Rachel speaks!
What does 'senior' in a job title mean?
By Rachel
Mar 20, 2008 - 1:05:51 AM

Dear Rachel,
What gets you the word senior in your title?-- Forever Junior

Dear Junior,
I wish I could tell you that the senior in a title is indicative of great experience or wisdom. But after surveying some experts in the media industry, I have come to the conclusion it means little.

Or perhaps a more diplomatic way to put it would be to say it means anything the person who bestows the title wants it to mean.

"There are few things that have less structure and vary more than titles," says Kurt O’Hare, president of O’Hare and Associates, a New York headhunting firm. "You'd think it would be simple, but with the growth of media agencies, titles have become part of their corporate identity, a point of differentiation and cachet.

“For example, a media planner is called a communication strategist, communication analyst, strategic planner and on and on."

At some shops, senior in a title may have a defined meaning, but at most places it's simply intended as an acknowledgment that you know what you are doing, more or less.

That's for the official senior titles, but keep in mind that most senior designations are self-imposed, often for the purpose of giving more weight to a resume. Some media people will adopt it at work to differentiate themselves from rookies who have the same title but far less experience.

There's no set number of years for when one becomes a senior this or that.

"That seems to vary from company to company," says Marlene Kruelle, associate online media director for Definition 6 in Atlanta.

“For example, I was told by my colleagues (at a major ad agency) that I was a senior media buyer after I had been buying media for four years. When I worked at a radio station, my colleague was a senior account executive. He had been selling radio, and previously TV, for 20 plus years. I'm not sure how long he had the 'senior' in his title."

Also, as Kruelle notes, senior doesn't necessarily mean one supervises others. 

Often agencies hand out senior titles as a carrot to people whom they can't promote--there are no available spots-- or they don't want to promote for whatever reason.

Sometimes it's to buy people off.

Say, for example, a media person with some years is known to be out looking for another job. Her boss, learning this and not wanting to lose the person, will call her in and give her a promotion--faux of course--to senior this or that, with perhaps a small kickup in salary.

But that person's job has not changed.

Looking at this from an Orwellian perspective, all media supervisors are equal but senior supervisors are more equal than others.