One of the more confusing aspects of understanding employers as part of goal setting is determining the relationship between job title, job function, work environment, and industry. People often mistakenly use these terms interchangeably. Job title refers to the actual position name used by the employing organization to label a specific job, i.e., systems engineer, tax accountant, manufacturing trainee. For example, a tax accountant prepares financial records, balances company ledgers, and examines cost accounting procedures at client companies. Job functions also define the kind of problem solving and communications between co-workers and supervisors which characterize the job.
Work environment refers to the type of organization where the work takes place.
In the example being used, a tax accountant could perform the previous functions in a large public accounting firm, a small privately owned agency, a large or small company, a multi-department organization or a small, growing firm. Industry is a term describing a series of related products or services that make up a portion of the overall economy. The electronics industry, financial services industry, petroleum industry, and manufacturing industry are typical examples. It is important to understand that a person can often perform the same work, have the same job title and the same work environment in different industries. Some industries, of course, have more of some job titles, functions and environments, i.e., the petroleum industry would employ more chemical engineers than the transportation industry.