What's in a Job title?

What's the most important thing for individuals when searching for a new job?  Whilst money is up there as probably the main priority, job title comes a close second - and then we have all the 'rest' - work life balance, culture, benefits etc. 

When one is working one's way up the career ladder in any industry, I think progression of job title is a priority.   Not just for the individual, but it's also an external signal to colleagues and your peer group as to how successful you are.    That does obviously depend on the individual - some people are not bothered!

I've recently been talking to lots of candidates who tell me they are looking only for Project Manager roles and they don't want to be an Account Manager.    This provided today's blog theme because I started to think about job titles and how, even in this industry - the creative services industry, job titles are definitely not equivalent.

Project Manager titles vary enormously.  Whether you're a Project Manager in an integrated agency or a Digital agency is another thing altogether!  The title, Campaign Manager is also interchangeable - particularly in an integrated agency.   Things are not helped by the small number of agencies who provide a written job description for roles - although I suppose I could be flattered that my clients recognise that I know them well enough to automatically know what they are looking for!

In an integrated agency, the titles of Account, Project or Campaign Manager are usually pretty inter-changeable.  Typically a title of Project or Campaign Manager will imply a high degree of 'delivery'  - someone who rolls their sleeves up, takes a brief and manages it through to production.  These people will be generally be client facing and also working with the internal studio to brief in work and to then see it through to completion.   In most agencies, that's also what an Account Manager does too!   Account Manager is the original title for these people - it's only recently that I am seeing more Project and Campaign Managers in integrated agencies.  

In the old days, we saw very few people with Marketing degrees, then suddenly we saw lots.  More recently there seems to be a bit of a resurgence of graduates coming into the industry with all manner of different degrees.  Most agencies will train people on the job and some agencies will put their employees through more formal training - e.g. CIM, ISP, IDM.  So there is every opportunity for employees to learn the theory that goes behind the on the job learning and everyone has the opportunity to become more 'strategic' if that's a direction they are interested in going in. 

The perception seems to be that an Account Manager is a sales person.  And the word 'sales' has always scared people working in client services.   If I had a pound for every client services candidate who has said to me 'I'm not a sales person', I'd be a very wealthy person indeed!  

What most agencies do ask of all their client servicing teams is that they are 'proactive in developing their clients'.  The majority of my agencies do expect their teams to help them grow clients organically and whilst this isn't 'sales' in a traditional sense, it is definitely increasing revenue through great relationships with clients and responding well to briefs and ensuring that all marketing activity meets it's objective - so whilst client services people might baulk at the words sales or business development, most good people are doing this without even trying!

In the bigger digital agencies, the situation is a little different.  These agencies are very defined with very established project management and delivery teams.  Thus the Account Manager or Account Directors are very front end and they are responsible for client growth and proactive management of a client.  They do not generally get their hands dirty on the day to day but they do spend time examining how they can strategically grow a client relationship and drive growth.  These guys tend to be on a bonus scheme which is not generally the case with integrated Account Managers.

However, in an integrated creative agency or a design and branding agency, I would argue that Project/Campaign/Account Manager - generally mean the same thing.  At a more senior level, the Account Director/Senior Account Director titles do generally imply some strategic involvement - but again this depends on whether the agency has a brand planning or strategy team.   In the large networked integrated agencies, we do sometimes see Project Director roles and this is typically where for example, there is a large client with a very high volume of work and a high volume of briefs coming through the studio.   A Project Director in a digital agency is a different role - leading a project management team and we do see higher salaries.   By the time an individual makes it up to Business Director or Managing Partner then the role is largely about client development, growth, strategy and revenue/margins.  

Titles vary from agency to agency.   This matters because if you are filtering roles on job title, you might be missing out on some suitable roles.  It's best to keep your search filter parameters wide and then to whittle down as you go along.  Keep an open mind, it's good to have lots of options!

Written by Fiona.  27 July 2024