How Pompous Job Titles Became Trendy
“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. ”(Aki Ito, businessinsider. in)
Inflated job titles, signalling a lofty hierarchical status, have become fashionable recently, for four reasons:
1.Saving on overtime wages
Employers can deny overtime wages by designating front-desk assistants as “directors of first impressions,” and carpet cleaners as “shampoo managers.”
2. Attracting talented candidates
Adding prefixes like “senior” to the job title made the employees feel good.
3. Make subordinate and middle-level staff more important to clients.
Example: sales representative= business development manager.
4.Expectations of Generation Z
Younger staff expected to be promoted earlier to acquire sophisticated job titles.
Pompous designations provide little value to the employees, mislead job aspirants, and misinform the public.
