While starting your first job, the first thing that comes to your mind is about the designation you’ll be given. Some start as an associate or as some XYZ executive. When people ask you what you do for your company, you have to spend your five minutes or more in making them understand your responsibilities or portfolio. Hence, you aspire that one day in your life that job title would become self-explanatory, when you wouldn’t have to make somebody understand what you do.
With changing times, and those old titles getting boring, start-ups and companies have started to bring a new feel to the old designations. Nobody is a developer nowadays, instead, they’re either a scripting guru or an IOS Ninja or even a Java Jedi. Even innovator is an old fashioned word now, you must address them as Innovation Sherpa if you want to build a conversation.
But some job titles are so quirky that you would never be able to guess if they are even real. Here is a list of a few designations that different companies have but you weren’t aware of them.
Chief Troublemaker (Matrix Group)
When asked about her job title, Founder and Chief Troublemaker Joanna Pineda said that she didn’t find her CEO title fun enough and thought of spicing it up. In her conversation with the Washington Post in 2004, she said, “I make trouble. I walk into a project and say, ‘what if we start over’?”
Paranoid-in-Chief (Yahoo!)
Yahoo has reformed its entire cybersecurity division as The Paranoids. The designation Paranoid-in-Chief is a new name given by the company to its Chief Information Security Officer. Bob Lord is currently the most paranoid executive in the team.
Hacker-In-Residence (LinkedIn)
When Matthew Shoup first joined LinkedIn, he was given the title of Technical Marketer, but later on when he started winning the company’s in house hackathon, he was promoted as the Hacker-In-Residence. He is responsible for creating prototypes for internal tools and turning designs into products. Although Shoup is no longer a part of LinkedIn, it is unclear if his position is available for anyone to grab.
Chief Storyteller (Microsoft)
This is a job that everybody is eligible for, but there’s a catch to it. The Chief Storyteller at Microsoft doesn’t sell anything and just tells stories. But these are not regular stories, instead, these are stories for “changing the perception of Microsoft through stories.” These stories can be told through blogs, photos, cartoons, keynotes, and events.
Chief Heart Officer (VaynerMedia)
The Human Resource Director role is highly important for any organization as it bridges the gap between executives and employees. Understanding its importance for the company, VaynerMedia made the role of HR super personal. They hired a Chief Heart Officer who constantly reaches out to employees through one-on-one meetings, text messages, emails, and phone calls.
Chief Curator (eBay)
Although there’s nothing to curate at eBay, the company in 2013 had hired about 200 curators or in other words tastemakers, whose main task is to create a list of products that users can follow. They are directly responsible for featuring products on the company homepage.
Chief Play Officer (Toys “R” Us)
Imagine how fun it would be if your well paying job is just playing with new and different toys every day. Won’t that be the coolest job in the world? When 12-year old Émile Burbidge got the job, she said the same thing. Each year, the Canada-based leading toy manufacturer, Toys “R” Us hires a well-qualified candidate to play and review the hottest new toys before they even hit the stores.
In-House Philosopher (Google)
Yes, it is very surprising to see that the world’s biggest tech company Google hires people with a philosophy degree. Well, everyone needs someone to whom they can turn to when they have questions. The company actually employs people who are responsible for solving engineering problems using a humanistic perspective.
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