Welcome back to another episode of the corporate Cowboys podcast my name is Alex as always your host and today’s fine episode being recorded on this is proof of life it’s Wednesday April 5 2023. now you don’t know what the form of this podcast is well every episode now we
Treat as a free 30 minutes consult Let’s Pretend for the sake of uh well this podcast that you don’t have a group of friends a circle of uh Associates heaps that you can go to and talk shop with right you could chop it up and just talk [ __ ] about corporate
About your next moves strategies to move up with career development that sort of thing and so well you see the writing on the wall pun intended and you consult with some corporate Cowboys some [ __ ] who do this on the regular right now of course me being the face and the voice though you
Probably never see my face me being the voice of the corporate Cowboys podcast you know that’s what we do so you walk into our office take a little Gander with your auditory canals take a listen listen into our conversation says office hours I guess when you were in
School or an open door policy if you are in corporate and you have a mentor that gives a [ __ ] I give a [ __ ] about you I care I genuinely want you to become a better professional to be able to negotiate your worth and make business better all around for
Everyone involved okay today’s question is coming from our slash career advice if you’re not familiar with Reddit we pull most of our questions up off of Reddit if you want a particular question answered something personal to your situation your context understand that this these episodes are just a tease they’re just a taster
Sure we do drop some of the templates and blueprint that we use when interviewing clients but every case is unique everyone’s circumstances are different right so for your particular case if you need help by all means reach out to us you’ll find us on Instagram that’s at
Corporates Cowboys with a z you can shoot us a DM on patreon there are a couple of tiers there and we do offer some question and answer um options and some of the higher tiers some of the upper level tiers and just keep in mind
When we when we have you write into us please try and be as thorough as possible yes I understand there is a sense of vulnerability that comes with opening up and letting someone else know what your problem is that you’re facing in corporate it’s
Difficult I get it it’s like why go to a therapist don’t think of us as a therapist this to me is therapy for me right it’s cathartic it allows me to apply practical knowledge things that I do day to day but it allows me to think out loud and strength tests
Ideas that I keep about corporate and strategies that I promote to my own clients right that being said none of what you hear across these episodes none of it should you take to be legal advice coming from me from Alex from any one of the corporate Cowboys
That you might interact with lest you’ve retained us personally professionally as your representative as as counsel don’t rely on anything that we say take it all with the grain of salt if the shoe fits nice be sure it’s laced up not too tight not too loose because you have
To do things moving when you’re in corporate as a corporate Cowboy you learn to run and Gun Shoot and move shoot and Scoot so they call it right so today’s question is coming from our slash career advice and they’re asking they’re asking I’ve changed this is a particular A
Peculiar question on my resume on my resume I change my previous job titles to popular names since I feel like it’s easier for people to understand my work experience is there any problem with that uh uh right off the bat I’m gonna say yes yes
Uh because and it and it does depend it always depends I mean we learned this coming up through law school and in practice it always depends right just um how significant a change it is that you’re moving your title right so if your title says one thing and you
Change it to something completely different like say you were entry level I’ll go really basic here say you’re say you’re an entry level associate somewhere right and uh you change your title when you apply to another job to something with a supervisor or a manager or some type of executive which you were
Not at essentially you’re giving yourself an elevated rank on paper on this application that might be a cause for problems unless unless you see there’s always some exceptions there’s always some exception to the rule unless you can justify it unless you can justify even then me personally personally professionally
I might shy away from changing job titles think of it this way it’s not for nothing that certain duties obligations come with certain job titles right so if you claim you were holding a job title at a company that sets the presumption that you’ve worked in that capacity and that you’re familiar with
Certain General duties and obligations that pertain that belong to that job title right now it I’m not sure what outright come up as fraud unless unless um you’re claiming to have held an executive job title something higher up something on the higher end of the food chain somebody important
And typically it’s going to be in the executive or the c-suite right where then your employment agreement and you want to beware I’m not telling you how to commit fraud because this could amount to fraud if you misrepresent any previous titles that you’ve held right and then the employment agreement
