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April 13, 2015 PAGE ONE

What's your career goal? Vice president? Or grand guru?

Chris Tieri of smith&jones: Colorful is cool, but clarity is most important.
By Emily Micucci

What’s in a name? Or more specifically, a job title?

Today, more companies are embracing the unorthodox over the tried and true when it comes to devising names for the positions their employees hold. We see it from large companies, such as Apple, which employs “geniuses,” not customer service associates, in its retail stores, but we see it on a more local level too.  

Jobs bearing titles that include such nouns as “guru,” “czar” and “evangelist,” seem most plentiful in Massachusetts in technology-laden Boston and Cambridge. But Red Hat, an open-source software provider with a large engineering office in Westford, has jumped on that train too. The company is currently looking to hire a “cloud evangelist” to help market its software to developers.  

“We want to convey the culture and the energy of our company through our job titles and our job postings,” said L.J. Brock, head of Red Hat’s Global Talent Group and vice president of people (not to be confused with “human resources manager”).

Job titles that 'speak' to candidates

It’s not merely that Red Hat, like most technology companies, is eyeing a younger talent base that prefers to think outside the box when it comes to their job titles and descriptions. Brock said opting for such creative monikers opens the door to a larger group of job candidates who might not identify with a “marketing manager” position but are inspired by a role in preaching the virtues of the cloud.

To use the term “evangelist” in the tech industry is not exactly novel, according to Brock. But it’s not parochial either. And because there’s a shortage of tech talent that impacts progressive and conservative industries alike, Brock predicts most industries will begin to take a more alternative approach to job titles.  

He explains it this way: If you’re working as a cloud evangelist at a software firm and are considering a similar position at a bank, “you may not want to be a ‘principal software analyst III’ — that might not be what speaks to you.”

Creative a 'slippery slope'?

But treading too deep into creative waters can backfire. So says Matthew Maguy, partner at James and Matthew, a Leominster-based public relations and branding agency that thinks outside the box in most ways, but not job titles.  

Maguy said he and his business partner, James Pond, tested out unorthodox titles early in the seven-year-old company’s history. The two figured the more creative they were, the more they’d stand out from the competition. But the titles just ended up confusing clients.

Now, when clients ask how they can incorporate creative job titles into their companies, James and Matthew encourages pragmatism.

“Our advice is, sometimes it makes sense, other times it doesn’t,” Maguy said.

Some of what’s driving companies to favor job titles outside the norm is that job duties have become generally broader, according to Maguy. For example, an agency art director might be in charge of writing copy as well as doing layouts. As a result, Maguy says he has seen a rise in the use of such titles as “jack of all trades,” and “chief cook and bottle washer.”

Instances in which creative, and often playful, titles have worked are those in which it’s clear to outsiders what the employee’s job is, Maguy said. He thinks this is true of the Apple geniuses, as well as Best Buy’s “Geek Squad,” the electronics retailer’s technicians. In short, if themed job titles fit your brand, they can work well, according to Maguy.  

“But it’s a slippery slope,” he says.

Chris Tieri, president of smith&jones, a Sturbridge-based advertising and branding agency, is also a big proponent of clarity in job titles. Her firm walks the line between the traditional and the fun for its own roles. Tieri explained that members of her staff typically use standard titles such as “account manager” or “creative director,” but secondary titles with a little flair, such as “witty wordsmith” or “content king” are included in their job descriptions.  

“So we like to certainly be colorful in descriptors and bios, but I think in the end the most important thing is clarity,” Tieri said.

Like Maguy, Tieri said her company was more committed to creative titles a few years ago, but she thinks the business world in general has pulled back from that trend and is reverting to time-tested titles once again. Outside of job titles, she’s also noticed a more “button up” approach in the workplace, with companies adopting dress-up days rather than casual Fridays.

A second look for the VP title?

But Tieri said companies that foster a sense of traditionalism should not assume their job titles don’t need a second look. Often times, job titles are too wordy, or just plain vague, Tieri said.

A common offender? The ubiquitous “vice president” title, which can be modified in numerous ways and doesn’t always give people inside and outside a company a grasp of the jobholder’s duties and seniority, according to Tieri.  

And after all, Tieri said, names in the workplace are important, because they tell clients what employees do, and also establish a sense of hierarchy within the business.

“It tells the outside world what to expect, and it also tells the internal culture what to expect,” Tieri said.

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