Job titles just get more and more ridiculous
WHAT is a “Logistic Shopping Cart Technician”? Or a “Director of First Impressions”? As jobs stay mundane, the titles become more outrageous. But why?
TRUMPED-UP jobs titles are getting “outrageous” as more companies give staff freedom to cook up their own fancy labels.
Window cleaners are calling themselves transparent wall maintenance engineers and trolley collectors have gone hoity toity as logistic shopping cart technicians.
Here are some other outrageous titles:
Trolley pushers ... logistic shopping cart technicians
Charity worker ... community change architect
Window cleaner......transparent wall maintenance engineer
Receptionist ... director of first impressions
Nightclub bouncer ... eviction technician
Recruiter ... talent delivery specialist
“A job title’s primary purpose is to communicate what the employee does and who they do it for. It needs to make sense and accurately reflect the job’s responsibilities. It needs to be functional first and foremost before you think about injecting fun, humour or more impressive language,” Employment Office managing director Tudor Marsden-Huggins said.
The recruitment boss says there is a growing trend towards workers over-inflating their importance.
“There are obvious issues with professionalism if a job title is outrageous or exaggerated. It can also be overwhelming and confusing to deal with a company where everyone’s job title is ambiguous or humorous. The more complicated the title, the more confusion surrounds the role, which could eventually lead to unrealistic expectations from customers, colleagues and even the employee themselves,” he said.
As no-frills titles take a back seat, bouncers are now eviction technicians, receptionists are directors of first impressions, counsellors are problem wranglers, and call centre managers — the chief chatters.
And as a recruiter Mr Marsden-Huggins in the modern world may find himself referred to as a talent delivery specialist.