job family

Definition

A group of related positions sharing similar skills, responsibilities, and career progression paths, allowing HR to organize compensation and development logically. It's the Linnaean taxonomy approach to corporate hierarchy, minus the Latin names.

Example Usage

All software engineering roles from junior dev to CTO are in the same job family, with defined progression steps between levels.

Origin

Compensation management terminology from the 1970s, borrowed from biological classification systems

Fun Fact

Companies using job families for compensation typically have 15-20% lower internal pay inequity compared to those determining salaries ad-hoc, though they're also way more bureaucratic.

Source: Compensation structure terminology

Related Terms

Beginner

resume

That document you spend hours perfecting to summarize your entire professional existence into one or two pages, which recruiters will skim in approximately six seconds. It's supposed to showcase your skills and experience without lying too obviously, formatted in a way that's both ATS-friendly and human-readable. The verb form means to continue something you paused, like your career after explaining that two-year gap.

👥 Human Resources

Intermediate

Cross-Functional

An adjective meaning your project involves people from different departments who have never spoken to each other and have conflicting priorities. Cross-functional collaboration is when everyone brings their own agenda to a meeting and calls it teamwork.

👥 Human Resources

Beginner

apprenticeship

A structured program where you learn a trade by actually doing it under an expert's guidance, as opposed to modern education where you rack up debt reading about it. The original learn-while-you-earn model that combines hands-on training with getting paid, proving our ancestors understood work-life balance before it was a buzzword. Historically how people became blacksmiths; today, how people become electricians without student loans.

👥 Human Resources

Intermediate

horizontal organization

A flat organizational structure minimizing management layers and hierarchical levels, theoretically empowering employees and speeding decisions. In reality, it often just means unclear accountability and decision paralysis.

👥 Human Resources

Beginner

employment verification

The process of confirming a candidate's work history, job titles, and dates of employment with previous employers. Fact-checking that reveals approximately 40% of resumes contain 'creative embellishments.'

👥 Human Resources

Intermediate

skip-level meeting

A meeting between an employee and their manager's manager, skipping the direct supervisor in the chain. It's meant to provide senior leaders with ground-level insight and employees with exposure, though it often makes middle managers paranoid.

👥 Human Resources

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