Mystery Woman

Tell us more for better jobs, advice
and connections

YOUR GROUPS

Discover and join groups with like-minded women who share your interests, profession, and lifestyle.

COMPANIES YOU FOLLOW

Get alerted when there are new employee reviews.

YOUR JOB ALERTS

Get notified when new jobs are posted.

Your post is published!

Shanthi Collooru

Graphic/Product Designer in Alpharetta, GA

05/04/20 at 9:45PM UTC

Career

Question about resume writing and title

If I am applying to a job I know I should change my title on there to match the job posting, but can I still say 'I am a Graphic and Web Designer with 5+ years in the graphic design field looking to transition into .... [the job title].'

Join the conversation...

Joanna Giordano

347

HBO HR experience. Resume/Job & Health coach.

05/15/20 at 9:25PM UTC

DIFFERENT OPINION! lol Titles are internal speak. As long as you are not making stuff up, rephrase the title to something that makes sense externally. If your company is cute and calls it a Customer Service Ninja, then please do NOT expect that to track anywhere else. Just change it. If you are feeling boxed in by your title, then try adding some context by putting the dept name next to the title too. Either the official Dept name or a paraphrase that (truthfully) gets the idea across in a way that an external person would understand. Reviewers aren't mindreaders and they don't have your shared experience, so you have to make things easy FOR THEM. I hope that helps!

katieHwaldron

Plucky comms professional looking to meet ppl!

05/12/20 at 3:27PM UTC

I would list what you are currently titled as but like others have said add the part about how you're looking to transition in your objective statement/top summary. Also, if you can add some context to this via the text in the email (if you are emailing the application or if there's an online text box to do so in the digital form).

Krista Coutts

336

Marketing Professional, Cross-Functional Leader

05/11/20 at 9:39PM UTC

Lots of great advice about how to customize your resume and profile for each job opportunity! Fairygodboss has a great number of suggestions!

Lynne Cogan

858

Career Coach for Realizing Professional Dreams

05/11/20 at 5:39PM UTC

Shanthi, The best way that I've found to handle your question is: List the real job title. Then, in parenthesis, put the title that applies to the job you're applying for providing you actually did that type of work at that position. For instance: Graphic and Web Designer (Graphics for Marketing Department) If you are looking to transition into marketing or whatever is accurate. If you are moving into a field that you have not done before, you have to take the time to rebrand yourself. Learn to think of yourself and what you have done from the perspective of your new field. Rewrite your LinkedIn profile. Take courses; get a certification. Mass Open Online Courses (MOOC) are free or low fee. Join online groups, professional/industry associations. Actively metamorphize into who you want to become. And others will start to see you from that perspective. But don't forget where you are coming from. That very well could be a big part of the uniqueness you offer to an employer--the uniqueness that helps you make a powerful contribution to the organization.

Shanthi Collooru

Graphic/Product Designer in Alpharetta, GA

05/17/20 at 1:33AM UTC (Edited)

I really appreciate all this advice. I am a graphic and web designer and even though I know how to rebrand others and their company I have always had trouble with rebranding myself and showing potential employers why I would be the perfect fit for their company. Thank you for all that. I'll look into those classes.

Lynne Cogan

858

Career Coach for Realizing Professional Dreams

05/14/20 at 9:38AM UTC

You're very welcome.

Allyson Drucker

Writer, teacher, researcher eager to relocate

05/11/20 at 4:47PM UTC

Thank you all for this advice, and thank you to Shanthi for asking!! I have been trying to rewrite my resume with ATS systems in mind. I have been looking for work for almost a year now. It has become clear that I don't stand out on paper!! It seems like I get a good response when my resume does make it to the right person, but I don't think it gets that far very often. I recently told myself to take a step back, think about what's there, think about what ATS algorithms are looking for, and regroup from there. So this conversation is very helpful and thank you all, again! PS - I'm glad to see a few recommendations for jobscan. Are there any other tools like this out there worth checking out?

