Companies are running out of lofty job titles

When I first read the headline of this article, I immediately slapped myself on the forehead:

“How Gen Z and the Great Resignation created a wave of overinflated job titles”

…no duh.

Corporate job titles have become meaningless.

According to an analysis of 2.4 million job postings by Datapeople, since 2019, employers have:

  • tripled their use of the word “lead” in early-career tech jobs,

  • upped their use of “principal” by 57%,

  • and cut their use of the word “junior” by half

The reason this is happening is multifold, some of it to benefit the savings and earnings of the employer and some of it to entice and hold onto talent.

My favorite part of the article is this quote:

“The title inflation has gotten SO BAD that companies are running out of lofty new words to bestow on their employees.”

That’s right, RUNNING OUT OF words!

Handing out fancy titles isn’t solving problems for anyone- the client, the employer or the employee.

Title inflation is a symptom that we use titles as an external way to define worth.

People think that by gaining a bigger title their reputation and earning power will match it.

At the end of the day, no job title ever matters.

HERE'S WHAT TRULY MATTERS

Our own professional identity is what matters.

Professional identity is what we call ourselves in our work, and how we see ourselves. This isn’t taught, and it isn’t something we’ve been told we have the agency to do.

(As a side note- my definition of personal branding is the act of intentionally putting your professional identity into the world, so professional identity must be discovered before you know how to brand yourself.)

Learning to define ourselves comes from our own

  • self-awareness,

  • self-understanding,

  • and self-reflection of who we are in our work

Once we have this self-knowledge, then we can communicate our value to others. This is much more important than gaining “an ever fancier title” given to you by a company.

[See my case study on Simon and how effective he was at reflecting on his professional identity and then conveying it to his employer].

I advocate for empowering people to be #morethanmytitle and developing accurate and AUTHENTIC language that truly conveys who you are in the workplace.

Yes, you can create and define a unique title that represents you in your career and differentiates you without being grandiose. (This is, after all, what I've dedicated my research and tools to doing).

Finding those perfect words is something we’ll never run out of because they are entirely unique to each individual.

Professional identities are infinite. Job titles are inflated.

Dr. Sarabeth Berk Bickerton