The most meaningless job titles on LinkedIn

Gurus, ninjas, magicians, overlords, demi-gods, and the occasional sensei. We can only hope their work is as creative as their job titles—and far less ridiculous.

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Almost 20 years later, I realize how little those titles mean when I now judge a person’s level of success. After meeting plenty of 24-year-old vice presidents of tiny companies—or even more to the point, very experienced and respected directors—titles mean much less to me now than they did when I entered the business world.

Now I judge personal success on the excellence of the organization I’m working for, how engaged I am with my day-to-day tasks, and whether I’m satisfied at the end of the week with the work I’m doing.

The digital industry has thrived by being the new kid on the block and shedding legacy ways of doing business. In the early days of digital, the traditional teams joked that you could tell who the digital guy was by who was wearing jeans and had facial jewelry. This trailblazer attitude has certainly extended to the job title forum—would “guru” be acceptable in any other industry?

To demonstrate this point, the following are 17 real titles and phrases pulled from the profiles of marketing industry professionals found on LinkedIn. Enjoy!

Abracadabra

Digital Marketing Magician
There’s nothing up his sleeve—especially not positive ROI.

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