【英语社会】头衔拖累我吗？

The Problem



I am looking for a new job, but fear that my unimpressive title may be holding me back. I am a senior compliance manager in a big bank but my title is merely "controller". Many colleagues who have less senior jobs have much grander sounding titles - for instance, "head of corporate liquidity management" sounds more impressive than mine but is a junior position with just one direct report. Are hiring managers going to take one look at my title and put my CV straight in the bin?

Controller, female, 36

LUCY'S ANSWER



In Thomas the Tank Engine , the classic children's book, the much feared, top-hatted man who runs the railway has a title rather like yours. He is called the Fat Controller - the prefix "Fat" added less to signify the size of his empire than the size of his girth. Every four-year-old reading these stories knows that a controller is someone who controls. In other words, he is the boss.

Six decades after the Rev Audrey wrote these books, adults have become less confident about what a controller is - let alone a vice-president or a managing director. There is now an inverse relationship between how senior a job is and how fancy the title. Inflation is most rampant at the low to middle areas (where it is cheaper than a pay rise) but at the top, titles are the same as they always were. "Chairman" still means chairman and "president" still means president.

If everyone could be relied upon to be sensible, your plain title would be an advantage. The trouble is recruiters can't be relied on to be sensible. The initial weeding is likely to be done by headhunters and as most of them like to call themselves "senior executive search consultants", one feels little confidence.

Much as it pains me to say it, you should do what everyone else does and present your CV in the language of self-importance. Look at the wording in the job ad, and make sure your own wording mirrors it. Write that you are a senior whatever-you- fancy, putting the word "controller" in brackets afterwards.

And just in case you feel tempted to go to your boss and ask for a grander title: don't. Not only would that be demeaning, it would be advertising the fact that you've had enough and want out.

YOUR ADVICE



Seniorphobia



Years ago, my employer thought to make me happy by adding the word "senior" to my job title. Since then I have had an aversion to CVs including the word "senior" - it tells me something about the person who uses it and that something is not necessarily positive. VP, male, 56

No padding



Praise be. In the City, there is at least one soul who has enough moral fibre to pause, even momentarily, before padding their CV. Everybody else, from chief executives to cleaning ladies, does it without a second thought.

Director, male, 40

Name drop



Inside the company, if you need a job title then you're not important enough for it to matter. People should know who you are just from your name. When looking for work, make up your own description (not title) based on what you do.

Anon, male

Upgrade



Ask your boss to "upgrade" your title to more accurately reflect the job that you do. Say the current title leads to confusion with colleagues and external stakeholders who misunderstand who they are dealing with and feel they are only being given access to more junior staff. Raise it in a non-confrontational way in a staff review, emphasising that it will be good for the company.

Global manager, male

Upside down



I have the opposite problem. I'm a "senior executive director" but people see a job title like that and assume I'm some spotty-faced new graduate in the marketing department of a bank.

Director, male

The next problem



My colleagues and I are convinced that one of our co-workers is insane. The details are bizarre and too numerous to go through, but as an example, when collecting clothes for needy children we found that this worker, who admitted to never having been in a relationship, mentioned that he had a basement full of toddler clothing. When I told him about an encounter with a pushy beggar, he said: "You should have sliced his hand off with my knife." I have this fear that something bizarre will happen and then when the police ask: "Were there any signs?" we'd answer: "Sure, tons of them." Yet what were we going to do? Go to human resources and tell them he's crazy? Manager, male, 34

问题

我正在找新工作，但担心我平淡无奇的头衔可能会拖累我。我是一家大银行的高级合规经理，但我的头衔只是“控制者”(controller)。许多职位不及我高的同事都有个听上去更大气重要的头衔——例如，“公司流动性管理主管”听上去要比我的吸引人，但这是个低级职位，只有一个下属。招聘经理会不会看一眼我的头衔，就把我的简历直接扔进垃圾箱了？

控制者，女，36岁

露西的答案

在经典儿童书籍《小火车托马斯》(Thomas the Tank Engine)中，令人异常畏惧、戴着礼帽、管理铁路的那个角色就有一个和你差不多的头衔。他被称为“胖总管”(Fat Controller)，“胖”这个前缀更多的是强调他腰围的尺寸，而非他统治的王国的大小。所有读这些故事的4岁儿童都知道，controller是有控制权的人。换句话说，他就是老板。

在雷弗•奥德利(Rev Audrey)创作出这套丛书60年后，成年人对于controller的含义就不那么肯定了，更别提副总裁或董事总经理了。如今，职位的高低与头衔的花哨与否成反比。在中低层，头衔夸大现象最为普遍（夸大头衔比加薪成本更低），但在高层，头衔则没有任何变化。“董事长”的意思仍是“董事长”，“总裁”的意思仍是“总裁”。

如果我们可以放心地认为所有人都是明智的，那么你那平淡无奇的头衔就是一个优势。问题是，我们不可能指望招聘者都很明智。最初的筛选可能是由猎头完成的，鉴于多数猎头喜欢自称为“资深猎头执行顾问”，对此我们没有多少信心。

尽管这么说让我很痛苦，但你还是应该像其他人那样，用抬高自己的语言撰写你的简历。看一看职位描述中的用词，确保你的用词能够与其对应。在简历中写上你是一位高级XX（XX处怎么写随你喜欢），然后把“controller”加在后面的括号里。

万一你想去找老板，要求得到一个更显要的头衔，我的建议是：不要这样做。这不仅会贬低你的身份，也在宣告一个事实：你干腻了，想辞职。

您的建议

“高级”恐惧症

数年前，为了让我高兴，我的雇主想在我的头衔前面加上 “高级”(senior)二字。从那以后，我一直对含有“高级”一词的简历感到反感——它向我透露了这个词的使用者的一些相关信息，而且这些信息不一定是正面的。

副总裁，男，56岁

不要添油加醋

谢天谢地。在伦敦金融城(City)，至少有一个人有足够高的道德品质，会在给简历添油加醋之前犹豫一下，哪怕只有一瞬间。其他所有人，从首席执行官到清洁女工，都会不假思索的这么去做。

董事，男，40岁

自抬身价

在公司内部，如果你需要一个头衔，那么说明你还没有重要到一定程度。人们应该仅仅通过你的名字，就能知道你是谁。在找工作时，根据你所做的事情来描述自己（而不是显摆你的头衔）。

匿名，男

升级

要求老板“提升”你的头衔，以更准确地反映你所做的工作。就说你目前的头衔让同事和外部股东感到困惑，让他们对自己在与什么人打交道产生误解，以为自己接触到的只是些更低级别的员工。在员工评估时用一种非对抗性的方式提出这一问题，强调这将对公司有利。

全球经理，男

恰恰相反

我的问题恰恰相反。我的头衔是“高级执行总监”(senior executive director)，但人们看到这样的头衔，就会认为，我是在银行营销部门工作的一个满脸青春痘的大学毕业生。

总监，男

下一个问题

我和同事们都认为，和我们一起工作的一位同事精神有问题。其中的细节离奇且繁杂，不能尽举，但可以说几个例子：在为贫困儿童募集衣服时，我们发现，这位同事提到他的地下室里满是小孩的衣服。而他曾经承认从未谈过恋爱。当我告诉他，我遇到一位穷追猛打的乞丐时，他说道：“你应该用我的刀把他手砍下来。”我害怕会发生一些不可思议的事情，如果警察问道：“有什么迹象吗？”我们会回答：“当然，太多了。”可是，我们要怎么做呢？把他告到人力资源部，说他疯了吗？

经理，男，34岁

译者/梁艳裳