How to List Job Titles on Your Resume

Q: I have a question about listing job titles on my resume. I worked for a firm where my job title was Law Clerk. I sent my resume to a recruiter, who suggested that I list the job title as Associate. This strikes me as being misleading. Is it ever appropriate to list a job title on a resume that is different than your official job title?

Susan from New York

Dear Susan,

Last month’s column addressed how to account for time on your resume. This month, we deal with the related and sometimes tricky question of how to deal with job titles.

Susan, the short answer to your question is that there are situations in which it is appropriate to use a different a different job title than the one listed on your business card. When considering changing a job title on a resume, the central question is this:

Will the contemplated change educate or clarify information for the reader, or is the change calculated to deceive or otherwise mislead the potential employer?

There are two recurring situations when it might be appropriate to change the job title as listed on the resume: (1) to indicate a substantive area of expertise; and (2) where the job title itself is uninformative or confusing. Let’s address each of these situations in turn.

To indicate a substantive area of law. Many attorney business cards don’t identify a substantive area of expertise. But if the bulk of your experience is in a designated area, it might be appropriate to indicate on your resume that you are, for example, a litigation, bankruptcy, real estate, or ERISA associate, or a child welfare or tenants’ rights attorney.

Where the job title is itself uninformative or confusing. Some organizations use job titles that make internal sense, but are clear as mud to the outsider. For example, some governmental and nonprofit lawyers have job titles such as Attorney III. Likewise, some in-house attorneys at corporations have titles such as Project Supervisor, which don’t even indicate that the person is an attorney.

When it comes to confusing job titles, however, the chief offenders are often dotcoms and start-ups. Where else would you come up across actual job titles such as Princess of Persuasion and Chief Super Mom? I’m not knocking these titles or the work cultures that spawn them. It could be fun to work at a place where you’re the Cultural Czar (another real job title), but if you’re looking for work after the revolution, strongly consider changing your job title, so that the serfs who are reading your resume can have some idea of what you actually did during your reign.

Please don’t read the previous paragraph to suggest that you should change your job title willy nilly. Changing your job title on your resume can be a big deal. Be careful. Very careful. Employers are justifiably outraged when candidates lie about their backgrounds or exaggerate their credentials. If your change of job title carries with it even a whiff of exaggeration or deception, you are not only jeopardizing your candidacy and risk damaging your reputation, you may even be fired from a job after you secure it.

Two deceptive job title changes are particularly common. These are changes that suggest you had (1) a promotion that you did not earn; and (2) a paid position when, in fact, you volunteered. The first of these changes often takes place when someone lists on their resume a job title that exists within the organization that is different than the one they actually had. Thus, for example, if you report to the general counsel and have the title of counsel (or no specific job title), don’t call yourself assistant general counsel if other people in your organization actually have that job title. Likewise, certain terms like intern or extern are commonly used to identify positions that are unpaid. You’re not obligated to advertise in your resume that you volunteered for a particular position, but calling yourself an associate in this circumstance is likely to be misleading.

Finally, even when it might be appropriate to change your job title on the resume, you should be prepared to indicate your actual job title to the potential employer later on in the hiring process. For example. you should list your actual job title if asked to do so on an employment application. It may also be necessary to identify your actual job title before the potential employer checks your referrals or verifies your employment.

Susan, you don’t indicate why you believe that changing your job title from Law Clerk to Associate is misleading. But that feeling should tell you that, at best, you should address the question of changing your job title with extreme caution.

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