When your job title matters

The answer is never.

Well, almost never. Barring a few grand exceptions like, you know, specialized trades and skills like doctors and engineers, your job title doesn’t carry much weight in the general business world anymore. And then sometimes it does, when, really, it shouldn’t. Here’s why:

I wanted to test this theory, hypothesis if you will, so I recently did a little social experiment. I changed my job title on LinkedIn from Regional Manager, to Regional Director for 48 hours. All of a sudden I started getting vastly different interactions from people in my network and people in the industry. Now, I didn’t change anything else – not my roles and responsibilities, my core competencies, skills, NOTHING! Only my most recent job title, because the role I was in at the time was, arguably, that of a Regional Director. I found that the job responsibilities were, in many aspects, comparable to that of a Regional Director. And so did others. Many others. I found the results fascinating.

“Social Media is about sociology and psychology more than technology.”

– Brain Solis

All of a sudden I starting getting more followers, more in mails, more profile views, and more connections. It’s almost like suddenly I had more credibility, yet, what I was doing in my role, was no different. I was performing the same job, using the same skills, with the same job description yet no one cared. No one even cared to notice. The status and perceived superior title (which, is it really?) made all the difference, and I’m not sure I like it. It just goes to show how careless people can be when networking and choosing who they connect with - myself included.

I wondered: Why this spike in interest suddenly (yes, my notification function was turned off)? I do great work and my profile shows this, yet networkers are lazy and don't even stop to notice. But they DO stop to notice when there's a more superior job title involved. It’s all about the job title when, your job title often says little about your actual skills and experience, let alone your ability to be effective and get results.

"If you’re a social media marketer looking for a job, the simple phrase “social media marketer” is only one of at least 75 different titles describing your area of expertise."        

The point I'm trying to make is that in this day and age when we’re referring to waste collectors as Refuse Disposal Operatives, making up grand names for everyday jobs, it's not surprising that finding exceptional talent is getting harder and harder. Glorifying the job title doesn't change the actual job. 

Some are subtle "improvements" like sales assistant to beauty advisor but others come in the form of utterly ridiculous job titles like Color Distribution Technician aka Painter. Social Media Sherpa, anyone? No where is this epidemic more rampant than in the digital world.

On the flipside, dumbing down job titles that require exceptional expertise undermines that expertise. The range of job titles have become so white-washed and diluted in the name of creativity, innovation, or progressive workplace identity, it’s hard to sift through the BS. Nate Moller, an online business expert of sorts, explains this so well in this article (check it out, it's funny). 

There are job titles that convey function, and there are job titles that convey seniority. And that's ok. They're all important, they're just different. Whether this trend will continue or just die off, remains to be seen. In the meantime you're better off doing your due diligence, and looking at what a person ACTUALLY does and identifying core competencies and skills, rather than, like a crow drawn to a shiny object, immediately zoom in on the job title.

You'll have better relationships, better connections, and be a better talent spotter for it. Cheers to that!

If this resonates with you, please share! I'd love to hear your grand job titles - comment if you dare :)