Why You Shouldn't Use Job Titles to Drive Your Expat Career Choices or International Job Search

If you have a 40 hour work week, you are spending about a third of your waking hours in your job.

It would follow that job fit and satisfaction have an incredible impact on your quality of life. And if you are moving country to pursue work abroad, the impact your career choices can have on your and your family's quality of life is even more significant. 

The Impact of Poor International Job Search Targets

Despite these facts many people seem to place little importance and/or spend little time identifying best fit roles, environments, cultures and organizations to guide their international job search. The search can often start with identifying a two to three word target job title based on past work experiences, skills and interests. Then a set of possible target countries based on their lifestyle appeal or current reputation for available job opportunities. With possible industries or sectors selected, many feel equipped to start applying for jobs once their CV, resume or bio is updated.

But given the variety of job descriptions that can be associated with a single job title - especially when looking across industries, cultures and organizations - job titles can have limited value when it comes to defining international job search goals that will take someone where they could truly thrive professionally. And yet they still seem to be the first step and play a leading role in many people's pursuit of jobs overseas.

Not taking the time to clarify best fit roles, cultures and work environments can lead to international job search failure. A person may never succeed in getting interviews or job offers because they unknowingly continue to pursue poor fit roles, cultures and/or organizations and end up never beating out the better suited competition. They may stick with career marketing materials (CV, resume, bio) developed for a generic job title that fails to position them as a unique, compelling candidate for both best fit and poor fit jobs. Or if a person does find work abroad by targeting roles with a particular job title, they'll likely find it hard to understand what is wrong if they end up being unhappy or struggle to perform in a poor fit role.

Personally I believe the worldwide epidemic of unhappiness at work is a result of millions of people in poor fit jobs - which is a result of people not having profiles of best fit jobs and environments to guide their choices.

Whatever the case, the end result of conducting an international job search without clear portraits of best fit roles, environments and cultures can be a frustated, stuck and very unhappy current or aspiring expat.

 

Why Job Titles Can’t Help

On first glance, using a two to three word job title as the target for your international job search may seem like the most simple, efficient and effective way of getting started. I mean, why complicate things? The international job search is hard enough as it is. Finding opportunities to work abroad takes time. So it would be important to just pick a job that seems like a good fit based on past experience, update the CV or resume to position myself for that job title and get out there as soon as possible, right?

I'm afraid not if you want to optimize your chances for landing satisfying work in which you can naturally perform well.  

Finding a job title that could convey the level of information needed to assess best fit roles, cultures and environments would be challenging if not impossible. As mentioned above, job titles can be industry, organization and/or culture specific.  A role with a specific job title at one organization could be a very different role at another. Because there are so many factors that can contribute to success in a particular role, the breadth of possible duties covered by a job title can sometimes be so broad it's difficult to even identify which skills are essential to being able to do, let alone perform well in, a job.

 

An Example: International Public Relations Account Manager

What does the job of an International Public Relations Account Manager (IPRAM) really entail? Consider the fact that just five years ago the PR professional's primary vehicles for promoting their clients were pitching to the major news media and advertising. Now the PR world is operating with different rules and a new playbook. It's not only about major news media coverage. It's also about BEING the media - building positive buzz about a client to improve their brand reputation through social media and community influencers. IPRAMs need to be able act in the moment - sometimes respond to a customer feedback in minutes - rather than solely being guided by a plan for the quarter. Today it's about earning attention through compelling content and engagement online and offline. (It's been reported that 30% of Fortune 500 companies' marketing and PR budgets are earmarked for generating free content for their target audiences.).

So how do we define the IPRAM's role and measure success in the changing and increasingly complex global marketplace?

Although all of these skills or qualities could contribute to their success, it would be difficult to indicate which of the following were the most critical success factors for every IPRAM worldwide: being an engaging communicator, a powerful public speaker, a crisis manager, an event planner, a customer engagement guru, a trend follower, a task juggler, an online conversations monitor, a multimedia concept designer or presenter, a great writer, well-connected, an influencer, a SEO or analytics specialist, multilingual, someone who works well across cultures, a diplomat or seasoned arbitrator, an industry expert, tech saavy, a highly organized project manager, a virtual team leader, a social media wizard or even a crowdsourcer for product development. 

One may point to writing as a obvious critical skill for someone in PR. But is it true that all IPRAMs need to write across all platforms and via different medium to perform their job (i.e. print and non-print media, blogs, online networks, social media, webinars, podcasts, press releases, client proposals, briefing documents and more)? 

Now consider what PR means across cultures. What skills would be most critical in launching a lifestyle product in Japan? in the UK? What qualities and strengths would help an IPRAM deal with differences in purchasing patterns and communication styles across Europe during a regional campaign that is occurring during Ramadan? How would the number of people with access to the internet in a particular country or cultural values affect which skills and strengths would be critcal to a PR campaign's success?

