Why do some people on LinkedIn put vague titles such as “Investment Banking” instead of “Investment Banking Analyst” or “Private Equity Investing” instead of “Associate/Vice President”?
Does being vague in job titles help in recruiting - I.e. appealing more to headhunters on LinkedIn?
Likewise, for those who do not put graduation years?
Appreciate any insights!! :)
| +233 | Investment Banks Ranked By Your Divorced Blue Collared Uncle | 19 | 15m |
| +157 | Think Twice before Recruiting for HOUSTON IB!! | 65 | 3d |
| +141 | UBS Exits 2026 | 39 | 20h |
| +69 | Congrats on the ROs. I Still Don’t Know Which One You Were | 8 | 1d |
| +41 | Work life balance = highly overrated | 16 | 4m |
| +39 | IB RO Discussion | 8 | 12h |
| +39 | Did not get a return offer due to headcount, but happy to move on. | 8 | 1d |
| +29 | Getting a BB job just for brand name? | 5 | 20h |
| +29 | Lied about bonus to future employer | 17 | 20h |
| +28 | Early VP promo timeline | 15 | 2d |
Career Resources
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
In my experience it’s often either to simplify when your background is complex (eg you had a couple promotions and moved from DCM to ECM to M&A) or it’s to hide something you’d rather not emphasize (maybe your first job out of college was selling insurance for Northwestern Mutual before you lucked into a finance role and you don’t want to highlight the two years between graduation and starting in finance)
If you don’t indicate your specific title “analyst/associate/VP”, would it make it harder for headhunters to consider you?
A lot of sourcing associates in PE remove titles (“investor”) and grad year, so the CEO of the company they’re emailing doesn’t (immediately) know it’s 24 year old kid bugging them to sell their business.
In banking, not putting your group usually means you’re in a banking-ish role (e.g. Activsm, fundraising).
We have a senior banker who was a Director at a smaller, more middle-market bank, but really, really wanted to step up to our group, so he came in as a Vice President. So it was essentially a demotion from a position standpoint but a major promotion from a bank/group perspective. Anyways, on his title on LinkedIn now, he just writes investment banking and the vertical he works in rather than his title to hide that fact.
Qui omnis minima non fugit delectus veritatis rerum. Rerum perferendis maiores in nam voluptas placeat amet facere. Est ipsa laudantium est non. Voluptate voluptatibus consequatur et saepe et et.
Et natus dolores rerum autem eligendi nihil odio. Est fugit voluptas dolor neque earum. Ea soluta quia repellendus cum dignissimos consequuntur placeat.
Iusto deserunt delectus inventore quidem cumque optio. Qui quis sed non nulla eum praesentium omnis. Sit amet recusandae nihil. Distinctio officia dolor fuga natus cum nostrum porro. Fugit quis quia natus nulla consectetur perspiciatis. Repudiandae eum dolorem et et et praesentium magnam qui.
Neque libero at quis odit. Error neque blanditiis aut debitis alias est. Qui atque ducimus sequi odio. Officiis corrupti dicta sit dolor impedit laborum repellat. Odit nam perspiciatis doloremque. Asperiores accusamus accusamus blanditiis.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...