What am I? What are they?

What am I? What are they?

Title hierarchy structure in the corporate world

Each organization is different, the job titles for the same roles also vary. As you start your job search, you will notice that organizations use different job titles for the same role.

In general, an organization uses about 6 tiers. The U.S. government is different, there are 15 job grades and 10 steps within each grade. At the top, the CEO/Founder and at the bottom all the entry level positions.

C-Suite or C-Level

CEO, Chief Executive Officer - usually manages all other people who have C-level titles as well as a President if there is one. The CEO typically reports to a Chairperson.

CTO, Chief Technology Officer

CFO, Chief Financial Officer

COO, Chief Operations Officer

Vice President and Executives

Below the C-Suite, most companies use the traditional VP, they manage the directors.

Executives are more senior titles, i.e. Executive Vice President.

Director

Directors manage the Managers. People with Senior in their title have usually more experience: Senior Director vs Director.

Manager

Managers supervise individual contributors, coordinators and associates. There can be different levels: Senior Managers and Managers.

Coordinator

They are usually in charge of special projects or small groups.

Individual Contributors and Associates

These are usually positions that do not supervise other employees or are more entry level.

Individual contributors job titles vary by department. Some examples are:

-Marketing Specialist

-IT Analyst

-Database Administrator

-HR Generalist

-Sales Associate

-Network Technician

-Customer Care Agent

Entry-level positions can also be called Assistant, i.e. Sales Assistant, Administrative Assistant, Marketing Assistant, HR Assistant

Start looking at job postings to develop a sense or idea about the specific role that your are looking for, make a list of job titles.

Another helpful exercise is to once you have identified your target role, look at a title one level up, this will give you an idea of what could be your trajectory and professional development path if you were to follow it.

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