News

In today’s fluid market, job titles can be misleading. It’s not always right to assume what a role entails, purely from a job title, but this is a misconception that I’ve been noticing more and more lately. And it’s coming from both clients and candidates, too.

When interviewing candidates, we find they can often get stuck on labels and what they think their title ‘should be’. It might be people getting worried about what a job title will look like on their resume, or what others will think. Although, by viewing job titles as purely a stepping stone and not looking at the bigger picture, it can really limit your career options.

As Recruiters, we look past the job titles, but unfortunately, this isn’t the case for everyone. There are plenty of organisations who are quick to make judgements on candidates, solely because of the title they currently hold.

The fluidity of job titles in the market means that there are so many variations. For example, we were recently helping an organisation source an HR Advisor (which in a broader sense, was more like an HR Business Partner role). Going through the recruitment process, it was interesting trying to explain to candidates that the title doesn’t matter and that it’s really about the role, the things you’d learn and the brand you’d be joining.

The main message from this is to be open minded and try not to make assumptions about a role. Don’t assume that a candidate can’t perform at HRBP level, just because their previous title indicates that they’re an HR Advisor. Make a judgement too quickly and you might just miss out. Go in with an open mind from the outset, dig a bit deeper and you might just identify the person you were looking for, or find that next big challenge.