That you go to sign now has in there that you are actually representing and you are warranting like you’re you’re guaranteeing this [ __ ] under penalty of perjury that you held this job title at this certain Organization for this certain firm you’re familiar with those duties and those obligations
And that that is a basis for which your new employer is actually hiring you that’s an issue that’s an issue for you right now so long as your employment agreement doesn’t contain any of that and again this is why I implore you I insist I highly recommend
But you should not take as legal advice still I recommend in general this is just general advice General professional advice as a as a consummate professional which is something that we all should be striving to attain that state of consummate professionalism you should be reading what the [ __ ] it is you’re
Signing don’t have someone else dig the hole for you and then you bury yourself in it you ought to read what you’re signing negotiate where you can right so if you’re making your bed you ought to know what mattress you’re about to sleep on the Linens you’re selecting
The firmness or the softness of your pillow and then you have to sleep in that [ __ ] I mean not [ __ ] right but then you have to sleep in the bed that you make by signing your name on the dotted line you need to know what it is your son I need
To understand it again if you need help with that with analyzing your contracts analyzing your agreement we can help we do it on the regular for our clients in order to provide notes and strategies for negotiation new points that could be brought up opportunities to strengthen your agreements or soften them you can
Massage them too reach out to us I mean we do it on the regular so this question is asking is there any problem with that changing a job title to a popular name and it’s understandable that they’d want to go with a popular name if you’re submitting your resume through
A uh recruiting service or a database of some kind like uh LinkedIn or Monster or indeed right those platforms have algorithms that they run on resumes that are submitted four popular key words or key words that are actively being scouted out by potential employers potential employers will get
On these platforms and they’ll look for uh recruits and employee prospects by filtering down through those keywords say they’re looking for a a part-time office assistant right and it works similar to a hashtag if they’re looking for a part-time office assistant it’s as if they have all of the database
Of resumes uploaded onto indeed that they could just control F Ctrl f for part-time office assistant and any resumes that have been uploaded with those keywords either part-time office assistant or just office assistant will come up for them so now on the applicant’s side it only makes sense that you distill down
Certain job titles that might be overly complicated say um your job title because for a while I think this was like early no maybe like a little bit between the late 2000s and like early 2010s there was like a fad of like uh naming job titles with really fun just cartoonish names really
And uh I mean you had a superstar marketer right when really when you’re working is just the marketing department or you had a uh kitchen ninja or just comically cartoonish ridiculous names for that right so um I guess if one with the really basic example imagine
Uh and I don’t know why you’d be applying through Linkedin for this but um you have experience in the kitchen as well as doing prep work which is just preparing food for whatever shifts you’re on or preparing your workstation for the busiest times of a restaurant which I guess in the
Industry is called The Rush right and you have a dishwashing experience obviously I think a lot of entry-level Food Service workers the pickup plenty of dishwashing and knife experience or maybe that was just me but I did start out in food service and I’m well aware
That dishes Never End right so if you have that experience kudos so then imagine imagine if you will that uh the place you work at is like an uppity gentrifying hipster restaurant right and they name the job title for just the dishwasher just working in the dish station as a underwater
Ceramic maintenance specialist right because you’re working with ceramic dishware uh and you’re obviously submerging them under water and you’re maintaining their condition and you’re [ __ ] specializing it because it’s what you do right suppose it’s a high occupancy high volume restaurant a lot of uh a lot of turnover on the a lot of
Conversion as far as tables seated and guests served so this title becomes the title you you take on right now is that something you want to put on on your resume if nobody like no other employer is looking for an underwater Ceramics maintenance specialist if they’re if they’re control effing
Only for dishwasher you think underwater Ceramics maintenance specialist is going to show up no no so if the job title name is overly technical right or just overly verbose is the name too wordy right it’s just [ __ ] drawn out when it could be simplified and made basic
By what it is you actually do on the job right then just use the job title of what you actually do on the job you were a dishwasher you wash dishes now how you then choose to sell the fact that you were a dishwasher I mean that if you’re familiar with the