Lynne Cogan

858

Career Coach for Realizing Professional Dreams

05/11/20 at 5:30PM UTC

You can apply online. You can do your best to speak to the job requirements for the specific position. However, you can switch your questions to: Other than applying online, what options are there for finding work? Would any of them help me get a job more easily than applying online? The point is: Only a small percentage of jobs have been posted on job sites; most positions are filled before that point. And many jobs that are posted already have an in-house person who is the front runner for the job, Then why post? There are a number of reasons. One major reason is that the federal government requires all businesses that contract with it to post jobs publicly. (Another career coach mentioned that in order to keep the number of applicants down, many companies will only be posting jobs on their own sites. Therefore, there may be even fewer jobs posted on Indeed, etc.) Job sites and company job pages are great for helping you see who is hiring and what the requirements for the type of position you are seeking are. And it is not the best, easiest or fastest way to get a job. Networking is. It is a little more complicated than that. For instance, you don't want to send a spam email to everyone you know saying that you are looking for a job, here's my resume, do you know of an open position?

Allyson Drucker

Writer, teacher, researcher eager to relocate

05/11/20 at 5:54PM UTC

Hi Lynne, Thank you so much for this. I appreciate it - your advice to shift my thinking and questions is great!! Thank you again. I can tell that the more things become virtual, the less effective the virtual world becomes; it is overwhelmed, superfluous, and, as you've said, postings are often simply nominal. So, then networking remains key, possibly now more than ever. As we increasingly shift into a remote/WFH world, one in which we can't (for one example) have coffee with a connection and chat about openings at their company, what are the new/best networking practices today?

Lynne Cogan

858

Career Coach for Realizing Professional Dreams

05/11/20 at 9:32PM UTC (Edited)

You're welcome. People are having virtual coffees on Zoom and elsewhere. The virtual world is what we make of it.

Tami Cannizzaro

176

05/11/20 at 3:18PM UTC

Hi! In case you're interested in one more POV: As a career coach, I don't advise clients to copy the exact job title to match the posting. UNLESS, of course, that matches your actual experience. In some cases, I would go so far as to say, matches your "recent" experience, because experience from 15 years ago or more is pretty much considered obsolete. There are other ways to meet SEO requirements within the body of your resume to pass ATS algorithms. Such as bullets with quantifiable results, showing what you did for the company.

Flossy

1.98k

Client Solutions Consultant

05/11/20 at 12:56PM UTC

It depends.. How big is this company you are applying for and is it likely they have an ATS system? I’m more with others that have you putt I got their title in a summary of what you seek and keywords into your job description. Write a specific cover letter to build the bridge. It is okay to change your title when it really doesn’t line up with your function. I had a that didn’t represent accurately my responsibility level . I changed it to a more generic title in order not to be considered over qualified. Look applying for jobs is a system of trying things like prospecting new business. Try it both ways? Sadly, the chances of either blind submissions getting selected to be considered are slim.

Melanie

585

HR Leader giving my own two cents to help women.

05/05/20 at 4:43AM UTC

I would put their job title in your objective or summary so if they use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to search for key words. I’m not a fan of altering your actual job title to fit a posting.. If you get the job and they run a background check and your job title doesn’t match this could be considered as falsification of your application and they could rescind the offer. Let your accomplishments and job duties speak for themselves. Jobscan is a great tool to check if your resume matches the posting. If you are around at least 80% match is what you want. Good luck!

Tanika (Nika) Vasquez - (she/her)

655

Dynamic, forward-thinking business professional

05/05/20 at 1:05AM UTC

I would use jobscan.co to tailor your resume to the job: https://www.jobscan.co/register I would also consider creating an online portfolio of your work and place a link on your resume.

Shanthi Collooru

Graphic/Product Designer in Alpharetta, GA

05/14/20 at 5:01AM UTC

Thanks for the advice but I have done all of this already.

LEANNE TOBIAS

4.05k

Investment real estate/sustainability

05/05/20 at 12:43AM UTC

Yes, you can put this at the top of your resume for that job as an objective or a summary. Question: is the graphic design aspect of your background the emphasis? If so, you might want to add something more about your graphic design skills in the objective or summary section.

Shelby C

1.9k

Creative Consultant-Sales & Marketing-Writer

05/11/20 at 3:12PM UTC

I was in HR for years and I used to write resumes professionally. This is the right way to do it. You don't want to mislead a potential employer because it could be grounds for termination later.