Can you modify your title in your resume? The reply isn’t any . . . and sure. It relies upon the way you do it, and why.
We’re not speaking about giving your self a “Supervisor” title for that previous job the place you had been positively a person contributor. Mendacity on a resume is an enormous mistake; the reality tends to emerge earlier than lengthy, and the brand new worker is promptly fired.
What you can ethically do is add info to make clear an inaccurate title and assist your resume achieve applicant monitoring programs. So sure, below some circumstances you possibly can, with none deception, improve your job title.
Let’s think about why you would possibly wish to do that, and learn how to do with out getting your self into hassle.
Job titles on resumes carry numerous weight, for 2 causes.
Why is the job title so necessary? Why can’t you simply write a job description that clarifies that your Administrative Officer III title meant you had been a Program Supervisor?
First, it’s well-known that recruiters usually skim resumes, making a call inside a number of seconds. Throughout that fast skim, they’ll particularly deal with–you guessed it–job titles. They might not learn the descriptions till later, if in any respect. So that you need these titles to have influence.
Second, when your resume is processed and analyzed by an applicant monitoring system (ATS), the system can analyze how properly your background matches the job requisition, primarily based on key phrases (which can be single phrases or entire phrases). Usually, essentially the most essential key phrase is the job title.
In case you’re questioning, the ATS identifies a title by, amongst different issues, its proximity to a set of dates. So the ATS also can depend up what number of years’ expertise you had in that position.
All of this impacts the rating your resume receives. A excessive rating might imply your resume really will get learn by human beings—and you’ve got an opportunity at getting an interview.
There are numerous ethically acceptable causes for enhancing or adjusting a job title in your resume.
Let’s have a look at some points you may need along with your titles, and how one can repair them.
Possibly your title was worded in another way than the recruiter expects, regardless that the job is similar. For instance, if an organization is searching for somebody with expertise as a Recreation Designer, their ATS (and even their inexperienced recruiter) might not acknowledge your expertise as a Recreation Artist as a match. So it’d make sense so as to add “Recreation Developer” in parentheses:
Superb Video games, Inc., Los Angeles, CA Recreation Artist (Recreation Developer) 01/2018-01/2021
Voilà! Now the system “sees” three years’ expertise as a Recreation Developer, and so long as you really did the work of a Recreation Developer, you’re being utterly sincere.
Possibly you had an uncommon title. One firm had a task known as “Digital Overlord.” Cute, however not so nice on a resume. The particular person with this title would possibly wish to put “Web site Supervisor” in parentheses after that title.
Possibly your title doesn’t replicate the extent or breadth of your accountability. For instance, possibly your title was Challenge Coordinator however you really functioned on the stage of a Program Supervisor and your organization merely by no means received round to supplying you with the title. You would possibly write this:
Challenge Coordinator (de facto Program Supervisor)
What in case your job was a lot broader than the title implies? Assuming that the extra breadth is related, you would possibly wish to write it this fashion:
Coaching Coordinator—together with LMS administration and curriculum growth
Let’s say you had been an Account Govt. You crammed in for the gross sales director when she was on maternity go away, however had been by no means given the title of Interim Gross sales Director. Now you’re making use of for a Gross sales Director position. You may write your title like this:
Account Govt (and Interim Gross sales Director)
or:
Account Govt (with Gross sales Director tasks)
After all, in the event you had been really given the interim title, you possibly can mix the continued and interim titles with out resorting to parentheses:
Account Govt/Interim Gross sales Director
Is there a draw back to altering your title in your resume?
Probably. These enhanced titles add a specific amount of litter to the resume. And whereas one recruiter would possibly perceive what you’ve written, one other could be confused and even distrustful. So use this method sparingly.
In the event you’re undecided how your info is coming throughout, I like to recommend you present your draft to a resume author, or possibly a trusted colleague with HR expertise, and get their suggestions. In the event you nonetheless have any doubts, play it protected by utilizing solely your official job titles.
No matter strategy you are taking with the job titles in your resume, deal with them the identical manner on LinkedIn. Inconsistency between these two paperwork can increase pink flags in recruiters’ minds.
So general, the reply to “can you modify your title in your resume?” is that this: By no means change it for the aim of making an attempt to idiot recruiters, however there are methods you possibly can modify or improve the title to present a extra correct impression of the work you really did, and to get previous the ATS. That might make the distinction between being neglected and getting within the door. (This put up was initially revealed in 2022 and has been up to date in 2025.)