Can you see the diversity of skill sets, experience and strengths required to perform well in the world of "International PR" - all which could potentially fall under the purvue of an IPRAM? Can you see the limitations of using that job title to position yourself?

If you run through this process with any job title in the context of the current global marketplace not surprisingly you'll likely come to the very same conclusion.

 

Disruptive Technologies and Automation are Changing the Game

Due to technology, the growing need for different skill sets and changing demands for talent in the global marketplace, companies are now breaking down and reassembling job roles. Not only will jobs be redefined because the automating of tasks will lead to the blending of different skills and functions to create new specialties, but there will be new problems and challenges facing organizations worldwide. New problems mean new jobs to deal with them.

We have seen and will see jobs and job titles come and go. There are many jobs today that did not exist 5 years ago. And according to the World Future Society who published lists of expected jobs in 2030, many jobs of the future don't exist today. 

But there will always be problems to solve. Given jobs are created to solve an organization's problems, considering yourself a solution to a problem rather than being defined by a job title is what is going to keep you attuned to the best fit opportunities now and into the future.

 

How Job Titles Can Help 

All that said, job titles do have their place.

You can start to define your best fit job by FIRST honing in on the types of environments, industries and/or organizations that will support you in being at your best. You can do this by starting to reflect on numerous things including your true strengths, blockers, drivers, culture and behavioral style.

From there you can identify the job titles commonly used in those environments and organizations. By understanding how a particular organization or industry typically "labels" the different roles their staff plays, your can map your specific skills, experience and strengths to those roles. 

By using a particular organization's or industry's “language” via their job titles, you’ll do a better job of presenting yourself as a solution to the problem for which they are hiring in a way that will resonate with them.

 

Clarity Can Help You Navigate Through Changing Times 

The bottom line is that job titles can no longer be depended on as the only or primary tool for targeting or identifying “best fit” jobs. 

Rather than labeling what you want and what you can offer with a job title, see yourself as a unique combination of experience, qualities, skills and strengths that can deliver real value through providing a solution to a pressing problem an organization or project is facing.

By being clear on the types of roles, environments, cultures and organizations where you will naturally be at your best you can insure your expat or international career choices will work to support you finding best fit jobs as well as high levels of performance and satisfaction abroad.

 

EXPAT CAREER SUCCESS TIP: Do you know what roles, environments, cultures and/or organizations would allow you to naturally perform well by simply being your best self? Do you know what environments can cripple your ability to perform well at work? 

Reflect for a few minutes on your true strengths, blockers, drivers, culture and behavioral style. What do these tell you about the types of roles and environments in which you would thrive? 

Try to begin to define yourself and the value you create professionally without a job title. Imagine yourself as a solution to an organization's problem. What types of roles and environments come to mind then? How can you use these insights to help guide future career choices?  

Having a hard time defining what you offer without a job title? Read this post on why You Are Not Your Job Title.

Feel free to share your thoughts via a comment. 

 

Would you like to use this article in your newsletter or website? Permission will be given to those who include this information: Author: Megan Fitzgerald, expat and international career coach, helps forward-thinking expats become highly visible, sought after experts and leaders and succeed abroad. Sign up for her free international career success tips: www.careerbychoiceblog.com

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  career by choice can help you...become an expat and experience a global lifestyle ~ explore international career options and find work abroad ~ understand your Brand DNA and how you can perform at your best ~ clarify your personal brand to stand out and be sought after for top jobs overseas ~ develop branded tools and strategies to communicate your unique expertise in a differientiating, compelling way ~ strengthen and manage your online reputation to attract employers and clients worldwide ~ leverage your expert status to become highly visible, recognized and well compensated for the value you create ~ leverage social media to build your global online network ~ develop a global mindset ~ manage transitions and overcome challenges during international assignments ~ provide an international career coach and experienced guide to help you think.live.work.global ~ optimize your career choices and discover success abroad on your terms by being your best self ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Comments

[Cajun]

Nice and well-thought out article. There are very few websites that take the time to address this issue of a job title. I think these ideas need to be discussed more broadly, particularly in schools where job titles seem to define our career choices.

[Megan Fitzgerald]

Hi Cajun, Thanks for the nice comment. I hope this helps you reflect on the future job choices and helps you in future job searches.

To your success abroad,
Megan

[Jinero Cianflone]

I was wondering how many job titles one person can have at a job at one time. At my last job of 6 years I was the Program Supervisor and also was the Office Assistant and in charge of Accounts Receivable. My main Title was Program Supervisor but I am trying to get a job in the Administrative field so I want to add Office Assistant and Accounts Receivable to my title on my resume as well. It would look like this: Program Supervisor/Office Assistant/Accounts Receivable. Anyway, I thank you for yet another great post and I can see why using Titles might be not such a great idea.