Job titles should be better defined to avoid confusion

With reference to your ‘Rising Stars’ column on Jo Gibson at the London Marriott (Personnel Today, 11 October).

I was happy to read about Jo’s success in her short HR career so far, as it gives all us other aspiring HR directors some motivation.
However, as Jo has just five years’ experience, the article made me wonder if someone had redefined the word ‘director’ without telling the rest of us.

To some people, a job title means everything, and be afraid, very afraid, if you get it wrong. But for others, you can call them office furniture and they wouldn’t care less.

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I feel that, such as with salary bands, there should be something similar with regard to job titles, as it may put unnecessary pressure on someone if people have certain expectations about them because of their title.

Louis Fourie
HR officer
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