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Trophy Jobs - by Anu Atluru - Working Theorys

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We’ve all heard of the trophy wife or husband — a partner that’s valued heavily as a status symbol, for superficial qualities over substance.1 Similarly, I’ve started to think about the idea of the trophy job — a job that people covet for its status more than its substance. Trophy jobs are more common than we like to admit. Chances are that you've sought after one before and you know many people who do. Why do you or someone else covet a given job? It's helpful to break down the reasons and categorize them as status or susbtance. Status is associated with things like brand, title, compensation, recognition, and power (often external or outputs-oriented). Substance is associated with things like interest, curiosity, skill, experience, and community (moreso internal or inputs-oriented). My rough heuristic for measuring this is the status-to-substance ratio: A 1:2 ratio or smaller is safe (i.e. not a trophy job). A 1:1 ratio is entering dangerous territory. Anything greater, e.g. 2:1 rati

We’ve all heard of the trophy wife or husband — a partner that’s valued heavily as a status symbol, for superficial qualities over substance.1 Similarly, I’ve started to think about the idea of the trophy job — a job that people covet for its status more than its substance. Trophy jobs are more common than we like to admit. Chances are that you've sought after one before and you know many people who do. Why do you or someone else covet a given job? It's helpful to break down the reasons and categorize them as status or susbtance. Status is associated with things like brand, title,…

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