Job Designations, Titles Et al

Evangelist, Chief XYZ, Consultants of all Hues, Architects coming in different shapes and sizes, a variety of Managers, and many more....Business Cards and Linkedin Profiles scream out all these different job designations at you. Some sound weighty, some normal, and some confusing.

Job Designations are definitely one HR tool used by Organizations/companies to attract new talent and to appease what exists within. There is definitely nothing wrong with that. It is just that sometimes a cursory look at some job titles/designations without further probing into what the role entails, leaves you with that little doubt about what exactly is the job all about. Have listed below some such designations that I have seen (just some examples I have seen).

(i)"Product Manager":- I have seen it to mean different things as listed below in different companies
--> Shortening of "Product Marketing Manager", and essentially a member of the Marketing Team in a Product company
--> A Role wherein the person interfaces with the Sales Team, Customers, and In-house Production/Engineering teams, to help design the roadmap of the product evolution/development such that it is in line with demands and requirements of the market/customers. In many companies, this role could also involve some form of targets for the sales revenue for the product
--> Full-fledged Sales roles with sales quotas/revenue targets in Product companies, to go out into the field and hunt for new customers
--> Technical Project Management roles in the Engineering/production department of some product companies

(ii)"Consultants" :-)....If dealt in detail, this could fill up a page or two.
--> The ever revered and coveted Management Consultant positions with the Mckinseys etc of the world, who play in the big league
--> The technical experts (IT Consultants) who actually deploy IT systems like SAP etc across industries
--> In many IT companies, a Pre-Sales role which entails technology or industry domain knowledge, is also a designated as a Consultant
--> Of course you have the HR Consultant, Financial Consultant etc, going all the way to Lifestyle consultants etc

(iii)"Architects"...Let alone, the one who helps design homes and buildings, but it could mean any of the following too:-
--> In a Software product company it could mean a person who handles the software architecture/design of a product (or products). He could be known as a Product Architect
--> In the same product company, you could have the same person (or another person) as a Solution architect i.e. one who actually helps design the implementation of a customized version of the product for each customer
---> In some IT services companies, a very Senior Software Designer or a Technical Pre-Sales Personnel, also has a designation as Architect

(iv)"Director":- In many companies, middle management roles have job titles which contain the word "Director". Of course, it is different from a person who is a Director on account of being on the Board of a Company

(v)"Business Development Manager" in the IT industry
--> The Full-fledged Sales role with sales quotas, to go get new business from existing or new customers
--> In some companies, Managers of Pre-Sales teams which help the Sales personnel with Demos and Proposal making, also have this designation (Well, essentially both Sales and Pre-Sales make up Business Development, and so this is correct. Just that job applicant should be aware that the designation could mean either one of the two).

(vi)"Associate Vice Presidents (AVPs)"/"Deputy General Managers (DGMs)"....Note: - Whatever I have written below is mostly based on what I have heard people say, and could most definitely be also be due to these people (at least some) suffering from a case of "sour grapes" :-)
--> AVPs in the Banking and Financial Services industry - Many people claim that this designation is bestowed on people in this industry much earlier in their careers, as compared to in other industries
--> Have seen a Privately owned Telecom company in the APAC region to have more DGMs than in Public Sector Banks in India. While you could easily meet with DGMs in that telecom company, the DGMs in the Public Sector Banks are virtually out of reach on account of their seniority

Sometimes the business environment in which a company operates (e.g. when it comes to what will go well with customers) and what stage of growth the company is in, also decides what designations need to be given to each role within the company. This leads to the same job designation meaning different things in 2 different industries, and sometimes in 2 different companies in the same industry.

Like I said at the beginning, there is nothing wrong in all this. It just adds to the colour of the working world. Having said that, job aspirants need to be aware of this phenomenon and should do the required research on what exactly the role entails irrespective of the job title/designations. Also, recruiters should use this awareness to evaluate resumes in greater detail, irrespective of what job titles are listed by candidates/applicants for any job position.