To capitalize or not to capitalize

Ruskanen

When are job titles and departments capitalized, if ever? For example, should a business card read, "Joe Smith, Human Resources Director" or "Joe Smith, human resources director"? Then, if one is abbreviating, is it the "HR director" or the "hr director" or the "HR director"? How about when talking about the department? I've seen it written differently in different places.

Don D

I like to capitalize departments and titles. John presented his weekly report on Maintenance, tells the reader that it's a department and not an activity. I think ALL job titles should be capitalized, whether on business cards or other forms of print. I do have a problem deciding sometimes whether to write HR or H.R.

Ruskanen

See, I always thought titles and departments should be capitalized too, but when I read Workforce's monthly publication, I notice that they do NOT capitalize. A direct quote from a February 2004 article, ""Although it's possible to earn a profit with lackluster benefits and mediocre working conditions, there's a huge difference between 'pay to play' and 'play to win," says Laura Sejen, national practice director for strategic rewards at Watson Wyatt Worldwide." But in another place in the article they write, "...Peter Cappelli, author of 'The New Deal at Work' and director of the Center for Human Resources at the University of Pennsylvania." I suppose Human Resources is capitalized in that case because it is the name of the center.

Don D

A job title is a bestowed title and I think all bestowed titles should be capitalized. Things like student, aviator, pledge and stripper should not be capitalized since they're applied to a broad group of persons. But, if one is designated 2003 Stripper Of The Year in Las Vegas, I think it would be. A good rule of thumb is to never pattern your practices after those in academia or other pinhead types who write articles. By the way, have you noticed Employers Forum has no apostrophe? I think it should have one AFTER the s. But, maybe not. Cordially, don d., peon in residence.

Whatever

Don, I agree there should be an apostrophe. The question is should it be before the s or after. Or, to put it politically, should it be to the left or the right of the s. Obviously, I believe it should be to the left. x;-)

ritaanz

After the "s" of course. The forum is for multiple employers, not just one.

I agree with The Don, titles and departments should be capitalized. When you see cases where they are not, it's probably because the individual wants to be different or cutsey.

ritaanz (see?)

System

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 06-24-04 AT 11:45AM (CST)[/font][br][br]I've always seen HR capitalized with no periods, unless you're writing about H.R. Puff-n-Stuff.

Most journalists capitalize a company official's title if it's before a name (HR Director John Smith) but not after (John Smith, HR director). And they don't capitalize ordinary jobs like receptionist or printing press operator.

But you're not a journalist, so you can capitalize job titles whenever you want. Same with department names. As long as you're consistent it'll look good.

As for the Employers Forum, it officially doesn't have an apostrophe, although it has one at the top of this page. The grammatical explanation is that "Employers" is being used as an adjective, like "Cubs outfielder" in the sports section. And an apostrophe would show ownership, meaning the forum owned by employers. And perhaps we were influenced by the fact that Mr. M. Lee Smith hates apostrophes in titles like that. x;-)

James Sokolowski
HRhero.com

Don D

James I agree wholeheartedly with you that men who put an initial first in their name like lawyers and a few others have a self-importance complex. I had not thought of it until you mentioned it. Names like J. Hilton Hollingsworth, M. Buckington Blubberpuss, M. Lee..... x:D

Dutch2

If for some reason you are actually hand writing the message, instead of using a typewriter or data entry; I mean key boarding, the apostrophe is simply placed on top of the s and the reader can make their own decision as to the prpoer placement. It works in a pinch....

Don D

"Most journalists capitalize a company official's title if it's before a name (HR Director John Smith) but not after (John Smith, HR director). And they don't capitalize ordinary jobs like receptionist or printing press operator."

Being the non-HR type, James completely got by with that one, above. I make it a point to capitalize every job title when I write memos for posting or when we send out job bids and publish job descriptions. Obviously because I do not subscribe to the theory that some jobs are minor and some are major or any are lesser. And I reckon they ALL are 'ordinary'.

System

Hey, I didn't make the rules - it's just my job to usually follow most of them. ;;)

James Sokolowski
HRhero.com