Assistant / associate manager?

[All Potted Out]

Are there any differences between assistant manager and associate manager?

[Yankee]

Hi apo

I'd say they probably mean the same thing.

However, titles vary from company to company, so often the only way to get a relatively good idea about what a title really means is to read the job description.

Amy

[All Potted Out]

Thanks!
About the two words, it seems people would say associate professor rather than assistant professor. So, are there any rules to follow?

[Yankee]

Hi apo

Well, again, there are apparently differences from place to place. In North America there are people called "Assistant Professor" and that is apparently lower in rank than an "Associate Professor".

Here is a description from Wikipedia:

The basic difference between levels of professor according to the national academic system is that in North America, the designation is based on career, whereas in Europe it is based on position. That means that if a North American Assistant Professor is performing particularly well, he or she can be promoted to Associate Professor, and if this is the case again, on to (full) Professor . In the European system, the different fields and sub-fields of teaching and research are allotted certain (professorial) chairs, and one can only become a professor if one is appointed to such a chair (which then has to be free, i.e., unoccupied). Therefore, the different professorial ranks are not necessarily comparable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professor

I think assistant vs associate is something that may have to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

For example, in a company I once worked for, there was a position called "Sales Associate" and this was basically the lowest position in the company. I think the company decided to use this name for that particular job only because they thought it made the position sound better.

Amy