Job titles/Descriptions

While looking at job sites such as Monster.com and fishforjobs.co.uk, I've noticed that there seems to be a difference between job titles in the US and the UK. This could cause confusion when looking for a job. 

For instance, in the US, an administrator is the head of a department, an upper level managerial position. It seems that in the UK, however, an administrator is a secretarial position. In the US, we don't use terms like junior or team leader.

I just noticed a job advertised for an accounts assistant in the UK,  and assumed that it was a sales job, like an  American assistant account executive. Looking at the job description, I was surprised to find that the job involves numbers crunching, that is, accounting.

Is there a general list of  UK job descriptions somewhere? 

Hi there!

I found the same trawling through the lists of open positions in the papers and online. The frustration also came from the fact that not all employers can come to a consensus about what a title means. Also coming from a different state then you, we probably have different titles and understanding as well, accounts assistant makes sense to me being in accounting I hope someone has a list, but if not, I found reading every interesting position let me know a little more about UK business culture... I hope!

Good luck!
Jen

I'm glad I'm not the only one. I find that I can't tell what a UK job means from the title; I have to read the complete job description. Which means there is a chance that I am skipping over jobs that are just right for me because I don't understand what the job title means.

I think the misunderstanding might not just be regional, but have to do with the field you work in. For example, I work in marketing, where an "account" is a client. So to me an "accounts assistant" logically means somebody who assists in dealing with clients.

The part of a business you would think of as 'accounting' is almost always called 'accounts' here.  So you can skip over those jobs if you are not into number-crunching! 

So what do you call an Account Executive?

Sorry, SP, don't think I'm of much help re your initial question ... I was just thinking what if you do your searches not by job titles but by keywords and see what job titles come up with it? Then you might get an idea how those jobs are called and you can continue your search with the job titles you found?

Moreover, if you're not into book-keeping (accounting), then simply don't select the according business sector you're not interested in (f.i. in MonsterJobs it's "Accounting/Auditing/Tax").

An Account Executive is probably a Sales Account Manager in the UK? Um, ... don't quote me on that 

It was just a general question, not so much referring to a specific search. I think it would be good to know.

I see what you mean 

I'm sure there are many Brits who can't find the appropriate title fitting their job descriptions either ... I get the impression that more and more new job titles get invented to make the same ole' boring job sound more exciting! 

Yes. My official American job title doesn't describe what I do.  And I've never heard of anyone else who has the same title. I changed it for my CV.

Anyway, I've got a managerial position where I coordinate the work of different departments, organizing and directing other people's work and making sure things get done on time. I don't have the ability to hire or fire anyone, although I might have input on those decisions.
What is that? Team leader? Project manager?

Anyway, I've got a managerial position where I coordinate the work of different departments, organizing and directing other people's work and making sure things get done on time. I don't have the ability to hire or fire anyone, although I might have input on those decisions.
What is that? Team leader? Project manager?

Different industries are going to call them different things... im sure you know that.
In my department, the person who does what you described above is the Team Leader, and above her, the Operations Manager.