How do I figure out my job title? Help please!

Hi elphas,

I'm at a cross-roads in my career and not sure how to find a new position. I'm in my early 30s and have had many, many different roles in different industries up to this point. Unfortunately none of them have really stuck for various reasons and I'm now trying to hone in on what I want, and what I'm good at to find a position that I can grow in for at least a few years. Because none of my past titles line up very easily, I've been noting the skills I have and what I enjoy doing. I've narrowed it down to this:

I'm good at strategy. I can build a successful business, product, idea, or event from virtually nothing. I like collaboration. I need flexiblity, and I'm good at testing out different options to see what works and what doesn't to then build better from there.

Can anyone tell me what job this is? How do I search for open positions that align with this? Help!!

Iynna·Aug 07

A jacks of all trades! I love it :) From reading your description, i think you might be good at the early stages of something when things need to still be figured (it doesn't have to be an early company, it could be a fairly estalished organisation but trying to build a new product/division/programme) and you could have that at a tech company, more traditional organisation in traditional industry, nonprofit, an accelerator etc etc. So i'd focus on the content of the JD and what the company is all about / vision (from the JD) instead of the title per se.That said, if you want some leads for titles you could look at things like "Programme Director", "Programme Manager", "General Manager", "Head of Growth & Strategy" "Chief of Staff" as initial ideas but again remember that context matters so all these roles will mean different things across orgs.

TheresaB·Aug 07

Thank you! I've been looking at product management so far and that seems to be promising, I'll look into your suggestions as well!

Iynna·Aug 07

Yes PM is great but as I've mentioned it will vastly depend on the company and the product!

AndreaYMacek·Aug 07

@TheresaB, first, I want you to know that feeling this way and being at a cross roads at this phase of your career is absolutely normal. You've tested the waters, and as you've shared here, you have a information about you want, what you like, what you're good at and what you need, that's awesome. 1. Shift your focus to solutions and what you can do for them, i.e. the employer. For example, you like collaboration -how does that skill support results you create? How does that support the employer/person you want to hire you? 2. Once you have more clarity on the "what" then you can use AI tools to help you identify the "container" for the what you do and ask it to help you identify titles. You wan to make sure that you're aiming your energy and effort at titles and roles that will be a fit for you. Feel free to reach out if I can clarify. I have a few resources I can share with you as well.

TheresaB·Aug 07

@AndreaYMacek thank you so much, this is helpful! Do you have any specific AI tools that you use? I'm going to keep brainstorming my "what"

AndreaYMacek·Aug 08

You're most welcome! Yes, I really like perplexity and chatgpt is great too. A few things to keep in mind: You're the expert about yourself. These tools can offer insight, but make sure you "gut check" that with yourself before you take action on any "feedback" these tools give you. I know we connected on LinkedIn as well -I'm going to send you a DM there with a few free tools that I offer to help guide you.

alexaplunk·Aug 09

@TheresaB - I am right there with you. In my roughly 8 years of professional experience I have worked in B2B sales in the tech industry, account management in the oil\gas industry, now I am a paralegal at a law firm (sort of just happened, was never going to be long term). Once I was ready to leave my current role, it took me an extremely long time to figure out how to even look for another job because I didn't know what to type in to search for! Even now I am having a hard time with my search because while reading job postings I'll know that based on my skills and experience I would be able to do certain jobs really well, but I will not be taken seriously or even considered because I do not have 3-5 years of experience in that specific role (e.g., marketing roles for me).After literally a full year of "job searching" but getting nowhere because I did not know how to search for what to do next since I had done such random jobs, I finally decided to work with a career coach to help guide me through getting clarity on what I wanted and to help me get started on job searching the right way. I wish I had not waited so long to work with one, but it was really helpful for me to finally move forward. I'm happy to share the contact info of the coach I worked with (she is great, I do highly recommend if you are interested), but that's not the main reason why I responded. I responded to say I know how it is, and it is really difficult! I believe it is way more difficult than being specialized. My husband is a CPA, my dad is an architect, my brother is a physical therapist, my sister is a lawyer, then there is me... It is hard for others to really understand why job searching is so difficult (besides this crazy market, don't get me started). I also want to warn you while you are in this phase to start thinking\writing down of all of your big moments and achievements at all the various roles to see how you can spin them to show skills that can be used in other types of roles. This was\has been the hardest part for me but it will be helpful for you when it comes time to interview or when it comes to updating your resume.Good luck on your journey and feel free to reach out if you decide on a title and I am happy to see where I can help. Also feel free to reach out if you ever just want to vent about the struggles of being a jack of all trades or this ~rough~ job market.

Iynna·Aug 12

these are such great advice, thanks for sharing your story! It goes to show how strategic and intentional one has to be with these things.

SusanGoodwin·Aug 30

I can totally relate, thanks for posting! I was about to write a post just like this one! I'm having the same struggle. I have so many skills but I have no idea how to package them into a role I can actually apply for. I've been looking at junior front end developer roles and web designer roles, but they're all so different (like all the front end dev roles have diff languages, and programs they list) and those job titles are so broad it's not really helpful. I'm also finding it tough to find a true entry level role. My last role was at a small web development agency that mostly specialized in WP sites and some drag and drop platforms like Squarespace & Showit. I learned a lot and gained lots of skills, but I'm not sure how many are relevant to jobs at other larger companies. @alexaplunk How did you find your career coach?

alexaplunk·Sep 07

After enough Googling and seeing things on LinkedIn, I found someone that I thought seemed like they really knew what they were talking about. I work with Angela Lau - https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelajlau/ and she is great! She's very knowledgeable and helpful. She has been very (politely) honest with me, especially at times when I was making excuses on things or when I was struggling to move myself forward, which has also been very helpful for me.