Does it really matter if I lie about my new job title on LinkedIn?

Each week, Dr Kirstin Ferguson tackles questions on workplace, career and leadership in her advice column, “ Got a Minute? ” This week: a job title switch-up, feeling forced to resign and the concept of “last in, first out”. LinkedIn is simply a public CV. Credit: Dionne Gain I’m about to leave my current employer, where I recently attained “general manager” (GM) status after years of having “head of” roles.

I’m about to change companies, and while technically the new role is called “head of” again, the recruiter has said it’s their “version of a GM role”. I’d like to share my new role on LinkedIn as being a GM. What are the ethics of this? Should I strictly observe the position description or is it OK to describe the role in realistic terms? Does it matter? Loading Titles always cause angst, and this is why you need to be careful with how you use the one you have.

You need to make sure the title you use on LinkedIn is accurate. In fact, everyone should make sure that every word of their LinkedIn profile is correct; it is simply a public CV. Everyone at your new workplace will check you out on LinkedIn as soon as your appointment is announced.

They will see what title you give yourself and if they know your new title is “head of XYZ” and you put “general manager of XYZ”, you are bound to create whispers. It sounds like your new employer has a reason why they have chosen not to use the GM title, and so you shouldn’t either. I would wai.