Structure of resumes I mean you could list that in the bullet points underneath that employment position that you held you could say oh I I specialized in the underwater maintenance of ceramics right that’s how you would get the points across in an interview now this is a very extreme example it’s
Borderline a joke I get it but it’s just for the sake of having an example of providing you The Listener with an example so the question I presume is asking something similar let’s read through the body they ask one example is I worked at a company where I had the job title
I t Solutions engineer slash analyst that’s in quotes quote i t Solutions engineer slash analyst and my assumption is that most people probably wouldn’t understand what that job title means okay you see so we’re off to a good start they are consciously aware that their own job title may be overly technical for
A hiring manager or an interviewer to really understand what it is that they do some of those words they could probably include in the bullet points underneath that employment position right so if they want to just start with a it engineer or or just analyst right if that’s all the employer is looking
For if they’re controlling for analysts only and Alex’s name pops up because well hey they had a they were an analyst at this one company here they’re they see the job title analyst they read through the bullet points oh okay so now we know what type of analyst they
Provided I.T solutions for the c-suite let’s say so they know that I’ve had access I’ve had the clearance and the capacity to work with Executives on it Solutions providing analysis interpretation projections reports what not however I choose to inform that job role right but the title the title
Is the first way that you get their attention because it’s the job title that they are looking for that they’re filtering for and searching for you think they’re gonna jump on LinkedIn and type in exactly that what’s in quotes I’m looking for let’s see I’m looking for an I.T Solutions engineer slash analyst
I mean chances are slim very exceedingly increasingly slim that that’s exactly the job title they’re looking for that they’re looking for a person to fit exactly that job title more than likely they’re looking for an engineer an I.T engineer computer networks engineer computer network analyst right so you could
You could finesse the job title but you cannot finesse the duties I mean you’ve got to list the duties that you uh that you actually handled the tasks that you actually completed and the skills that you derived from having worked in that position but then that’s how you justify the new
Job title the actual job title you’re applying for that you’re interviewing for right you want your previous experience this is just straightforward interview strategy you want to uh have the skills and experience from your previous employment translates and fit into this new employment position that you’re applying for
All right so this question continues they’re right they say my assumption is most people probably wouldn’t understand what the job title means okay however on my resume I changed my job title to just quote software developer okay well that might be problematic right as a software developer you should have
Uh I guess it just comes to mind right if I’m hiring for and interviewing applicants for a software developer position that I’m then I’m looking for someone who’s got low-key extensive background knowledge and experience in coding right an actual software development right but that’s only because okay now
The the caveat to that it’s only because I don’t know exactly the experience and skills needed for that first quote I.T Solutions engineer slash analyst right I mean if they’re engineering I.T Solutions does that or does that not sound like they’re working on code putting applications together for a
Company Mainframe they could be doing that we just don’t know and so we read we would read a little further into their resume and into those bullet points after the job title of what it is exactly what duties they undertook the successes they had and whatnot right
So they say sense since my manager told me my role is to be a software developer like a hundred times and just wanted me to do projects related to coding ah okay there you go so you’ve got the experience you’ve we don’t know much about the education right our
Hypothetical client here isn’t letting us know that that’s that’s exactly what they went to school for I mean they could have picked this up on the job right they could have applied for the I.T Solutions engineer slash analyst position as an entry-level engineer analyst and their manager was like well you’re
Going to learn how to code on the job and now they’ve got this experience in coding without ever having gone to school and gotten certifications and before you know it they’re just a journeyman software developer and you can still make a lot of money just got to know and and what areas your
Skill transfers to you’ve got to learn how to interview for the positions you want how to sell how to hustle the skills you possess and convert them into the compensation you want that’s in corporate Cowboy [ __ ] that’s some that requires more higher level thinking critical thinking strategy logic tact
For that you can come to us I mean if you don’t have a circle like I said in the beginning if you don’t have a circle of Associates you can talk and discuss these topics you can come to us we would have loved to help if we enjoy talking about this
