.  To start off, there are different types of titles.  Then, some humble sounding titles actually convey the opposite meaning, and vice versa. 

Administrative Officer Staff Grade 'B' (AOSGB).  What do you think about this title? 

What about "Chief Executive Officer" (CEO)? 

Admin. Officer, sounds very innocent.  That's a 'B' grade, to boot.  Actually, an AOSGB is well within the most senior 500 employees in the whole government establishment, which employs more than 160,000 people. 

CEO is not the guy at the helm of the organization.  "Executive Officer" just means he is one of the guys in charge of office furniture, personnel matters etc.  "Chief" denotes the person's rank within the "Executive Officer" establishment.  In this case, "Chief" means the third most senior rank within the EO grade, but that doesn't even qualify you as a directorate officer.

Have you ever seen the movie Brazil?