Most people working as organisers call themselves professional organisers (or organizers in America). And yet many people looking for an organiser to help, refer to them as personal organisers. So what’s in a name?
I asked my fellow organisers to offer their opinions on the title of “professional organiser”. Thank you to the 53 organisers who completed my survey. Of these, 46 call themselves professional organisers, 1 personal organiser and 6 use other titles, each of them unique.
More statistics from the survey tell more of the story. 3.8% (that’s 2 respondents) don’t feel strongly at all about the title they use. Another 22.6% (12) are neutral on the point. But a total of 73.6% (39) felt strongly to very strongly about using the title of professional organiser.
The survey was conducted anonymously but several respondents left comments in support of their answers. Here are some in support of the title of professional organiser.
Lots of people can help sort a wardrobe but do they have the code of ethics, insurance, professional development and business practice that a Professional Organising Business can provide?
I pride myself in my professionalism. It’s what sets us apart from a friend or relative helping our clients.
We need to have a common title to project professionalism & credibility to the industry. Also as we educate people that we exist, we need to avoid confusion with one official title.
I like clients to see me as professional in every way. Professional looking website, uniform, email, invoices etc and most of all professional manner and work ethic.
I think it is a good job title and says what it is clearly. But alas, it requires explaining every time!
And some comments from those who felt differently.
I often have to explain what my title means, I struggled with professional organiser as I found people didn’t “get it” and I found myself having to provide a lengthy description of what Professional organiser was.
I do have a little concern with the inclusion of the word professional in the title as you don’t hear a vet (for example) calling themselves a professional vet! i.e. I don’t organise weddings etc.
It seems this topic brought up some strong feelings and several different reasons for our given titles.
To wrap up, I propose that the title matters less than how well we communicate our services. We are both professional and personal. Even those organisers who work with corporate clients offer a personal, customised service. And it is that personal and customised service that sets us professional organisers apart from people who are organised.
