Academic qualifications on a business card

Its appropriate/sometimes necessary to put your designation/post on the Business card, particularly in large cooperations. However, would you put your qualification (e.g., MSc/MEng) on your Business card (in Germany + European customers)? If yes, where in the card is it located? besides your name?

yes, right after your name.

no - only use your professional qualifications or proper post grad quals like Dr or Prof.

Putting a masters on is a bit try hard even in germany

Yes; Germans focus a lot of attention on titles and qualifications. The format is:

John Smith (MSc.)

In my experience, people usually put "Dr." (or Ph.D., MD, etc.) and specific professional qualifications (e.g. CFA), but they usually do not put their "normal" university degrees (Dipl.-Kfm., MBA, etc.). Some do, though.

i'd put MBA as that really means something specific, normal masters can be generic

If I was a DPhil I wouldn't put it either - shows you couldn't hack a phd.

Personally I have : Lassie ACA

I'd never put Lassie MA ACA - looks crap (plus I don't have an MA)

one chap at work has Prof Dr Tosser Wirtschaftsprüfer which always cracks me up.


Oh, and I'm talking more about finance/business admin here, not specific industries which are probably different

Maybe it's only some that do it, but I've seen "MBA" on business cards very often.

Most of my colleagues put in their qualification whether it is Dr or not.

I have an MEng so I use it. It took me 5 bloody years to get it so I don't see anything wrong with including it.

I guess it depends what industry you're in how much other accreditations count. For me there is nothing that could be classed as more valuable than my degree from a professional body standpoint, so I use my degree.

Like Lassie, I just put CA after my name. I do not put my university degree as it is not as relevant as the professional qualification.
Colleagues tend to do the same, although in the UK they tended to use full qualifications more often.

In Britain I wouldn't put it on because, as Lassie says, it's trying to hard. In Germany I would if it was a Masters (or equivalant) or higher; BA or BSc is unfortunately nothing too special in Germany.

Hmmm, on second thoughts, I agree that it seems to be more common to put "MBA" than -say- "Dipl.-Kfm.".

Why not do what I do and have 2 versions.

1 With my job title and Qualifications
1 With only my name on it

If I feel it appropriate or needy to show who I am or the level at which I play they get the 1st.
If it is going to make me look a Muppet and make them think why the hell is the Financial Director with 7 years Uni education out servicing my alarm, then I would go for the second!

Horses for courses, however our company is a 2 man band, and the question was for a large organisation.

Just my suggestion!

My brother also holds a very high industry specific qualification and is the youngest person in Britain to hold it so we tend to use it as a USP.

The whole topic reminds me of a film think it is Vanilla Sky’s?

I do.

In Austria, I use Magister. It's official.

So the card says:

Mag. Thomas Lastname, BSc, MBA

And I go by Herr Magister Meyer.

Playing the title card here gives great mileage.

Ah, maybe I'll put my MBA because my ear- and nose-picker boss doesn't even have a Diplom.

Titles aside, I for one hope that the archaic practise of bloody business cards dies, and dies soon. They disgust me, and remind me of dicks who wear suits and work in sales because they are not qualified to do a real job. Wanna send me your adress? Email it, or infra red it, or anything that does not involve some gay little rectangle of paper. It's 2007. PAper to me is only used to wrap around weed to make reefers.
And another thing, all that gay bullshit you are meant to go through if by chance a bloody Japanese gives you a card. Bow, pretend to read card with interest, bow. More bowing. Take your shoes off. Bow.
Fuck that. I don't bow for anyone other than the Queen of England, and my shoes stay on for a good reason you dopey nip, my feet smell.

If you must have a gay business card and look like a complete muppet, get one of a decent thickness - not too thick, not too thin, - so that I can at least use it for roach.

Why bow to the queen? Who is she to me anyway? What would the point of that be?

And wouldn't you be upholding a facet of the very archaic protocol you are so criticizing, should you bow?

What a strange little fellow, what a weird little rant.

Signed Tartan MSc

Also bow to Queen of England (UK), why would you do that?

Also have you never been to a meeting with a load of new business twats and have trouble remembering their names, that's what they are for!

The usual practice in German-speaking areas is your name, then a comma or line break, then the abbreviated qualification(s), listed from lowest to highest grade.

Example:

John Q. Doe, BSc, MSc

If you have an academic title, that goes before the name. Unlike English-speaking areas, Germans list all accumulated academic titles, listed from highest to lowest grade, so once in a while you see a "Dr. Dr." or even "Prof. Dr. Dr.".

My mother gets a kick out of it when she's visiting here, as in America she's "only" a Prof., but here she's a Prof. Dr. with an alphabet soup of titles, and they roll out the red carpet and bend and scrape. Being poncey can be kinda fun once in a while.

Cheers,

Fairfax71

Guess it depends on the business type, for Engineering type stuff nearly all the business cards I have from Germans have their Dipl -Ing or Dipl -Phys on it, often in smaller type, just above or below their name.

Umm I see business cards as an ice breaker, and use them as part of my sales pitch, saying you have my number there if anything goes wrong, you are not happy, you need more clarification, etc etc then you have my number, my phone is on 24/7 and if you ring I will answer. (unlike the senior management of my rival competitors which are multi international and getting the same sales person; that said their products and services work and they clearly don't on the phone again is like catching a fly with tweezers! (Ok so you are ok if you are Karate Kid!)

As for the paper business card, I had plastic ones made when I was a DJ, they were good and I still know people now who have them and I haven’t done it in years! I have seen and been given CD's in the shape of business cards which have whole catalogues on them.

One of the best ones I was given was a blank card had nothing on it at all, talking to the fella and he said it was because there was a fuck up at the printers and only 10 of like 10,000 actually had what was meant to be on there, the others were blank, however he had given so many of them out without realising that he would feed a cock to have to go back to the people and say umm it was blank and I didn't look at it but worse neither did you!

So shows you how right Vanilla Sky's is... Not what it says but how it feels that counts.

I think the whole tradition of business cards is good, and that they should stay. And you only look like a junior who has not earned the right to represent the company if you have not got them!

As for the Queen, I would treat her like anyone else and if she bowed for me I would bow for her. After all a title means shit if there is not personality to go with it!

And why not get Rizzler to print you a business card on the packet, you could give them out to people and every time they get high they would be thinking of how it was you that made it happen.

you have absolutely no idea. in my 7 years of work experience in Germany, your title is how the person standing across from you knows how to determine how qualified you are. this is Germany and you are absolutely nothing without an education or vocational training. i was a consultant for 4 1/2 years and our customers wanted to know off the bat who was qualified to do what, especially when you had little or no experience. i didn't think it was necessary, but i was forced to put my MSc title on there.

In Germany, you are also required to list your type of university qualification, which is why those with Fachhochschule degrees have to put (FH) after their qualification. In B.W. they have a vocational training called "Berufsakademie" shorted unluckily to BA, which is not to be confused with Bachelor of Arts. i'll look for someone here and ask them how their business card looks like.

Have been rooting around the net and cannot find anywhere that says a DPhil is lesser than a PhD - is this actually the case? I know the the DLitt is a higher degree, but not so sure about differences between the two above mentioned docxtorates