Something for the weekend…
What a load of jobbledygook! Talent delivery specialists, sorry, recruitment staff, are revamping job titles to make them sound more attractive.
In today’s job market, a number of positions have flash names.
Research by recruitment website Myjobmatcher.com found a number of ridiculously sounding names for jobs.
The wackiest job title was a five-a-day collection operative, which really meant the applicant was looking for a job as a fruit picker.
How about being an education centre nourishment consultant or, simply put, a dinner lady? The list goes on.
The top 10 odd job titles are:
- Five-a-day collection operative – fruit picker.
- Media distribution officer – paper boy.
- Guest services agent – receptionist.
- Highway environmental hygienist – road sweeper.
- Transparency enhancement facilitator – window cleaner.
- Talent delivery specialist – recruiter.
- Brand champion – sales assistant.
- Sanitation engineer – bin man.
- Education centre nourishment consultant – dinner lady.
- Public waste rechnician – toilet cleaner.
We may have a quiet chuckle, but for individuals job titles are very emotive and for a business watching it’s cost it’s significantly cheaper to give someone a more glamorous title to enhance their status than providing a pay increase or additional benefits.
For HR there is then the issue of maintaining the public title and the personal title to manage and keep them aligned. So every few years there is a job title clean up exercise!
I am in the camp of keep it simple rather than grand job titles that do not reflect the role.
Too much weight can be given to status versus contribution to the business and surely the best recognition is knowing you are the best at the job you do, regardless of what it is.