Vanity sizing, also known as size inflation is used to refer to the phenomenon of clothes becoming larger over a period of time although staying the same in terms of a size 8. In recent years the same has come into a effect in the workplace.

The guiltiest person of this trend setting may be surprising, the late ‘Kim Jong il’, he reportedly had over 1200 titles including 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.

Not that I’ve seen anything like the above applied in the work place, there has been ‘Revenue protection officer’ which was a ticket inspector, dinner lady became SMSA – school meals supervisory assistant.

In the office, where you’ve probably got a few “chief” whatnots, vice-presidents, apparently the number of members of LinkedIn, a professional network, with the title vice-president grew 426% faster than the membership of the site as a whole in 2005-09. Steve Jobs had fun with job titles and called himself “chief know it all”

Is this a substitute for pay in tough economic times? Or is this the latest fashion trend? How do you work out your market rate? well that’s where Morgan McKinley know the market, company structures and most importantly in my opinion about the role you’ll be doing whether your chief whatnot or director of space and time.

job titles, market rate, professional network