Business English: Does the job title 'Business Fixer' hide my bone idleness?

An unemployed male (41) wrote: I recently left an international banking group and, after having lived for 18 months on the pay-off, have almost run out of cash and need to get back into the workforce. I have discovered that no employer is interested in me if I say that I've been - and still am - bone idle. ... von Lucy Kellaway, London

... I need a title to put on a business card. "In Transition, Business Consultant" sounds too boring. I thought about what I'm good at, and it's fixing broken or underperforming businesses. So perhaps "Business Fixer" or "Business Transformer"? What do you think?

Read what Lucy Kellaway, "agony-aunt" of the Financial Times (London), answered:

Your idea that a piece of cardboard could be helpful in finding a job in 2010 seems wildly extravagant. But actually you are right - the business card is a rare analogue survivor in the digital age. One day our iPhones and BlackBerrys may be able to exchange details without us intervening, but until then a bit of cardboard is the best thing we have.

Not really helpful

Unfortunately, all of your suggestions of what you write on it are bad. "In Transition" is too blatant (and too pretentious) an euphemism for unemployed.

"Business Fixer" is too slangy and "Business Transformer" is too grandiose. Both beg too many questions: What have you fixed or transformed? Still worse, both are lies. In fact, you aren't a fixer or transformer, you're a former banker who, after a period as a layabout, is now looking for a job.

Lucy Kellaway

The harder you try to hide your current idleness with a form of words, the more likely you are to draw attention to it.

Realistic description

Recently I was shown the card of an unemployed journalist that said under her name: "Life explorer, multimedia storyteller, experience architect." This description would have ruled her out had I been considering her for a job as a reporter.

It's not just the unemployed who like to cover their cards in guff. In the bottom of my handbag are cards that say "Senior Vice President for Cross-Industry Workflow" and "Client Value Enhancement Executive" - neither of which leave me any the wiser.

Who you are

There are two points to a business card. One is to remind people who you are. The other is tell people how to get in touch with you.

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Mehr zu: Büro, Karriere, Lucy Kellaway

The most memorable thing for you to write on a card under your name is nothing - thereby suggesting that you consider your name to be important enough to stand alone.

This impression will be even stronger if you spend money on thick white card with a plain yet classy black typeface.

Then you will be left with the rather bigger job of devising a story to explain what you have been up to that is not entirely devoid of truth but that avoids the words "bone" and "idle".

Aus der Financial Times, London. www.ft.com