I have an offer with an awesome company but the title is below my current title – am I ruining my resume??
I’ve gotten this question quite a bit recently and my answer, as it often is, is it depends. Titles are so nebulous – a Controller at one company could be equivalent to a Sr. Accountant at another company and an Assistant Controller at one company could be the same as a CFO at another.
So much goes into just a title. I always take into consideration the size of the company, the size of the team, where this position is in relation to the executive it funnels up to, long-term growth for the company and the specific role, etc.
Take a look at where you want to be in the next 5 years and does this give you the right starting point to get there. I never want someone to title chase and I never want someone to dollar chase. I want someone to make their next career move based on the factors that go beyond the title. Companies will have different naming conventions depending on their size, industry, functional roles, etc.
One way to highlight this on a resume (we want to be proactive in answering any potential question marks on a resume!!) is to put the company name and then have a brief sentence that describes the company size, revenues, industry, etc. (i.e. Controller for a $5mm company with a team of 1 transitioning to an Assistant controller at a $250mm company with a team of 4).
In short, it won’t kill your resume by taking a lesser title, just make sure the opportunity itself fits what you are looking for as the next step in your career! If you like the people, you like what you’re doing, and money makes sense – you can’t make a bad choice!!
Have you ever made a transition for a lesser title? How did it turn out? What were your factors in making the decision??
Feel free to reach out to anyone here at Prospex Recruiting if you want to talk through an offer or your interview process in general!!