Are you looking to hire a wizard? What about a jedi? What’s the deal with all these job postings looking for rock stars, ninjas and gurus anyway? How is this still going on? It’s been more than a few years since these terms first cropped up on the job market, so it seems to be more than just a passing fad.
I feel like job titles are just getting broader and more ridiculous – can’t we just stick to actual job titles that explain the position? These titles may seem ‘fun’, but if you’re just using them to shape your employer brand as ‘hip’ and ‘cool’, there’s other ways you can do that.
So what does it really mean to be a ninja or a guru? I decided to look up the Oxford definitions of these titles, then did a US LinkedIn search to see which fields have these titles in their job ads. Here are my findings..
Evangelist – A zealous advocate of a particular cause.
Where can you be one? IT.
I think this could be the worst of them all, due to its religious connotations.
Guru – An influential teacher or popular expert.
Where can you be one? Social Media, IT.
Not so bad, but I still imagine someone with unkempt hair, rocking some yoga pants and smoking a joint.
Jedi – A member of the mystical knightly order in the Star Wars films, trained to guard peace and justice in the Universe.
Where can you be one? IT.
I just don’t know how this is related at all.
Legend – An extremely famous or notorious person, especially in a particular field.
Where can you be one? Thankfully, no results.
I guess legends are hard to recruit anyway.
Master – A person who has complete control of something.
Where can you be one? Scrum master is an actual title, so that’s ok.
Ninja – A person who excels in a particular skill or activity.
Where can you be one? Mainly IT, also Sales and Accounting.
Also stupid.
Rock Star – A person treated as a celebrity, especially in inspiring fanatical admiration.
Where can you be one? Sales.
Do you really want to hire a rockstar?
Superhero – A benevolent fictional character with superhuman powers, such as Superman.
Where can you be one? Customer Service.
A bit excessive.
Warrior – A brave or experienced soldier or fighter.
Where can you be one? Sales, Finance.
No.
Wizard – A person who is very skilled in a particular field or activity.
Where can you be one? Predominantly IT, also Video Production, Online Marketing.
IT wizard is a common term now, so I’ll let this one slide.
And then what about these coveted unicorns and purple squirrels? Why is a ‘perfect fit’ a purple squirrel? Why not a blue armadillo? Green giraffe? Why can’t we just stick to ‘perfect fit’? It explains it all perfectly.
A wise recruiter once told me: “Recruitment is about matching good candidates with good employers”. So why do we need all these ‘fancy’ titles in our job postings? Is it just employer branding overkill? Leave a comment below and let me know what you think!
