Catching them young seems to be the mantra for Indian companies as they try out new ‘quirky’ designations to not just convey a work culture that is fun and innovative but attract key talent.
According to HR experts, this trend, which started during the dotcom boom in the late 90s, is becoming a more common practice now, especially in an era of new-age start-ups.
Nowadays, companies are increasingly doing away with old designations and coining new ones. Result: there is a flux of ’Chief Greek Officers’, ‘Dream catchers’, ‘Gold Miners’ and ’Heads of Fire Fighting’
For example, at software firm Sapient, a person working on codes like CSS, JS and HTML is called the “creator of experiences”.
“The motive behind creating such new-age descriptions is to lay emphasis on the experience/impact the person will create rather than just talking about the job title,” Sapient Nitro, part of Sapient, India V-P, Hiring and Staffing, Prashant Bhatnagar said.
Sapient Nitro is also launching role descriptions like ’Omni-Maestro of Integrated Commerce’, ‘Curator of next-generation digital experiences’ and ‘Preserver of Experience’ for different roles.
At Smartprix.com, an online comparison shopping platform, there is a Chief Delight Officer (HR), who is tasked with connecting people, building teams, reducing stress and promoting a happy work culture.
‘Social Birds’, who look after social media, connect people through various campaigns and ‘Community Data Guerrilla’ looks after data analytics.
“This is a new exciting way of integrating talent into a great team, and everyone loves it. That’s why many startups are catching up to this new trend,” Abhinav Choudhary, co-founder, Smartprix.com said.
Shiju Radhakrishnan, founder and CEO, iTraveller.com, said: “Breaking the stereotype of designations which has evolved through ages gave us the idea to have some quirky and unusual designations. Like, we have ‘Chief Tweeting Officer’, ’Chief Jolly Officer’ and ‘Chief Geeky Officer’ as well.”
Sanjoe Jose, co-founder and CEO, of technology hiring platform Talview.com said: “Quirky designations help convey a work culture which is fun and innovative and is a major driver for candidates when joining a new organisation.”
For example, at Talview, the traditional role of Chief Operations Officer is replaced by ‘Chief of Customer Success’.
Suresh Raina, Managing Partner of Hunt Partners, a leadership talent advisory firm, believes that “though interesting job titles help empower workers by conveying power to others and communicate a greater influence, there is a risk that what is cool today could be passomorrow or ten years from now”.