London professionals say job title is unimportant
Job title holds relatively little importance for London workers when rating a position, a new survey has found.
Some 44% of respondents are not fussed about a job’s title when it comes to choosing a role. Only one in five Londoners in employment rate job title as “very important”, while just 35% rate it as “fairly important”.
The more important factors for job enjoyment among London’s professional community, rated as either “very” or “fairly important”, are enjoyment of job (98%), salary (97%) and location (95%). These three were cited as the three most important factors when choosing a position.
The survey by jobs website www.londonlovesjobs.com, whose complete findings are available in an infographic on their site, was compiled from the opinions of 500 business leaders in the capital as well as 500 other employed people.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, business leaders were a little more precious about titles, although still only 60% stated it was an important factor (versus 50% of the other respondents). This represents a low recognition of what is usually regarded as the key headline information on a professional’s CV.
What’s in a name?
The fact is that in some professions a job title can tell you a lot about someone’s responsibilities, while in others it can be almost meaningless when taken on its own.
In the more formal accounting and finance profession, for example, where specific qualifications are required in order to perform specific functions, you could probably assume you know what a purchase ledger clerk or a financial controller has been doing in their role and take a closer look from there.
In more technical roles, from creative jobs like graphic design, to trades such as architecture or plumbing (the latter requiring qualifications and licenses in order to practice), you know what you are getting from the title.
But in certain professions a title can become a nebulous thing that encapsulates a huge range of skill levels. For example, a marketing executive in a complex industry like finance could have more 10 years’ experience and be earning over £50,000 annually. Yet a marketing manager (traditionally the rank above executive) in a small business could be fresh from university and earning just £20,000.
But it still pays to be careful with titles when advertising vacancies
Despite the findings of the survey, a carefully considered job title can make or break the success of a job advert, as many people search for vacancies use a website’s search function.
The LondonlovesJobs.com survey of Londoners showed that job websites are the most popular resource for people looking for a job, with 67% of those surveyed using them (as well as 43% looking on social media).
The takeaway for anyone advertising a job is to match the job title to common searches. To cast your net wide, consider the terms that people will use to describe themselves and stick to them.
For example, if you are happy to consider people from other industries, avoid industry-specific jargon. And if a title is specific to your company (some more peculiar real-life examples include “Director of Happiness” and “Central Liaison Information Technologist”) consider something more common for your advert title.
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