Capitalization of Job Titles
With capitalization of job titles, there are rules and then there is the “rule.” The rules are based on some precedent while the “rule” is based on ego. Let’s go over the rules that have precedent first.
Rule: Capitalize job titles immediately preceding the name when used as part of the name.
Example: We asked Chairperson Leong to join us at the meeting.
Rule: Capitalize job titles immediately following the name when the word the does not appear in front of the job title.
Examples: Ms. Leong, Chairperson, will join us at the meeting.
Ms. Leong, Chair, will join us at the meeting.
Mr. Hanson, Editorial Advisor for The Independent Journal, helped draft the article.
Rule: When the appears in front of the job title, do not capitalize.
Examples: Mr. Hanson, the editorial advisor, helped draft the article.
The chairperson, Sarah Leong, will join us at the meeting.
Mr. Cortez was the senior managing director of the Baskin Group.
Rule: Capitalize titles in signature lines.
Examples: Sarah Leong, Chairperson
Craig Hanson, Editorial Advisor
Rule: Do not capitalize titles when used descriptively.
Example: Ms. Leong, who will chair the meeting, is always on time.
“Rule”: The “ego rule” is that you may have to ignore the above rules in real life. If someone in your office (as in your boss) wants his or her title capitalized in all situations, then do so. Generally, the higher in rank someone is in an organization, the more likely his/her title will be capitalized at all times.
Quiz
1. The finance director, Sam Woo, delivered our third-quarter projections.
2. Sam Woo, our finance director, delivered our third-quarter projections.
3. Sam Woo, finance director, delivered our third-quarter projections.
Answers
Only #3 should be changed: Sam Woo, Finance Director, delivered our third-quarter projections.
February 26, 2007 at 11:44 pm
Question – is the word “with” to be considered along with “and”, “it”, and “the” to be exempt from capitalization in a heading such as:
“Guarantee Your Future with XYZ Banking”?
February 27, 2007 at 1:45 am
Dan, “with” is exempt from capitalization in “Guarantee Your Future with XYZ Banking.”
March 26, 2007 at 11:58 pm
What is the right way:
I should have done it or
I should have did it
I think the answer is
I whould have done it.
Am I correct?
March 27, 2007 at 12:16 am
I should have done it.
April 9, 2007 at 2:34 pm
When dealing with titles the APA Publication Manual states, “Conjunctions, articles, and short prepositions are not considered major words; however, capitalize all words of four letters or more.”
So “with” should then be capitalized, according to this source.
April 9, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Lindsay, thank you for pointing out the APA recommendation. I’m on vacation so I will check to see what my Chicago Manual of Style has to say when I return.
April 12, 2007 at 1:51 pm
I look forward to your reply. Maybe you can also shed some light on my confusion over country and state abbreviation rules.
I want to know:
Can you use U.S. or US to represent the United States, does it really matter (NY Times uses both)?
Or, do you only use U.S. as an adjective (U.S. Army) and US when representing the country by itself?
For state abbreviations, the AP Stylebook says to “only use postal abbreviations with full address, including zip code.” But, many publications use those abbreviations without the addresses, probably for style.
NC vs N.C.
WY vs Wyo.
Your thoughts?
April 13, 2007 at 12:39 am
I think that the trend will be towards leaving out the periods and using the two letter form for states. I have a hunch that using US will not be far behind. This is more a function of text messaging and email informality plus the post office’s preference for no punctuation than to style rules as dictated by any manuals.
April 14, 2007 at 4:00 am
Lindsey, regarding the AP Style Manual’s rule about capitalizing any word in a title like “with” as long as it is four or more letters:
The Chicago Manual of Style doesn’t agree but hedges by introducing the following section with this caveat: Chicago recommends the following rules, pragmatic rather than logically rigorous but generally accepted.
1. Always capitalize the first and last words both in titles and in subtitles and all other major words (nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and some conjunctions–but see rule 4). 2. Lowercase the articles “the,” “a,” and “an.” 3. Lowercase prepositions, regardless of length, except when they are stressed (“through” in “A River Runs Through It”), are used adverbally or adjectivally (“up” in “Look Up,” “down” in “Turn Down,” “on” in “The On Button,” etc.), are used as conjunctions (“before” in “Look Before You Leap,” etc.), or are part of a Latin expression… 4. Lowercase the conjunctions “and,” “but,” “for,” “or,” “nor.” 5. Lowercase the words “to” and “as” in any grammatical function, for simplicity’s sake…
May 1, 2007 at 10:00 pm
Capitalization:
I am confused when to capitalize the following:
“It says in the code.” Do I capitalize the word “code”?
“The council adopted the measure.” Do I capitalize council?
what is the rule regarding these areas of capitalization?
