confusing ?
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- duhsign
I have a ? for the seasoned vets out there. I was laid off not too long ago and I am wondering how to best represent myself when it comes to the new resume and job titles.
When I "parted ways" with my employer of almost 5 years I had reached the title of design director and spent 3 months in that position. Most of my experience, and what I enjoyed most at my last job was Art Direction. However, as some kind of sick snub they wrote me a lovely letter of recommendation listing my job title as Senior Designer, a position I never officially held. Now you and I both know that titles can mean something or absolutely nothing. I worked pretty hard to get up to the design director gig but since I only held it for 3 months it may seem silly to expect to find another similar position in this neu economy. I'm completely confidant my portfolio shows clearly my experience as an AD. I'm worried my last employer is going to lie and go with their Senior Designer title when potential employers contact them, making me look stupid.
I'm thinking just stay flexible, brush it off and look for good people to work with and that will all mean nothing. What would you do?
- utopian0
The title thing....
Will be the difference from making alot of money to making an average amount of money.
- MrOneHundred0
Explain to them honestly what your role was and let them decide how it fits into their organisation. Labels are labels, but if you talk it out and convince them of the work you have been doing, you can say they you feel you are more than ready to start putting the label of “Art Director” on the job you’ve been doing for ages. I think it’s fairly standard that when people change jobs, they want to move up, not across. Just make sure that when you tell them about your former employer, you stress it wasn’t about performance- or discipline-related issues, and be very straight forward about how you have maintained a good relationship with them and don’t believe in burning bridges.
- duhsign0
Thank you Mr100, good advice.
- monospaced0
That is great advice, MrOneHundred. I went through something similar after leaving my last position. I was officially titled a "Junior Designer" but had the responsibilities of a Senior. Honesty, clarification of the role you played in each project, and letting your work speak for itself goes the furthest. I ended up as a Senior/Art Director in the end.
- UKV0
For a small fee, I and many others will recommend you on LinkedIn as a Design Director. Problem solved... Its basically how the awards show circuit works. :-D
UKV
PS: In your portfolio, clearly articulate what the brief called for, and then credit who you worked with and their roles in order to answer the brief. That will say more then your title does...
- Nairn0
Why not ask your previous employer to re-do the letter of recommendation with the appropriate and correct title that they felt you deserved and applied to you, regardless of what happened when you parted ways?
- duhsign0
I guess I hesitate to bring it up with them because we did part ways on decent terms and I didn't want to risk messing that up. Unfortunately this employer made a practice of assigning inappropriate titles to people- senior designers were "VP of Design" and so on. I guess you could call it the "carrot dangling" management technique? In my case I was moved into Art Director position from a junior designer position in my first year. I was excited to have the title so didn't fight for an AD's salary happy with having a normal pay bump. But I realized later it was unwise once I was pulling the long hours, traveling and carrying a lot more responsibility then I was being paid for. When I was given the design director title after 4 years I was finally making senior designer pay so I can see why they would put that on the letter. Seems pretty dishonest to me but what do I know. I think the big realization I had with the economy woes, watching my agency lose so much work and having to look for a job now is that money comes and goes, but working with good people under professional/honest circumstances is really important. Thank you for your advice all, some good things to think about.