I read a recent newsletter article from Ragan’s Management Resources titled “Use job titles to attract and reward workers” (sorry, no link available). The president of a service company ran an experiement. He offered job candidates a choice between having the title of “sales manager” or the title of “salesperson” with an additional $2,000 added to their salary. Interesting enough, most of the candidates took the “manager” title over the pay.
I would have liked this article to go a little deeper by sharing the ad or providing their insight into why they thought the title was chosen over the pay. I would venture a guess that the ad unintentionally revealed what the reward structure was for this position. Titles are usually preferred over money when a person has a status and recognition reward and an individualistic motivation (common in leadership positions). And I would guess that the ad was written to attract this type of person. If the ad was written to attract someone with a monetary possessions reward and a utilitarian motivation, you would have seen the opposite results of the experiment.
The article closed with:
Think of ways you can attract or reward employees with prestigious-sounding titles.
I would recommend that you think of ways to reward your employees. Take a look at how your company reward the individual in that role and then tie that data into your recruitment process.