May 1, 2007 at 11:21 pm
Don’t capitalize “code” or “council” unless you have named it previously and want to ensure that your reader(s) recognize that you’re still referring to the same “code” or “council.”
November 5, 2008 at 5:38 pm
abbr. are complecated i see what you mean they are just to hard to explain much less remember!argh
February 4, 2009 at 2:39 pm
In typing a verbatim transcript, titles are not necessarily listed and/or named in a certain way that it’s easy to refer to the rules. Can you please help to shed some light on how to apply these rules in general everyday speech that is written out? For example, I would cap the job title in response to this question: “What is John Smith’s position with the company?” -or- “The last job Mr. Smith held with the company was Finance Director?” What I’ve normally been relying on in these situations is when the question or response is directed at specifically naming a person to a particular title, I will capitalize it. When a position is referenced in general, I don’t cap it. For example, “Who was the supervisor on duty at the time?” -or- “I was trying to get promoted to supervisor.” Do you have any suggestions of ways I can relate these types of situations better to the rules?
February 4, 2009 at 2:50 pm
In further thought, I have another instance I’d like to ask about. I type full transcripts, so it gets confusing. It will probably be easier to give an illustration rather than try to explain what I’m asking without it. Here goes:
“What is John Smith’s title?”
“Department Supervisor.”
“Who do you report to?”
“John Smith.”
“When the incident happened, what did you do?”
“I went directly to the supervisor.”
“Would that be John Smith?”
“Yes, he is my supervisor.”
In the instance that he is speaking specifically about John Smith when he is saying supervisor, would supervisor be capped?
February 4, 2009 at 6:15 pm
You are bringing up the difficulty with capitalization: many of these rules are “rules of thumb.” Your strategy regarding job titles is a widely accepted practice that shouldn’t cause dispute.
February 4, 2009 at 6:19 pm
I would not capitalize “supervisor” in that last line of dialogue because it is not part of a title. It is debatable whether “supervisor” in the second line of dialogue should be capitalized. “Department” must be capitalized only because it is the first word of the quote.
July 3, 2009 at 5:50 am
I’m watching a debate on a popular blog or Blog about the capitalization of the word Blog. Spell check appears to want the word to be capitalized in the text of a paragraph when talking about or referencing a blog.
What do you think?
July 3, 2009 at 10:00 am
The tendency, with technology, is to capitalize words such as “Website” (or Web site), Internet, and Blog until the nouns become part of the vernacular. At that point, we tend to stop capitalizing. I think that “Blog,” which is short for “Web log,” will soon not be capitalized just as many people no longer capitalize “website.”
July 31, 2009 at 2:00 pm
When did it become incorrect to capitalize titles which refer to specific individuals? Other sources say it is correct to write, “the President is onboard Air Force One,” but your site says it should be, “the president is onboard…” I am 60 years old and was an English major; we were taught to capitalize titles when they refer to a specific person, and of course, to capitalize titles used in conjunction with the individual’s name, e.g., President Kennedy.
July 31, 2009 at 9:47 pm
I was taught to capitalize the title of a person of high rank, such as President, regardless of whether the name followed. However, the rule changed over the years. (I don’t know when.) The Chicago Manual of Style, which is the authoritative source that I use, states that “president” is not capitalized.
June 14, 2010 at 7:06 am
If I am writing a list of job titles in a document, such as,
Dean of Academic Affairs
Director of Human Resources
is it correct to capitalize these specific positions in a company?
June 14, 2010 at 2:54 pm
Yes.
July 2, 2010 at 11:49 am
Hi Jane – I often see position announcements that capitalize the title of the position when it appears that they shouldn’t according to the CMS. For example, “The Executive Director will be responsible for…” or “…seeking an Executive Director to…”
Does this fall under the ego rule? When crafting a letter of interest in response to a position announcement, should I follow their lead and capitalize the title in a sentence such as “I recently read the position announcement seeking an Executive Director and I’m interested”?
Which looks better…capitalizing like them even if it’s wrong or sticking to the rules?
July 2, 2010 at 12:19 pm
Capitalization is a fuzzy area when it comes to rules vs. preferences. Yes, ego plays its part in capitalizing titles like Executive Director in a job announcement. But capitalization should serve this function, so I think it’s fine (and preferable) to capitalize the position title in your response. Good luck in finding your perfect job!
July 11, 2010 at 2:09 pm
Is the capitalization right in the following sentences?
The Auditors are responsible to the Church Council through the Moderator. Two Auditors are elected to two-year terms on alternate years.
July 12, 2010 at 10:43 am
Capitalization has a lot of gray areas. The rule of thumb is to lowercase job titles when not used with names. Therefore, I recommend not capitalizing auditors or moderator. Because Church Council is the actual name of the group, it should be capitalized.