Each week, Dr Kirstin Ferguson tackles questions on workplace, career and leadership in her advice column, “Got a Minute?” This week: a job title switch-up, feeling forced to resign and the concept of “last in, first out”.

I’m about to leave my current employer, where I recently attained “general manager” (GM) status after years of having “head of” roles. I’m about to change companies, and while technically the new role is called “head of” again, the recruiter has said it’s their “version of a GM role”. I’d like to share my new role on LinkedIn as being a GM. What are the ethics of this? Should I strictly observe the position description or is it OK to describe the role in realistic terms? Does it matter?

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Titles always cause angst, and this is why you need to be careful with how you use the one you have. You need to make sure the title you use on LinkedIn is accurate. In fact, everyone should make sure that every word of their LinkedIn profile is correct; it is simply a public CV.

Everyone at your new workplace will check you out on LinkedIn as soon as your appointment is announced. They will see what title you give yourself and if they know your new title is “head of XYZ” and you put “general manager of XYZ”, you are bound to create whispers. It sounds like your new employer has a reason why they have chosen not to use the GM title, and so you shouldn’t either. I would wait until you start in the role and get the lay of the land, then you can see whether a title change might be an option.

I have been at my workplace for five years and have always worked efficiently and met my KPIs. My boss keeps saying he is busy and wants someone at a higher level on the team to help him, but it’s not in the budget. For the last few months, he has been openly criticising my work and giving me tasks with unrealistic timelines, then berating me publicly when the timelines are missed. Jobs are difficult to find in my area and I will likely have to take a large pay cut or be unemployed for a while if I resign. He is obviously orchestrating a forced resignation, so they can get the new superstar he wants. I am fed up with going to work in tears. Should I resign and cut my losses? I don’t even want to stay the four weeks notice period to train the new person, as it will be even more traumatic.

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There is no doubt you are in a difficult situation. If you think you are being bullied or harassed to resign, you can contact Fair Work and ask for advice. If your boss terminates your employment, you can also contact Fair Work and put in a claim for forced resignation. But none of these are great outcomes; they are the nuclear option and in the end you won’t have your job.

Have you tried talking to your boss? I know it might be difficult, but perhaps you could meet with him and ask for feedback on what he needs to see from you. Let him know you have noticed the shift from how you both worked together in the past. Reassure him you are committed to learning and working with him productively. Just in case that approach doesn’t work, keep notes of everything he is asking of you and the different ways his behaviour is unreasonable, just in case you need to activate the nuclear option.