In these times of austerity, you are probably going to be lucky to obtain any sort of increase in salary. To keep you happy and smiling your employer may try an alternative tactic - an inflated job title.
However pleased you may be to inform your mother that you're now a Vice President of Employee Talent Exploitation Services, or whatever, you've a long way to go before you can match Kim Jong Il, the North Korean dictator, who has 1,200 official titles. These include guardian deity of the planet, ever-victorious general, lodestar of the 21st century, supreme commander at the forefront of the struggle against imperialism and the United States, eternal bosom of hot love and greatest man who ever lived. Where do you go from there?
We get used to them, too, so they seem normal. I still find Chief Knowledge Officer a bit strange (we don't have one thankfully), but I imagine at one time Head of Human Resources must have sounded incredibly pretentious.
ReplyDeleteActually it still does.