How to Negotiate Your Job Title

How to Negotiate Your Job Title How to Negotiate Your Job Title Imagine you’ve been offered the job of your dreams. The salary is great, you can work from home, and you’ll be doing precisely what you’ve studied for all these years. The problem is, you don’t exactly love your soon-to-be job title. Thankfully, you don’t have to be stuck with a job title that is not a good fit for you- or your career. Once you have a job offer, the option to negotiate the terms of that offer, including the title, is there for you. Here’s how to negotiate your job title and make it “work” for you. How to negotiate your job title. Check with the company. Your first step in getting a better job title is to check in with the company itself. Find out if other employees have the same title and exactly what they do. If you discover that they are not doing what you will be doing, you can easily request to negotiate your job title and have it altered to better describe your actual duties. Research similar titles. If no one at your future job has the same title as you, look outside the company for inspiration. Do a little digging and find companies that are similar in nature to yours, as well as the employees and their job titles. If you can’t find specific job information on the company’s website, you can always research the company’s employees (and their job descriptions) through LinkedIn. From there, you will have a more accurate picture of the job responsibilities associated with the position, and youll be in a better position to negotiate your job title. Set up a meeting. Once you have enough info about the job title you have (and the one that you really want), set up a meeting with your soon-to-be boss. Explain that you don’t feel that your job title accurately reflects the type of work you’ll be doing or the amount of experience you already have in this field. Show him your research to back up your claims. But before you start to negotiate your job title, be sure to offer other job title options (have at least two to choose from) and highlight how these better depict what you’ll be doing. Be flexible. Sometimes, a job title change isn’t possible. Why? Companies have certain salary amounts tied to specific job titles, and altering your title could mean that you might have to be paid more- and the company may not have it in the budget to do so. That doesn’t mean that you won’t ever get the job title you want. Perhaps your boss can change certain job duties to fit your job title, or he might even be able to give you the title you want after a certain time period. A job title is one of the most important elements of a job. Not only does it identify who you are (and how important you are) in the company, but it also acts as a springboard when you begin looking for your next position. Starting out with an accurate job title will not only make you feel respected in your current position, but it will help if you look for another job in the future, too. Readers, have you ever tried to negotiate your job title? How did you do it? Were you successful? Let us know in the comments section below!