As a business or HR leader, you’ve likely considered the influence of your professional title more than a few times throughout your career. Perhaps you wondered how your title impacts your pay, credibility or how others perceive you.
Remember that your workforce also runs similar thoughts through their minds. So, the question is, do job titles matter? The answer is yes, however, you will be able to examine this concept in this article from a few angles to know how influential job titles truly are.
Understand the Impact of a Job Title
Many people only regard job titles as the bit of information you insert in a resume. However, there’s more to it than that. These few words describing your professional position could make an impression on everyone you meet. Here are a few examples:
Hiring Managers
If you operate your business like most, you tend to promote from within. Lateral moves or even career changes at one company aren’t anything unusual. Not only does this strategy reduce hiring costs but it also enables a smoother transition and minimizes production impacts.
Consider your current team members and all the departments or job titles they’ve experienced. For example, an employee going from an associate to a supervisor to a manager to a director is a natural progression.
Your team is most likely made of people with variations of this sequence or pattern under their belt. It only makes sense for your entire company to reflect uniform job title sequences, no matter the department. Promoting from within works best when the transition in the company is fluid, making job title consideration a critical part of a hiring manager’s role.
Other Employees
A job title is often a way for coworkers to gauge how “high” someone is on the corporate ladder. Some people will connect with any team member, but others tend to be, talking solely with those in leadership positions. So naturally, job titles are relevant to a company’s hierarchy.
More importantly, job titles matter to other employees because it helps your team establish boundaries with one another. It also tells others who is responsible for what. Clearly defined roles typically mean more productivity and profit for your company overall.
Clients
Your clients don’t always need you to define boundaries like team members, but they typically want to know the extent of any single representative’s authority. So, if you’re wondering if job titles matter to clients, the answer is yes.
Clients are more willing to collaborate with those in authority. For example, consider an Account Manager vs. a Key Account Manager. The second job title offers a client more assurance that they’re meaningful to your company. Clients often decipher your business story from job titles as well.
Job Title Hierarchy
Understanding the job title hierarchy within an organization can be essential for navigating career paths and recognizing the structure of roles and responsibilities. This is an overview of each level in a typical job title hierarchy.
Entry-Level Positions
These roles are designed for individuals who are new to the workforce or transitioning to a new field. Common titles include:
- Intern: Typically a temporary position, often part-time, focused on gaining experience.
- Assistant: Provides administrative support to higher-level employees or departments.
- Associate: A beginner role that often involves specific tasks and responsibilities within a team.
- Coordinator: Manages specific projects or tasks, often requiring organizational skills.
Mid-Level Positions
These roles involve more responsibility, often including supervision of entry-level employees and more complex tasks:
- Supervisor: Oversees day-to-day activities of a team or department to ensure tasks are completed efficiently.
- Manager: Responsible for planning, directing and overseeing operations and employees within a department.
- Senior Manager: Like a manager but with greater responsibility and often overseeing multiple departments or larger teams.
- Director: Sets strategic goals for a department and ensures they align with the company’s objectives, often managing multiple managers.
Senior-Level Positions
These roles include strategic planning and high-level decision-making:
- Vice President (VP): Oversees broad areas of the company, such as sales, marketing or operations, often reporting directly to C-suite executives.
- Senior Vice President (SVP): Higher-ranking than a VP with more extensive responsibilities and often involved in major strategic decisions.
- Executive Vice President (EVP): A senior role often tasked with significant executive duties and strategic oversight, second only to the C-suite.
C-Suite Executives
These top-level executives are responsible for the overall direction and success of the company:
- Chief Executive Officer (CEO): The highest-ranking executive, responsible for the overall vision, strategy and management of the company.
- Chief Operating Officer (COO): Manages the day-to-day operations of the company, ensuring efficient processes and workflows.
- Chief Financial Officer (CFO): Oversees financial planning, risk management and financial reporting, ensuring the company’s financial health.
- Chief Marketing Officer (CMO): Directs marketing strategies and efforts to promote the company’s brand and products.
- Chief Information Officer (CIO): Manages the company’s IT strategy and systems, ensuring technological resources align with business goals.
- Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO): Oversees the company’s HR strategies, including talent management, recruitment and employee relations.
Understanding these levels helps employees identify potential career paths and prepare for future roles, while also providing a clear structure for organizational growth and development.
Using Job Titles to Attract and Retain Talent
Companies are hunting for top talent; however, top talent is also searching for quality employers. In addition, highly qualified applicants know what to look for in a job title. As a part of your company’s HR strategy, you should include crafting succinct job titles. Here are a few more approaches to consider:
Clarity
Make sure to write your job titles with clear and direct expectations. The Supervisor of Smile Makers is far less descriptive than the Administrative Assistant, so be straightforward. Think about your company’s natural job sequence as well. Titling a position as “supervisor” when it’s honestly an “assistant” role only sets up that individual for future challenges.
Momentum
Furthermore, adhering to the natural job title sequence encourages loyalty from your talented employees. Look at the situation from your workforce’s perspective. It’s comforting knowing that you will start as an assistant and can move up to director one day, assuming you meet all the proper professional milestones. HR departments must maintain that momentum by creating suitable job titles to keep top talent around.
Sophistication
Think about the job ads you’ve read containing words like “ninja” or “Jedi.” Perhaps these job ads also had several titles, furthering any confusion about the position and might have you wondering if the ad was describing one job or two or more. To avoid any confusion, avoid writing job titles with buzzwords or clickbait otherwise the most talented individuals won’t take your company or the job seriously.
Searchability
Do job titles matter when candidates search for specific positions? The short answer is yes. Attracting top talent means making the open position as searchable as you can. Besides writing clear job titles, consider how quickly a candidate can find your specific job ad. Do they have to really dig for it? If the right people aren’t clicking on your job ad, it’s time to reevaluate your HR strategy. A searchable job title also matters once the person is hired. What if a prospective client is looking to connect with a sales professional at your company? Your sales professionals may not appear in LinkedIn search results if their job title is “rainmaker.”
Purpose
Think about who your job title is written for — stakeholders or actual candidates. Some companies feel obligated to investors or shareholders and create job titles based on their expectations rather than for potential employees. Remember, outsiders won’t always know your company lingo so craft your job title with this in mind.
How Job Titles Can Motivate Your Workforce
Motivating your employees is no small task, especially not after the rough and tumble of 2020. However, one of the most significant motivators is merely validating your staff’s efforts. This approach can mean assigning a new job title to an employee.
Although you don’t necessarily have to promote that employee, you can adjust their job title to reflect added responsibilities. The employee can still hold the same position, only with new duties and roles. Sure, a bonus or salary increase can accompany these changes but that’s up to you.
But the job title itself will validate your employees’ efforts and show them that you notice and appreciate their extra mile. Plus, it’s not fair to require your employees to pull double or triple duty without some type of compensation, monetary or otherwise.
HR Strategy to Grow Your Business
Higginbotham’s consulting team offers insight in shaping and refining your company’s overall HR strategy, ensuring it aligns with your business goals and fosters a productive, engaged workforce. Our consultants provide a comprehensive analysis of your current HR practices and identify areas for improvement, ranging from talent acquisition and retention to employee engagement and development. If you need assistance with formulating your company’s ideal job titles, please reach out to the HR professionals at Higginbotham or visit our HR Services page for more information.
