Is your promotion real, or just title inflation?

SINGAPORE – The job posting said “senior manager”, but the reality fell short.

For May (not her real name), a 32-year-old graduate of Nanyang Technological University, securing the plum role overseeing operations and marketing at a social club in 2024 came with strings attached.

First, her $4,200 salary did not quite live up to the seniority implied by her new title. Her day-to-day tasks felt like grunt work, including taking meeting minutes and creating e-mail marketing materials.

This disconnect between lofty job titles and on-the-ground responsibilities extended throughout her workplace. A late-20s colleague was designated “chief operations officer”, while another entry-level hire was appointed “manager”.

“From my perspective, this shows how title inflation can be misleading,” says May, speaking under the condition of anonymity, as she is concerned about the impact on her career prospects.

“It makes roles look more senior and prestigious on paper, but doesn’t actually translate into commensurate pay or career progression.”

She left the company a few months into her stint to become a freelancer in the wellness industry, but her experience taps a common anxiety faced by workers: When is a promotion truly a promotion? And when is it merely title inflation?

Title inflation is the practice of giving workers outsized job titles that do not match their responsibilities, pay or seniority. Data suggests that it may be happening more often in an era of cost-cutting and career anxiety.

Data from vacancy portal Jobstreet shows an uptick in postings for senior professional roles from the first half of 2024 to the first half of 2025. Titles containing “lead” grew the most, at 38 per cent, while “manager” postings increased by 3 per cent.

Meanwhile, recruitment firm Robert Walters Singapore’s analysis of LinkedIn Talent Insights data found a 24 per cent increase in “manager” and “director” roles, intended for professionals with just two years of experience, in 2023, compared with the previous year.

While the data could signal a possible trend of companies handing out senior titles more liberally, there could be other forces at play, says Ms Samantha Tan, HR business partner at Jobstreet by Seek.

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI), for instance, is reshaping workforces. More than half of the 887 hirers and HR professionals surveyed by Jobstreet in 2024 say a candidate’s AI skills are a key hiring factor, and 78 per cent say they have reduced headcount to cut costs.

“With this in mind, there may be cases in which the uptick in senior roles stems from organisational restructuring and demand for specialised ‘new collar’ skills, rather than cosmetic title inflation,” she says.

New collar work refers to roles defined by specific tech skills – like cloud computing or cyber security – rather than traditional education qualifications.

As Singapore’s economy evolves and companies move up the value chain to create more high-value jobs, job titles are also shifting, notes recruitment firm Randstad Singapore’s general manager Lim Chai Leng.

As a result, entry-level roles are decreasing due to AI, and junior positions now often carry specialist titles to reflect evolving job scopes.

According to the Ministry of Manpower’s second-quarter labour market report released on Sept 17, the unemployment rate for residents across most age groups fell in the second quarter of 2025. However, the rate for those aged below 30 rose from 5.4 per cent in March to 5.7 per cent in June.

This was attributed to more new graduates entering the job market, as well as demand softening in certain sectors amid global economic uncertainty. 

What complicates things further is that it can be difficult to distinguish genuine title inflation from the quirks of institutional history or sectoral norms. Or even just nomenclature.

Consider management consulting. At Boston Consulting Group, entry-level employees are called associates, who advance on to become consultants. At rival McKinsey & Company, the lowest rung on the company ladder are business analysts, who go on to become junior associates.

At the Ministry of Trade and Industry, assistant director is the entry-level position for fresh graduates, while at GovTech, an assistant director position calls for eight to 12 years of relevant experience, according to listings on vacancy portals.

Ms Lim points out that title inflation is more likely to be found in client-facing roles, or in industries such as tech and finance, where one’s professional identity forms a more essential part of one’s productivity – or what one can bill an hour – than in other lines of work.

Yale-NUS graduate Jonas (not his real name), 29, had his first brush with title inflation in 2020.

Fresh out of national service, the then 23-year-old polytechnic graduate joined an education firm and was promoted from his entry-level co-lead position to assistant manager after a year. The promotion at the small and medium-sized enterprise came with a pay increase of less than 10 per cent, despite his broader work scope, which included managing a direct report.

He says that despite his misgivings about the company culture and workload, he stuck around, partly because of that title bump.

