Not a ninja, but ready to kick butt: Buzzword job titles in the Canadian federal public service

Natalia Little
Aug 24, 2017 · 4 min read

My name is Natalia and I’m a young public servant who’s worked in various policy positions in the Government of Canada since 2014. In the last year, I’ve noticed a trend of job postings for positions in the federal public service with buzzword terms like “ninja,” “jedi,” “guru,” “master” and “yoda.” Though I’ve never applied to any of these job postings, they have effectively caught my eye because they stand out from the traditional job titles featured on our public service job posting platform such as “policy analyst,” “program officer,” or “communications specialist.” These job postings have also become a point of discussion with my colleagues, as I’ve chuckled with them about the thought of signing off every work e-mail with: Regards, Jedi Master N. Little.

Only recently have I started to wonder what exactly is unique or special about these job postings and how this trend relates to changing HR practices in the federal public service generally. This interest has come about as I’ve begun to meet and collaborate with other public servants in my job classification category, EC (Economics and Social Sciences), who have the term “innovation” in their job title. My current job is ALL about innovation. To put it short, I’m working on disseminating my department’s evaluation results, which means using new channels and platforms for information sharing and modernizing the way we communicate to citizens. Yet, “innovation” isn’t tacked onto my job title; I’m just a plain, boring analyst.

So what exactly does this trend mean for me? I consider myself a disruptor because I encourage my senior managers to experiment and try new approaches and I’ve made a concerted effort to get involved in spurring organizational culture change towards open and digital. That being said, I also see myself as part of a larger movement to modernize the public service where there are so many other public servants like me who don’t have a formal label differentiating them from those lagging behind in the shift. And to be honest, I think that classifying change-makers might have an alienation effect on those people who need to be engaged the most. So while I understand the intent to catch someone’s eye with an interesting job posting, I’m not convinced that the job responsibilities are very different from those that people with traditional job titles hold. What’s more, I think HR needs to focus on addressing the increasing blend of job responsibilities between classifications in the federal public service… but that’s for another blog post :)

In closing, here’s some sample text from 2017 job postings in the Canadian public service that have featured buzzwords. And don’t worry if you’re just a plain-Jane analyst like me, because we can all kick butt (figuratively) in the workplace like a ninja!

Issues Ninja and Master Storyteller: As an Issues Ninja in Strategic Communications, you’ll use your spidey senses to anticipate issues, tackle the tough ones, and align the stars for success… As a Master Storyteller on the Clerk’s Communications team, you’ll wear a lot of hats — from editor in chief and speechwriter to teacher and social media dynamo.

Innovation Yoda: Are you someone who is curious, loves to inspire and enable others to be their best creative selves? Do you wake up in the morning bursting with new ideas that you can’t wait to share with the people around you? Does building community come as naturally to you as brewing a pot of coffee? Are you fed up with feeling alone in a creative wilderness, longing to make a difference? Then come and join a unique, energetic, inspired team of creative, like-minded people (rebels)…

Labour Relations Jedi Knight / Senior Labour Relations Jedi Master: The Order is currently composed of energetic, professional, dedicated individuals and is setup in virtual teams across the Canadian galaxy… Those who will join will have the opportunity to work on grievances at all levels, advise management on policies, guidelines and collective agreements, represent DFO at adjudication, collective bargaining, and on departmental work groups… May the force be with you.

Advice Guru: As an Advice Guru, you will be required to use your expert techniques to anticipate issues and react quickly in a fast-pace environment as well as your wisdom to provide strategic advice and recommendation to senior management and adjust quickly to respond to emerging priorities.

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Written by

Canadian federal public servant interested in the intersect btw design, comms & policy. Tweets about #digitalgov, #opengov, #policyinnovation.

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