Job Titles

I find myself in a similar position at the moment. I am an IT trainer in a department of 1, ie me. I write the courses, schedule them, invite people along, run the courses, write the manuals, collect feedback at the end, do training needs analysis etc. Yet even with doing all this I have been given the title of Training Coordinator. I feel that I am actually performing a job that is slightly more than this, and to make matters worse there is someone in the company with the title of Training Manager. She is in a different department and her job role is to arrange training for the people in the department that she is in. That's it! I have to think that somewhere along the line someone got the 2 of us confused.
All I can suggest is perhaps do as I do - in every training meeting I have with our big IT manager I point out to him that I'm unhappy with my title as it does not reflect my job or my skills and I would like it changed. Nothing's happened yet, but you never know, one day he might just get sick of me going on in every meeting and change it just to shup me up!
All you do is try and explain to them why you're unhappy about the title and hope they listen!
Good Luck

Lots of things happen in life that seem unfair. Its futile and frustrating to try and understand them all. And if you express your frustration you can come off sounding like a whiner.

The thing to focus on are - are YOU getting credit for the jobyou are doing, are you being adequately compensated, do you get the training you need, and is your career development agreed with your boss.

If you are getting all these things, don't worry about what someone else is called.
In my experience I've been a junior title in a lot of senior meetings, and they respect competance and performance over titles.

We all know that sometimes titles are bones that get thrown to employees from time to time.

Now if your boss considers you equals in competancy and doesn't understand the scope of your job, you'd better work on that.

James

An interesting article on that subject:

http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayCareers.pl?990524titles.htm

Salary scales & titles:

http://www.infoworld.com/careers/comp_job.html

How do titles relate to the duties of the position? See this link:

http://www.stepfour.com/jobs/

(REMOVE SPACES from the pasted URLs.)

My personal opinion is this. A title is less important than other things. The impact one has on the company’s overall mission is more important. The rewards (salary and bonus) one receives for that impact is more important. The sense of accomplishment one feels is more important. The steady movement towards the accomplishment of one’s goals is more important.

In the end, people aren’t really judged by their title, but rather by the things he or she does for others and/or the things he or she is able to accomplish.

Disclaimer: I realize that in many large firms, titles and “pecking order” are an important part of the social and business structure, and I must admit that I’m not looking at this issue from that perspective. If I were in your shoes, perhaps I‘d see it differently. But I’ve always subscribed to the notion that one’s performance always trumps his or her title. That’s another reason I tend to migrate towards smaller (or my own) companies.

I will say this, however. A good time to discuss this issue is not when you’re “upset” about it, but rather during a performance review. Prepare yourself by looking at your responsibilities, and how they differ from others. If you have strengths or special talents that you contribute (or would like to develop), think about a title that would reflect that. If yourboss dismisses the idea, explain why it’s important. Don’t be afraid to say you need an acknowledgement of the contributions you are making now, so that it ties in to y