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It's All in the Job Title

It's All in the Job Title

It's All in the Job Title

(OP)
My employer put out a notice for a "Project Engineer" and the candidates we were getting were not matching the job functions that we posted.  We finally had to resort to using a Head Hunter, which informed us that we should have advertised for a "Design Engineer."

I've searched for an "official" list of job titles.  The closest thing I could find was at www.salary.com  Is there a website that I missed?

"But what... is it good for?"
Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
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RE: It's All in the Job Title

I have a feeling it's hopeless.  Even if the private sector agrees on a consistent titling system, government agencies will always make up their own very special way of doing things, which throws the whole system off.  We have not just one but two titles, one for the state classification system and one for our agency--or something like that.  I'm never sure which one I'm really supposed to use, but one of them says I'm a transportation engineer, which I'm not, so I use the other one.

To me "Project Engineer" kinda means project management, supervision, etc.--all aspects of the project.  "Design Engineer" means sitting at a desk doing design or supervising people like that directly.  Am I at all close to what either you or the headhunter thought?

Hg

RE: It's All in the Job Title

(OP)
You're closer to what the Head Hunter said.  The problem is our internal job titles.

Link correction: www.salary.com

"But what... is it good for?"
Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: It's All in the Job Title

Titles are meaningless outside of a company (and sometimes even inside a company). My entry level position was as a "Project Engineer". When I started work at a new company where I was a "Sr. Engineer". My next job was as a (Suspension) "Engineer" and later an "Engineering Analyst". When I hired on at my current employer I was a "Sr. Engineer" yet again and was promoted last year to, you guessed it, "Project Engineer". My current "Project Engineer" position is a supervisory, lead engineer position; my first crack at that title with my first employer, was not.

Best regards,

Matthew Ian Loew


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RE: It's All in the Job Title

I was an engineer until a number of restructures ago when it was decided that calling me a manager would result in a higher grading in the salary bands.  Couldn't figure out why it should make a difference, but apparently it did.  And on that kind of reasoning, who is going to argue?  Also, I supervise some staff, so that makes me a manager.  So I am no longer an engineer, despite the overwhelming engineering bias to what I do every day.

Bung
Life is non-linear...

RE: It's All in the Job Title

In our firm, when we prepare reports we each have a specific drop down menu that lets us select amongst a variety of titles depending on the application of the report.  We only put titles which reasonably reflect our background and knowledge, but it goes to show that the titles really don't mean much.  

The seal and signature, now those are invaluable.

Dave

RE: It's All in the Job Title

The title of "Engineer" can also have implications from state-to-state.  For example in Maryland, only a licensed professional engineer can be referred to as "Engineer", but in Virginia they aren't so strict.  We maneuver around the "Engineer" titling for projects in MD by mainly using the title "Designer", unless "Engineer" is specifically required, such as "Certifiying Engineer".

RE: It's All in the Job Title

Bung

You're so lucky. Since I got promoted to Manager I don't do any real engineering anymore.

My happy worklife is now spent doing much more interesting tasks - meaningless reports for accountants, regulators etc., trivial staff problems, resolving disputes between idiots, staff appraisals, more meaningless reports, financial analysis, meaningless reports .....

You get the picture.

Still, life is now so much more interesting, job satisfaction higher, and I go home at night content that I'm making a real contribution to society.

By the way, does this forum have a standardised font for sarcasm ???

RE: It's All in the Job Title

Hmmm .... how about ...

Still, life is now so much more interesting, job satisfaction higher, and I go home at night content that I'm making a real contribution to society.

from (the City of) Barrie, Ontario.

I tried sniffing Coke once, but the ice cubes got stuck in my nose

RE: It's All in the Job Title

In the industry that I work in, design engineers have their discipline in their job title, i.e Senior Mechanical Engineer, and seniority/responsibility seems to be established by the following "grades" of title: Graduate Engineer; Engineer; Senior Engineer; Lead Engineer; Principal Engineer.

Project engineers tend to be site based and are involved in non-design activities like procurement, scheduling and construction supervision.

RE: It's All in the Job Title

Most engineering departments generate job descriptions based on their requirements, then fit a 'title' to it based on a close industry standard and just give it to HR. This way you stand a chance of getting who you need.

The last Engineering temp HR got us turned out to be a
"Dynamic Operational Process Engineer"
best known for making "I.D. Ten T" errors

Keep the wheels on the ground
Bob
showshine@aol.com

RE: It's All in the Job Title

My company (which shall remain nameless)  is in the final stages of re-writting our labor classification requirements.  As currently written, a significant number of technical personnel's actual responsibilities don't match our labor classification guide,  and the titles are even less useful.  

We've hired a consultant to help guide us in developing new duties, responsibilities, grade levels, as well as titles.  The effort isn't final yet,  but one thing I've learned - there is no standard method!   

If it were up to me,  I'd try to base the positions on the "Engineer-I, Engineer-II"  type of categories used by the National Society of  Preofession Engineers,  among other groups.  

RE: It's All in the Job Title

And what is an engineer? A guy who runs a steam engine. Isn't he?

The titles have changed over years.

Putting Human Factor Back in Engineering

RE: It's All in the Job Title

(OP)
Update: We rewrote the job posting, and are now calling the position "project design engineer".  We'll post on Monster soon, and see where that leads.

"But what... is it good for?"
Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
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