Don’t ever introduce yourself by your job title. Job titles are terrible and should be scrapped. Unless they’re really literal. There is only one thing worse than someone who introduces themselves by their title – and that’s someone who introduces themself with an obtuse and confusing buzzy weasleword description that requires a follow up question.
First impressions are important. Especially if you’re a conference speaker, or somebody it is important for the people meeting you to know. Don’t start a conversation with an obtuse statement unless it’s a joke that you explain straight away, and even then… don’t do it.
It was refreshing listening to the guest speaker at our camp over the weekend introduce himself and speak passionately about his new role – “campus evangelist” – by itself this would be buzzwordy and unclear – but he told us what it looked like and spoke with genuine passion about the task. This was cool. If you must use your title do it properly.
Comments
Oh, I'll bet after you get your Ph.D. you'll make all your friends refer to you as "Dr. Campbell." :)
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One of my (somewhat similar) gripes is using personal pronouns to refer to one's place of employment — e.g., "we're looking to increase sales by 20% next year." While I like my job, I am not synonymous with it. It's easier said than … not said, though. I've often caught myself at the last second, or lost in a sentence that must simply finish that way.
I do, however, use personal pronouns when referring to my university (Calvin College) or my church (Church by the Bridge) as both are communities I feel personally connected to. I'm not ashamed to be part of either and will thus allow myself to be entwined with them.
Obviously my family and friends also get to be "mine," as does my country, however flawed it may be.
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I often feel like job titles are completely useless when meeting someone in a personal, non work related situation. I am so much more than my work and describing myself by my title usually leads to one of two responses both of which involve a judgment of my worth/interestingness based on how interesting they find what i do/have done as opposed to getting to know me and finding out that I am either a) more (or less) interesting than they initially thought or b) being completely confused as to how I've had so many different jobs/professions.
This comment is more in relation to meeting someone outside of a work specific context where it might helpful to know their job title/position and how it relates to yours.
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