So one of our favorite topics after extracurricular extra legal activities because to some extent I mean it requires varying degrees of ethics that border on the questionable but hey that’s corporate and corporate is cutthroat business is war it’s one of one of the overarching themes of this
Podcast and this episode is no different so they say since my manager told me my role is to be a software developer like a hundred times and just wanted me to do projects related to coding also I feel like if a recruiter sees software developer I see now they’re thinking now
They’re thinking I feel like if a recruiter sees software developer then it’s a lot more clear to them about what I did nice nice see they’re already thinking for the recruiter and that’s good that’s good that means you rely on the recruit the recruiters heuristics mental shortcuts where if they see software
Developer on your resume their mind is already already becomes informed with what a software developer does right where if a recruiter’s eyes were to see oh it Solutions engineer slash analyst I mean is it going to immediately give them an idea of what it is you do no no
I would venture to say no but a software developer yes last paragraph they write if my previous job title is already a popular name I don’t change it though for example my first job I had was data entry I just leave the title quote data entry because I feel like pretty much everyone
Knows what that means I feel like everyone pretty much knows what that type of job is and they end it there so I don’t I feel like the hypothetical client here answered the wrong question if whether or not there’s a problem with this if they’re already thinking ahead to
What the recruiter sees then they must already be thinking ahead and they see maybe I’m jumping to conclusions but it’s a logical conclusion I’m making a very reasonable inference here that if the hypothetical clients is thinking about what the recruiter reads in order to go out and seek prospective jobs to uh forward
This candidate’s resume to if they are mindful of what the recruiter reads then they’re gonna also keep in mind what the interview were with the hiring manager what the executive at at the the prospective place of employment will be reading also and that’s going to be something understandable something that
Causes them to continue reading through the resume something that hooks their attention something that they’re already familiar with or may be familiar with that causes them to inform Those words through mental shortcuts and software developer quote a software developer just does that it triggers more mental shortcuts as to oh what a software development a software developer does versus well what the [ __ ] doesn’t it Solutions engineer slash analysts do right it’s it’s overly technical when engineering and analyzing you could include
Under software developer right pretty much pretty much that first job title is what a software developer does they engineer and analyze it Solutions but I totally get that some folks might advise you not do this and and would recommend you don’t do it professionally it depends on the context right
If you’re outright lying about the position that like the position in a company that you held because there is a difference between title and position right if you are claiming you held the leadership position some type of leadership role regardless of what your title is because it could always be explained and
Contextualized through the bullet points right by actually outlining and describing the job duties you had the obligations you kept with the company The Firm wherever you were now if you’re just outright lying and saying oh I was a vice president of marketing at one at one spot when really
All you got is entry level experience in it you don’t know the first thing about tracking metrics and inventory and actually managing an apartment then that’s that what amount to like I said earlier prod misrepresenting that material fact which is something they The Firm could be relying on believing that you have that
Experience and then hiring you on and what discovering you don’t have it oh you were just desperate for this job so you felt you had to tweak the job title that’s not tweaking I mean you [ __ ] tweaking if you think it’s insignificant that’s outright fraud and you could open
Yourself up it’s a liability civil liability that can come after you in a lawsuit right you don’t even have the job yet you might not have gotten the first the first paycheck yet and they’re already suing your ass for a contract you negotiated poorly don’t do that to yourself
Be a consummate professional always right it’s a fine line but that’s corporate and incorporate it’s all about balance and walking Fine Lines to get productivity to get benefits to create value it’s actual value creation not just value added not just not just tacking on a number but you’re distilling what you know
And transferring it translating it transposing it over a new job that you know your previous skill knowledge and experience will help you win otherwise not only are you selling literally yourself short you’re overestimating you’re overestimating your capabilities and uh putting putting future Professionals in a tight position because of a
Wrong choice a bad choice you chose to make but bad choice you made there you go have yourselves a good one catch you on the next one
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