Financial-services firm OneAmerica has been around since 1877. To freshen its image with young recruits, The Wall Street Journal reports, it recently came up with a new title for a data-analyst job: data wrangler.
Among younger workers “the perception of the industry is that we’re old and crotchety,” said Todd Shock, vice president of data and analytics at the Indianapolis company. The newfangled title, he argues, suggests agility and willingness to take risks.
As the workplace changes, more companies are sprucing up job titles as a way to attract talent in a tight labor market. According to a 2018 survey by compensation consulting firm Pearl Meyer, 40% of firms said they use titles to attract prospective employees, up from 31% in 2009.
In the aftermath of the global recession a decade ago, many firms tried to sweeten job offers through title inflation, tacking on words like “executive” or “vice president” in lieu of more cash. These days, said Rebecca Toman, vice president of Pearl Meyer’s survey business unit, firms are using titles to show “you can have an impact or make a difference,” especially for younger workers.
The standard “human resources” title, for example, has increasingly been replaced as companies seek to pitch the role as one more focused on employee well-being. In the past four years, the percentage of job postings seeking “head of people” has jumped more than threefold, according to job site Indeed.com.
Meanwhile, ads seeking ninjas or rock stars—think “customer service ninja” or “sales rock star”—also have shot up.
