If You’re Hiring for the Title, You’re Missing the Talent

The Shortcut We All Take

I’ll be honest, hiring is tough.

It eats up your time and energy. Most of the time, you’re juggling tight deadlines and budgets, and somehow, everyone expects you to nail it on the first try.

So, naturally, we look for any shortcut we can find. Titles are usually the first thing we latch onto.

It just feels easier to use titles to shrink the pile. They’re familiar, and they make it simpler to justify your choices to everyone else. It feels like the safe move.

But here’s the catch. When we lean too much on titles, we miss out on some really great people, and half the time, we don’t even realize it.

Titles exist because hiring is hard and volume is real. The problem isn’t using them — it’s stopping there.

Sometimes, the best person for the job doesn’t even make it past the first round. They never get a shot.

What a Title Actually Tells You (And What It Doesn’t)

Titles can be useful when you’re reviewing candidates for a role. They can give you a rough idea of things like:

• Seniority
• Where someone sat in the org chart
• Company maturity

But here’s what titles do NOT reliably tell you:

• Scope of responsibility
• Decision-making power
• Level of influence
• Complexity of problems solved

A title at one company can mean something totally different at another.

And sometimes, two totally different titles are just hiding the same exact work.

So, while titles can help define structure, they don’t define skill.

The Work You’re Really Hiring For (Regardless of Title)

Most roles aren’t cut-and-dry. There are almost always things you end up doing that never made it into the job description.

Whatever the title is, most roles quietly require:

• Managing projects without formal authority
• Problem-solving without waiting for someone else to handle it
• Driving change that no one officially owned.
• Making judgment calls with incomplete information
• Training, coaching, and onboarding

These skills aren’t tied to any one title. They show up in people who’ve been trusted to handle the messy stuff.

A lot of people are already doing all this stuff long before anyone bothers to update their title. Some never get the title at all.

What to Look for on a Resume Instead of the Title

You want to scan resumes for patterns of work, not just labels.

When reviewing resumes, be sure to look for:

• Repeated ownership across roles
• Cross-functional involvement (even informally)
• Initiatives started, not just maintained
• Language that suggests judgment, not just execution

And make sure you pay attention to verbs:

Built, led, redesigned, stabilized, implemented, influenced

Titles tell you where someone sat in the org chart. The resume tells you what they actually did.

Doing the Work Before I Had the Title

When I first started at iThemes in plugin support, it was very much a startup environment—in the best way. Things were moving fast, roles were fluid, and everyone pitched in where they could.

I was “just” a plugin support agent. But I also handled escalations and upset customers. I helped train new team members. I tested product releases. I worked on internal and customer documentation. I took out the trash when it needed to go out.

None of that lived in my title.

Over time, iThemes grew, things became more structured, and my career grew with it. My title eventually caught up to the work I’d already been doing.

But if I’d had to look for a new role during those early years, my resume title alone wouldn’t have come close to reflecting my actual experience.

One day I was a “Support Manager,” and the next I was a “Director of Customer Support & Services”—not because the work suddenly changed, but because I’d already been doing it.

What to Listen for Once You Do Talk to Them

Once you get to the interview stage, your questions should confirm what the resume hinted at.

Be sure your questions look for:

• Ownership language vs task language
• Decision-making under constraint
• Influence without formal power
• Reflection on what didn’t work

The best candidates can tell you why they did what they did—not just list off tasks.

Questions That Surface Real Capability

When you get to the interview point with your candidates, there are some good questions you can add to your structured interview template:

“What’s a problem you handled that technically wasn’t your job?”

“When have you had to influence people who didn’t report to you?”

“What part of your last role never made it into the job description?”

These questions aren’t about who sounds the fanciest. They’re about finding out who’s got real judgment.

The Risk of Hiring Too Literally

If you get too hung up on resume titles, you’re taking a big risk.

You end up filtering out people with non-traditional backgrounds before they even get a shot.

You reward the people who are good at writing resumes, not the ones who are actually good at the work.

You hire for sameness because it feels safe. It’s comfortable, but it doesn’t always get the job done.

You wind up with teams that look great on paper but can’t actually get things done.

Then everyone wonders why the so-called perfect hire didn’t work out.

Hire for Problems, Not Titles

From now on, stop asking, “Have they had this role?” and start asking, “Have they actually solved the problems this role is here to solve?”

Titles should provide context but should not be a blocker. When you start looking beyond the title, curiosity becomes a competitive advantage

Better hiring always starts with better questions.

Curiosity Is the Skill

Companies grow, merge, and reorganize, and the titles change with them.

Skills grow and compound with tenure, especially skills like judgment, influence, and systems thinking.

The best recruiters and hiring managers aren’t rigid. They’re curious.

When you hire past the title, you don’t just find more talent.

You find the people who already know how to do the work.

When you hire past the title, you don’t just find more talent. You find the people who’ve already been doing the work, whether anyone noticed or not.