How do you define your job? Job title or education?

I had a situation come up at work not too long ago that I struggled to deal with. One of the employees in my organization holds a degree in petroleum engineering. However, the job he holds is that of a logistics dispatcher. For the last year, he had his email signature that looked something like this:

Joe Smith
Petroleum Engineer
Logistics Dispatcher
ABC Company

Yes the name and the petroleum engineer title were big like that and the functional title was small. I thought it was strange but it was not really hurting anything so I left it alone.

Recently we had a situation that caused me to re-evaluate my position. One of our clients saw the petroleum engineer title and sent Joe a technical question. Joe was happy to answer it. The only problem is that Joe answered it incorrectly. The client was miffed because he thought he was dealing with one of our qualified petroleum engineers and Joe did not correct him or guide him to the right person.

After this incident I forced Joe to remove the petroleum engineer title from his email signature and he also got a warning for not passing this on to the qualified parties in the company. Joe quit his job about one week later.

Joe was good at what he did, but he was not a good petroleum engineer. We knew his skill set and what he could offer the company and he was well placed.

So my question to you is, how do you define yourselves? This has gotten me to thinking about how people perceive themselves. I personally don't care what my job title is regardless of my educational background. Was this situation unusual?

 

Job title - If the degree is not relevant to the job, there is no reason to mention it.

 

I include "MBA, Ed.M" after my name in my signature line. If I wasn't working in a field related to education I think I would remove the "Ed.M". I know some people that include an advanced degree in their signature line. I don't think there is anything wrong with including a degree designation in the signature line or answering a question from a client IF you know the answer.
I think Joe was just trying to demonstrate his worth. Obviously that backfired for him. I think his using the large font for his name and degree is a bit ridiculous. I would likely attribute it to him wanting people to know he was educated and his job title didn't reflect that. Just a thought.

 

In California, many engineering titles -- including "Petroleum Engineer" -- are subject to state regulation. You can't legally claim the title of "Petroleum Engineer" when dealing with the general public, unless you hold a Professional Engineer's license in Petroleum Engineering specifically. A petroleum engineering degree by itself does not get you that title -- you still need to qualify for a PE license (and this requires years of work experience and multiple examinations, all after the degree).

It's like law. You may be a law school graduate, but you can't use the title of "attorney" until you've passed the state Bar Exam.

In practice, oil companies often apply the title of "petroleum engineer" internally to unlicensed staff, and that's OK, as long as it is for internal purposes. But if you deal directly with clients (as your employee apparently did), then it's not OK to be an unlicensed "petroleum engineer" -- in fact, it's illegal.

Other states could have different rules, although they all regulate engineering titles to some extent. States with little or no oil production might not have any rules about the title of "Petroleum Engineer".

 

The signature line of almost every manager and director in the hospital group I work for includes some designatio after their name. It is usually MBA (lots of University of South Florida graduates here) or MSN (I see a lot of UoP diplomas hanging). They also include industry cerrtifications like Six Sigma for the Performance Improvement Team or NRCM for the lab team.

I do not include anything after my name but have considered it. I have considered MS and/or PhD but never got around to changing the signature line. Mine is just-

Randell Doe
Manager of Biomedical Engineering
Memorial Hospital

 

Simple, I do not define myself by my job, but by my family, friends and outside interests

 

This is why I hate the term "counselor."

I list credentials AND title. And since I have the frustration noted above, I write out LPC so people know what it means. For years my signature line was similar to:

Gray Matter, MA
Licensed Professional Counselor
Clinical Coordinator (my actual job title)

 

I should note that on the day my PhD was conferred (a few weeks ago), I changed my signature line. One of the schools I facilitate for, my "handler" (PhD on-campus faculty) wrote and said that I needed to change my faculty sig line. I had written:

Dr. Gray Matter, LPC

He told me that with the varying terminal degrees, they preferred that the degree be listed. I changed to:

Dr. Gray Matter, PhD, LPC

Then I got another nice little note about redundancy. #doh

 

I suppose it depends on the industry. In federal government it's your job title. Mind you, professional government employees hold degrees from Associates to PhD degrees. I've seen very few signature lines where people list there degrees after their names. It's not really part of the corporate culture here.

 

That's an interesting question and probably not as cut and dry as it might appear. For instance, let's say you are a Registered Nurse but working as an administrator. You would certainly use RN in your title (I understand that's a license, but still I think it's the same kind of situation). In addition, I'm a chef by trade, even when I'm not working in that job title. If, however, I were doing shift work at Joe Blow Restaurant, no WAY would I call myself "chef" or I'd certainly be fired. I think it's the situation that dictates title AND email siggy. I think your petroluem engineer was wrong.

 

This is my experience as well. Job title is the standard. Listing degrees on your email sig line and/or business cards is likely to inspire lots of eye-rolling from your colleagues in the federal service. No one cares about your MBA, Mr. Big Shot!

 

It is common, however, to see a doctorate listed, as it changes your styling to "doctor."

I list my Ph.D. and (sometimes) my PMP.

 

In my field of work most people define the job by their job title, but we do have some fun with how people list their certifications (I work in IT). Some people list the important ones, some list everything, some don't list any. The only time I scratch my head is when someone list a cert that was already out earned by a higher level cert. IMHO if I had a CISSP I would not list Sec+. If I had my CCNP, I would not list my CCNA, etc.

Depends on the career field I assume.

I just list my title, sometimes.

 

The placing of information about yourself in your sig line or card should be related to what you want the reader to know about you. Your position with the company or agency is clearly the most important. People often seem to evaluate the position held by the post nominals. If you use the highest degree, then any credibility gained from the use of postnominals is done. Affiliations with professional organisations should be listed next, but only if relevant to the position held with the company.
Example: John Brown M.B.A. (or PhD as the case may be),F.A.I.M (professional association)
Manager
If the degree is irrelevant to the job title leave it off.If it does not lend any credibility to the position held, then it is just about status or ego. Best to leave it off. Example: John Brown
Automechanic

 

When I was in the Air Force, we listed our grade as part of our sig lines. I would be listed as such:

Richard C. Douglas, Capt, USAF
Squadron Section Commander

In the Federal government, however, we omit our grades. This is a bit frustrating. I want people to know I'm a GS-15. Not because of ego, per se, but so they know who and what they're dealing/working with. You can expect a lot more from me than you might think. And I'll be happy to deliver.

 

I have resisted the signature line for many years. As a programmer and a conservative I like to conserve file space and bandwidth

 

I don't list my degree in my email signature or on my business card. I do list my degrees on my syllabi for the courses I teach, though.

I would list a terminal degree if I had one. In my administrative position (my day job), I have never felt the need to include the degree because my title accurately describes my role, and I have an office to myself (no cubicle).

Some of my co-workers do choose to list degrees. My department has a coordinator who sits in the reception area, and he lists his MBA on his signature line because some have the tendency to view him as an administrative assistant/secretary.

 

When I worked in more of an IT role, I had MCSE on my signature line and business card.