How do I create my own job?

November 13, 2015 12:32 PM

I have a neat opportunity to potentially create my own job at a company in a segment of my industry. How do I do that?

I had an informational interview with the founder and the chief marketing officer of a company that is in a kind of squicky, small but growing segment of my industry (you could say that this segment was a bastard child, and is now more like a red-headed step child who's trying really hard to become the heir). My resume is impressive to them, as they don't have anyone with marketing experience from the main/respected part of my industry, and I have quite a bit. There is no position open at this time, so we discussed creating a position for me to fill. My simply being on their team would be a selling point to their customers, in addition to the value of whatever work I actually do. The specifics that we discussed would be within my wheelhouse, and I think I am okay with moving out of the respectable part of my industry into this other arena (I don't think it would hurt my chances of switching back down the road if I wanted to, and there might actually be more room for professional growth at this company and in this segment of the industry in general).

I have a friend who works at this company who can give me some insight into the company culture and differences between the two industry segments. I'm interested in moving forward, but I've never had to create a position from scratch. I am also going back to work after three years of staying at home with my kids, so I'm afraid of underselling myself (because I'm kind of surprised that anyone is interested in me at all, and this came up really fast).

What should I keep in mind regarding negotiating the job description, title and salary for a job that's being tailor-made for me?

posted by peanut_mcgillicuty to Work & Money (3 answers total)

It's an existing type position, just not in this sub-industry? Are you okay with the market rate for it in the broad industry as reported by glassdoor/payscale, etc.? Maybe add 25% on for the perceived risk (even though you see it as opportunity.)
posted by michaelh at 4:04 PM on November 13, 2015

Response by poster: It's an existing type position, but this company has never had someone do this work - they just haven't done it. It is filled at some of their competitors but not others. The market rate for it is therefore kind of hard to establish.
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 6:05 AM on November 14, 2015

A slightly different context, but I just wrote my own job description.

[my boss recently came to me offering a mini-promotion in return for my changing my focus a bit - working on broader range of projects, rather only in a specific area that particularly interests me. We chatted about it, then I wrote a job description and made up a title for myself. She OK'ed it, with a few changes, and then we had a standard argument about salary]

In writing the JD, I put in lots of the kind of work I enjoy, and am good at, and none of the work I don't like.

Lots of
+ representing the team externally
+ building partnerships
+ lead role in overall strategy creation
+ helping colleagues develop their thinking

Little of
- Line management
- Management of operations and contracts
- Finance and Budgets
- Increasing the amount of time I spend project managing detailed delivery.

Essentially I'm better at the big picture stuff

For the title, I picked something with "strategy" in it, as that made it easy for external people to understand that I was the big picture person.

So I guess my advice is

- Suggest that you take first crack at writing the job description
- Be clear with yourself about what kind of work you like and are good at, and what you don't like.
- Pick a title that makes immediate sense to peers and clients.

Also, makes sure your reporting lines are clear and simple.
posted by Touchstone at 4:39 PM on November 14, 2015 [1 favorite]