Ninja Happiness Officer And More Made Up Job Titles
At my very first big HR Conference, my job title was Director of Marketing for a blog about recruiting. After I introduced myself to people on the showroom floor, I watched it register, and a look of boredom come across their faces. I can imagine what they thought next:
“You’re not important to me.”
I confirmed the distinct meaning of those looks a few hours later. As the hand-shaking happy hour introductions began, the same people had entirely different expressions when my CEO made an introduction. I watched them nod with delight, their eyes glowing with decision-maker access. The job title was a status symbol.
I had seen it before. I started fighting my way to new job titles, and their accompanying self-validation, long before this event. Then I had a reality check.
Job Titles Are Completely Made Up.
See, I started this company called Three Ears Media. I picked the company name. I chose a website template. A logo. Business cards. As I was buying the business cards for this shiny new company, it hit me.
I can call myself whatever the hell I want.
Ninja Butt Scratcher. Seriously.
Whatever. The. Hell. I. Want.
While job titles are necessary for attracting qualified candidate traffic, they don’t have the value that our society tends to put on them.
The lesson here? Don’t put that kind of pressure on yourself to get some made-up title. I spent a lot of my life chasing job titles and feeling frustrated every time I didn’t get a promotion. I used those feelings and missed opportunities to tell myself I wasn’t good enough, and I hope you don’t.
The way people look at you when you tell them where you work or your job title doesn’t convey your worth — not even one little bit.
Public Service Announcement: Making up job titles hurts your chances of hiring the right person or keeping them. It’s so important that I teach people how to research job titles, but that’s not where I was going with this post. We can teach you to write better ones in our on-demand master class.
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Kat Kibben View All →
Kat Kibben [they/them] is a keynote speaker, writing expert, and LGBTQIA+ advocate who teaches hiring teams how to write inclusive job postings that will get the right person to apply faster.
Before founding Three Ears Media, Katrina was a CMO, Technical Copywriter, and Managing Editor for leading companies like Monster, Care.com, and Randstad Worldwide. With 15+ years of recruitment marketing and training experience, Katrina knows how to turn talented recruiting teams into talented writers who write for people, not about work.
Today, Katrina is frequently featured as an HR and recruiting expert in publications like The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and Forbes. They’ve been named to numerous lists, including LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Job Search & Careers. When not speaking, writing, or training, you’ll find Katrina traveling the country in their van or spending some much needed downtime with the dogs that inspired the name Three Ears Media.