Job Titles Matter. Period.

Job titles matter. Have you ever noticed how it’s always people with big job titles themselves who tell us that they don’t? I know this advice comes from a place of good intent, but I don’t see how it helps anyone. Yet I’ve heard it shared many times over the years.

The advice generally goes like this from someone senior:?Just do good work that has impact, and the recognition and titles will follow. Take on side project after side project. Over perform. Sign up for courses and certifications to upskill yourself. Build your self-awareness, seek feedback, work on your emotional intelligence. Take on extra responsibilities because, “you’ve got to do the job before you get the job.”

Go the extra mile! Make work the centre of your life and invest way too much of your self-worth into it. And then, go tobann! – here comes the plot twist folks – nothing actually happens. I bet many of you reading this have experienced it. Perhaps we all have at some stage in our careers. I know I have.?

Follow the Leader

In my mind, adhering to this advice for too long is akin to charging a customer for a bronze level subscription whilst delivering platinum level. How long should an employee keep offering platinum level services with free add-ons before expecting something in return? We all know that's not sustainable. What incentive is there for the recipient of those perks to pay for or recognise an upgrade, when they’re already getting what they want for a lower price? It also implies a power dynamic between employees and companies that makes me uncomfortable. It suggests that extra employee time and effort should be given freely and gratefully.?This breeds complacency in employers and exacerbates pay gaps between employees. Isidora Prohaska illustrates the consequent pay gap issues well in her recent Zapier article here.

Advising employees not to focus on job titles, is in my opinion a form of gaslighting. It encourages workers not to push for what they are worth or deserve but to keep their heads down. It’s the workplace equivalent of putting Baby in the corner instead of encouraging her to dance.?

This advice also disproportionately impacts women, people from minority backgrounds and other disadvantaged groups who may lack the confidence and socio-economic luxury to set the boundaries needed with their employers. It consequently holds back careers, diminishes people’s self-confidence and is quite simply disrespectful. Enough already.

Pesky Millennials

Am I asking for too much? I anticipate my perspective may be interpreted by some as an open invite to say I’m an entitled millennial. That’s okay. I know who I am and what I stand for. Shining a light on this topic – especially for younger generations of the workforce coming up behind us – is important to me.??If you are an employee seeking advice on how to better advocate for yourself, I recommend following J.T O’Donnell both here on LinkedIn and over on TikTok – her content is excellent.

And I do have hope. With the advent of the Great Resignation, things are slowly starting to change. ?I wholeheartedly applaud the employees who are starting to push back against this rhetoric from their employers.?

Where to from here?

One of the hardest parts of my job as a recruiter is letting people know when they have been unsuccessful for a role. One call from a few months back stands out. After a lengthy interview process, I reached out to a candidate to share feedback and let her know that unfortunately we would not be extending a job offer. She accepted the news with the utmost professionalism, grace and positivity. But she also said this:

“I understand where your company is coming from. I know I haven’t yet operated at the VP level, but I have done X, Y and Z to prepare myself. I’m not sure what else I can do to prepare myself further without actually doing the job. At some stage, I need someone to pull down the ladder and give me a shot”. ?

To conclude, if you are a leader who is still advising people not to worry about titles, here’s my call to action for you. ?I know you mean well but please stop. I’m delighted that approach worked for you, but it’s not a privilege shared by everyone. In fact, for the reasons outlined in this post, I think it’s doing more harm than good. What you can do though is help pull down the ladder so others can have a better chance at climbing up too.?

To be clear, pulling down the ladder requires actions like:

• Proactively advocating for people when they’re not in the room
• Transparency and honesty around progression, promotions and compensation.?
• Delivering the constructive feedback employees need to hear to grow and progress – not shying away from these conversations. Radical candour is essential. ?
• Curiosity and recognition of past learning trajectories and using that to infer potential, rather than excessively focusing on the experience employees don’t already have

And so I’ll leave you with this question - who have you helped pull the ladder down for lately?

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The views expressed here are solely my own and do not reflect those of my current or past employers. If you would like to read more of my writing, you can follow me?here?on LinkedIn.