Does Your Firm Need an Ambassador of Buzz?
You might have noticed that job titles have taken a creative turn lately.
You’ll find Help Wanted ads for Sales Ninjas, Data Commanders, Einstein Editors and Human Calculators. In the old days, those positions were called salesperson, accounting manager, proofreader and bookkeeper.
And instead of a receptionist, how about a Director of First Impressions, as the job is called at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Or rather than a stodgy old communications director, how about an Ambassador of Buzz, as its called at Grasshopper.
In this age of clickbait and Snapchat, where Marvel movies rule the box-office universe, a catchy job title might just what’s needed to the catch the attention of top young talent.
“Ninety-nine percent of job descriptions are painfully long and boring,” writes Kate Reilly on the LinkedIn Talent Blog. “Since so few companies invest in job descriptions, there is so much room to stand out. All candidates – whether passive or active - will read your job description at some point in the hiring process. Why not use it strategically to grab and keep the attention of the candidate you’re really after?”
Which is why Apple is advertising for a Senior Armaggedon Avoidance Engineer (software engineer) and a Genius (service technician).
You’ve Been Promoted to VP of Stuff
Admittedly, a law office is not a video game start-up. Pretty much everything is different: from dress code to ethics.
But if you want to lure the best and brightest from the next generation, a little creativity may help your posting stand out from the pack.
And speaking of descriptive verbiage: can we just go ahead and abolish the word “non-lawyer?” Defining something in the negative is neither nice nor empowering.
Here are three clever job ads highlighted by Reilly and the LinkedIn Talent Blog:
- Accounts supportocat. “We help people as quickly and awesomely as possible. This is a place for people to work better together.” [GitHub]
- Associate community specialist. “To keep the Meetup ecosystem humming, Associate Community Specialists respond to mountains of emails and take plenty of phone calls. You get a kick out of getting people to those aha Teaching someone something new makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside.” [Meetup]
- QA Engineer. “Are you a stubborn person who’s not afraid of searching for a needle in a stack of hay? Do you love the border between development and product? Can you play nice with both humans and machines?” [EverythingMe]
16 Creative Job Titles
How would these jobs look on your resume (courtesy of Forbes):
- VP of Misc. Stuff (does a little of everything – Quicken Loans)
- Sous chef (product development technician – Method)
- The Resinator (leads packaging team – Method)
- Arts and Crafts Designer (marketing – Method)
- Director, Ethical Hacking (cyber penetration expert – Predictive Systems, Inc.)
- Master of Disaster (safeguards access to information after a calamity – MapInfo)
- Project Meanie (keep coworkers on schedule – InsightShare LLC)
- Crayon Evangelist (graphic designer – InteQ Corp)
- Catalyst (executive assistant/office manager – Detroit Venture Partners)
- Creator of Opportunities (SVP of business development – Allen & Gerritsen)
- Digital Prophet (trend predictor – AOL)
- Chief Curator (chooses which items appear on homepage – eBay)
- Chief Cheerleader (CEO – Mid America Motorworks)
- Chief Amazement Officer (founder – Shephard Presentations)
- President and TeaEO (CEO – Honest Tea)
- Chief Troublemaker (CEO – Matrix Group)
Oh, and if you’re interested in becoming a Sales Ninja, you can even attend the Sales Ninja Academy (for boutique and indie retailers), where you’ll learn how to:
- Increase your team's average sale with suggestion selling techniques
- Reduce returns and have a happier, more loyal clientele
- Reduce shrinkage
- Reduce staff turnover
- Eliminate repetitive training tasks
- Ensure a standard by which your team is trained
- Build the value of your business and make it more resistant to economic downturn and competitive attack.
So what’s your job title?
