My Employer wants to change my job title and responsibilities.

ayers

Hello. Can anyone help? 

I work in a technology company as a technical/writer and have done so in this company for 4 years. My company want to change my job title and responsibilities which is something I am apprehensive about. They want to change my job title to content manager. The role of technical authoring/writing will no longer exist but the writing for technical documentation task will be spread throughout the orgnisation. We are still in the discussion phase. I wanted to suggest to the company if they are willing to explore me working as quality assurance test analyst in the Quality Assurance department instead of the suggested content management role? There will be learning but skillset as a technical writer and qualifications are better aligned to working in this department in this role than the one they're suggesting. I also feel I will enjoy it more than the role they're suggesting.

The question is, does the company need to consider my suggesting of working as a quality assurance test analyst as they are attempting to change my role?

Thank you in advance.

yvonne13_2

No harm in putting forward your suggestion

TELLIT01

I'm guessing the role of 'Content Manager' will be proof reading and approving (or otherwise) technical documents produced by others, and can see why that would appeal if you are currently creating the documents yourself.  There is certainly no harm in asking about other alternatives.  Just because they may agree to consider your suggestions, doesn't mean they have to agree to them.

ayers

Thank you both. Appreciate your replies.

MalMonroe

It sounds like a promotion to me, if you're now going to be a manager. Have they mentioned also increasing your salary because of the job change and title?

Sounds like your employer needs to have a meeting with you and explain everything, properly and professionally. With notes also being taken, if possible as usually happens in an official meeting. Then you'd know exactly what was what and wouldn't be trying to guess.

The meeting would give you an opportunity to  put forward your own ideas, no harm in that at all.

ayers

Thanks. I never saw it as a promotion and it was not sold to me in that way. However, I will certainly as the question. Thanks again.

TELLIT01

Not everybody wants promotion, or is suited to a more management focussed role.  I have known many people over the years who have really enjoyed their job as well as being really good at it.  In many cases that seems to mark them out as 'future managers', when all they want to do is carry on as they are.

Ath_Wat

A "content manager" manages content, not people.  It's not a promotion just because it has the word "manager" in it.

(It could be a promotion of course, but if it hasn't been sold that way to you, it probably isn't.)

ayers

Thanks for your comments once again TELLIT01 and Ath_Wat.

This is my dilemma. As a Technical Author/Writer, I work very close with the product being developed which allows me to use my technical skills and learn new technical skills. This is something I am good at and something I enjoy. Being a Content Manager moves me away from the product which is likely to involve me using less technical skills.

This concerns me which is the reason why I wanted to explore with my company the possibility of doing a quality assurance test analyst role. This role would keep me close to the product using technical skills and learning new ones. There is more involved but I feel a role of this nature is better suited to my skills and I feel I would enjoy a role like this better than a Content Manager role.

I just hope they seriously consider this. Thanks again.

TELLIT01

Ath_Wat said:

A "content manager" manages content, not people.  It's not a promotion just because it has the word "manager" in it.

(It could be a promotion of course, but if it hasn't been sold that way to you, it probably isn't.)

Not necessarily, the two parts are not mutually exclusive. If the role involved managing the content of technical documents there may well be a requirement to send it back to the author for amendment.  Those people may or may not be reporting to the OP.

Ath_Wat

TELLIT01 said:

Ath_Wat said:

A "content manager" manages content, not people.  It's not a promotion just because it has the word "manager" in it.

(It could be a promotion of course, but if it hasn't been sold that way to you, it probably isn't.)

Not necessarily, the two parts are not mutually exclusive. If the role involved managing the content of technical documents there may well be a requirement to send it back to the author for amendment.  Those people may or may not be reporting to the OP.

A "content manager" manages content.  While anyone of course  can have reports, that job title is absolutely no indication that they will have, which was the assumption I replied to.

As for this specific role, they have already given plenty of information to indicate that they will not have direct reports.

"The role of technical authoring/writing will no longer exist but the writing for technical documentation task will be spread throughout the organisation. "

They will be writing this material as a small part of their roles; there is no way they will be reporting to the OP. They are not going to go from having one person do all the writing to having a whole team do it as their full time job.  If they were, the OP would be wanting to stay in one of those roles.