“I think I had the impression that if I were an assistant manager, even for a smaller company, it would boost my prospects for starting salary after university,” he says. He continued working part-time at the company for about half a year after he began his university studies.

“In the end, honestly, human resources at most companies I applied to didn’t really care and just treated me as a fresh graduate anyway,” he reflects.

This drive for progression is nearly universal and gets to the heart of why companies inflate titles, as well as why workers embrace them, despite little or no accompanying salary increment.

A 2024 survey by Randstad Singapore found that 32 per cent of respondents reported resigning from a previous role because of a lack of advancement opportunities. About 27,000 respondents were polled globally for this survey, including 759 in Singapore.

Jobstreet’s Ms Tan points out that visible career progression is highly valued in Singapore, especially by younger workers, for whom titles carry social weight and “face value”.

“It may not be surprising that employers use attractive titles as a recruitment and retention strategy, especially in a landscape where employees increasingly expect to be recognised for their contributions, and where young employees are not afraid to job-hop,” she says.

In this context, a title upgrade offers companies a lower-cost way to signal career progression without the expense of a salary increase or significant changes to organisational structure.

While a fancy new title may seem harmless, experts warn that there are downsides.

Widespread title inflation can erode the credibility of job titles as meaningful indicators of seniority and responsibility, says Ms Elise Tok, manager for commerce finance and supply chain at Robert Walters Singapore.

When “manager” and “director” roles proliferate, these once-venerated terms lose their value in the job market.

Title inflation can also breed role confusion and resentment in the workplace, when job titles do not accurately reflect one’s scope of work – leading to miscommunication or frustration when employees believe their colleague’s title overstates his or her remit, experience and capabilities.

Jobstreet’s Ms Tan points out that title inflation can also create “leadership bottlenecks”, where a company finds itself with many new or young leaders who lack the skills required to drive business goals in a competitive and fast-evolving business landscape.

Although, title inflation may seem beneficial in the short term by improving morale and job satisfaction, says Randstad Singapore’s Ms Lim, it can be a double-edged sword, especially for those in the early stages of their careers.

Those with previous inflated titles but limited experience may find themselves at a disadvantage when competing with their peers for roles in the market. It can also lead to misaligned expectations around salary.

The conflict caused by title inflation can also be a driver for a company’s turnover rates, undermining the retention benefit that title inflation was intended to be.

Still, there is some room for disagreement. Dr Paul Lim, senior lecturer of organisational behaviour and human resources at Singapore Management University, argues that title inflation is not always a bad thing if workers approach it strategically.

The key, he notes, is living up to the title. Employees can rise to the occasion and prove themselves worthy of it. Only those who abuse their titles open themselves to being called out as posers or inept.

Titles also confer authority that stakeholders – both inside and outside the company – have to take seriously, something that workers can use to their advantage.

“Those who take their titles and roles seriously will grow into their positions and contribute value to their organisations,” Dr Lim adds.

Still, being clear-eyed is key. Experts say the best way to protect yourself from the disappointment of an inflated title is research.

This means asking detailed questions about the role and company culture during interviews, as well as conducting independent research on the firm and its main competitors through job portals such as LinkedIn, Jobstreet and Glassdoor.

Pay attention to discrepancies in how companies in the same sector present roles seeking commensurate experience. For example, ask how many direct reports you will have if the title implies managerial responsibilities.

Remember, too, that institutional culture and sectoral norms vary widely. What appears prestigious in one sector may simply be the norm in another, something that is more of an issue for early-career professionals who have not yet learnt the lay of the land.

Ultimately, what makes title inflation such a murky issue is that job titles remain the most visible snapshot of one’s employment – and the full picture includes the salary, benefits, number of direct reports and actual day-to-day responsibilities.

After all, while workers and companies can avoid disclosing their wages or the finer details of their scope of work, titles are an unavoidable feature on LinkedIn profiles and vacancy postings. And it can at times feel impossible to separate one’s self-worth from the designation in one’s company e-mail signature.

Looking back at her brief brush with title inflation, May says that her primary takeaway is that an over-emphasis on titles over substance is bad organisational practice.

“That’s why I feel that we shouldn’t look at titles, but focus more on the character traits, experience and skills the person has,” she says.