I work in an environment where I wear so many hats, my original job title has become obsolete. Internally, a title really means nothing as we are all “utility players”, i.e. a baseball term meaning we can all play any position.
As such, what title holds the most clout for a resume?
a) Applications Engineer
b) Process Engineer
c) Product Process Engineer
d) Product Analyst
e) Product Specialist
f) Product Coordinator
g) System Engineer
h) Chief Cook and Bottlewasher
I kinda like “c”, but I don’t know how widely known is such a title. Would a job hunter be searching on such a keyterm, for one? Choice “h” says it best!
Former HR person here. If you really are knowledgeable and skilled in all those areas, I’d say tailor each resume depending on the job you want. Although I don’t have a lot of experience with technical jobs such as yours, “Systems Engineer” sounds like you’re responsible for an entire project, or more. Where I worked, “Project Coordinator” was a very vague description in the technical fields; could mean anything from secretarial to supervisor to administrator – “coordinator” was sort of catch-all word. Of course, if you were applying for a job titled Project Coordinator, and you knew the requirements, then use that title, but then you’d flesh it out in the experience section. Having experience in all those areas is a plus; emphasize or de-emphasize depending on what you’re going for.
Me again. Sorry, I just re-read your OP, and you’re looking for the most prestigious title. Systems Engineer would be number one for me; but re-reading the list, they all sound like very different jobs, and I reiterate as above – tailor the resume to the specific job. I would forget about “Project Coordinator,” unless that was the actual job title. Project Process Engineer??? I don’t know what that means; unless these titles are standard within your industry/company, try to be clear about what it is your are and what you’re looking for. You could also use working titles; that is, if your official title is Chief Cook and Bottle Washer, put that down, but in parentheses add (working title: Head Chef).
Not to be contrary, but the vagueness of it is what turns me off. Sounds like you don’t really do anything. IMHO, “engineer” trumps all the others, tailor it how you will per Sycorax’s suggestion. I like “Applications Engineer” best.
From your list, I would choose A or G…the rest all sound sort of fake - like a fancy title for someone who really does nothing more than file papers and type the occasional memo.
And titles rarely impress people - those who hire know the keywords and they are far more interested in what you know than what your title is.
I understand what you’re saying about picking a title, tailoring a resume, etc., etc. Most of time, titles are helpful. In my case, titles are limiting. “Team Player” would be best. In a matrix management structure, one person CAN be asked to do it all. On any given day, you could be supporting all kinds of work (in or outside of your sphere of influence) across various product lines.
Actually, the job title in the OP said “*Product * Process Engineer”. I have seen this title used within job listings of some companies. It really says it all for me, but like your post confirms, I fear it is not widely known. It is one who handles everything product related (mostly involved in working through the internal issues) from start to finish.
So you’re planning to use “Team Player” as a job title? That tells me nothing. If the hiring company has an HR department, your resume is going to be scanned for key words (as you say); team player is unusual enough that it might get a second glance, but most HR folks don’t get into the nitty-gritty of the resume unless the title, key word, or something jumps out at them. HR people have mountains of paperwork to get through; they don’t send every resume they get to the hiring department. They have to eliminate those that don’t meet the minimum qualifications. Then they cull the mountain down to, say, 30 possibilities; then they read a little deeper into those, cull again down to, say, 10 possibilities, and then send them on to the hiring department. Don’t make the HR person dig for the relevant information because they aren’t going to dig down very far. If you’re planning to cover even just the major responsibilities of all those titles, that’s going to be a very long resume. Okay, so let’s say you can do it all. I suspect there are one or two things that you PREFER to do – that you may be better at and enjoy more than the others. Focus on those.
The only title you should be considering is Artifex! (reference to Neal Stephenson’s book “The Diamond Age - A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer”, great book, won lots of prestigious prizes, any oxygen breathing creature should read it)
Or, if Artifex is a bit too obscure a word for the uneducated recruiters, perhaps Software Architect. From your list, I like System engineer the most).
**This applies to anything previously said that contradicts my above statements. *
