What's the harm in cool, flashy job designations?

Job titles define the role of an employee, but an overblown descriptor on the business card can be confusing, even misleading

- Reem Khokhar

I recently received a LinkedIn connection request from a "penetration specialist". After wondering about the role's responsibilities, a friend and a quick Google search informed that a penetration specialist simulates cyberattacks on computer systems and networks to identify security gaps. Couldn't the LinkedIn person just use "cybersecurity specialist"? Perhaps it isn't cool or unique enough in today's corporate world, where the need to be different has resulted in a dizzying array of inflated, even confusing, designations-"Regional Transportation Reengineering Supervision Director", "Director of First Impressions" (for a receptionist), Beverage Dissemination Officer (a bartender). In the quest to appear extraordinary, are corporate titles becoming meaningless? The answer is not simple, for there are advantages and disadvantages to any title and approach. Striking a balance between the fantastic and straightforward is key, experts say.

THE NEED TO BE COOL

Job titles are meant to define an individual's role and position, but they also reflect our inherent need for distinctiveness. "Fundamentally, our mind tends to be hierarchical. We have a desire for uniqueness and prestige, and this translates into the workplace also," says Asha Bhandarker, distinguished professor of organizational behaviour at Delhi's International Management Institute. But the attempt to be unique has spurned a plethora of questionable corporate titles and the trend of "title-fluffing" or "up-titling", creating important-sounding titles to make a role sound more appealing.