Johnny, 48, a Marketing VP at Professional Services firm received a very rude shock at his recent Performance Appraisal meeting with his CEO.
“You’re not contributing to our revenues! I don’t care how many Trade-shows or CEO Lunches you’ve organised, you better shape up or ship out!”
He was surprised because he thought as Marketing VP, he was hired to organise events, produce marketing materials and keep the website going… when did his Job Description change??
There is a brutal signal buried in the last two weeks of job-market news, and most senior PMETs are going to walk right past it.
Many of us are already doing a completely different job from the one we were hired to do.
A Skillsoft Workforce Readiness report released on 10 June 2026 found that only 28% of employees strongly agree their job description reflects their actual day-to-day work. Read that again. Nearly three in four professionals are doing work their official role no longer describes.
That gap isn’t a paperwork problem… it’s where careers stall. Companies are redesigning work far faster than they’re redesigning roles, pay bands, and promotion criteria, so you grow while on paper you stand still.
The Real Risk Is Role Drift Without You Noticing It … and it hits you square in the Face!
As a former headhunter, let me tell you exactly how this plays out, because I have watched it happen hundreds of times.
Your scope expands… and your output becomes more cross-functional. You spend less time producing the work and more time directing tools, people, and decisions, and then one day you find yourself measured against a job architecture nobody bothered to update.
When you can’t articulate the exact value you create, not just the ‘tasks’ that you do, you will look expensive to Senior Management.
So, What Can You Do About It?
When your job description lags reality, your career strategy has to lead with proof.
Remember the old headhunter line: you are the product, and nobody buys a product with no label. Here is what I would do this week, not “someday”.
1. Document the “Shadow” Role
Stop relying on your official, outdated job description to define your worth. Sit down and write out your actual weekly work in eight brutal, honest bullet points. Include the messy, unlisted realities that take up your bandwidth: heavy cross-functional stakeholder management, complex risk calls, process redesigns, and team boundary disputes…seeing it on paper is the first step to managing it.
2. Translate Responsibilities into Commercial Outcomes
Hiring managers and internal stakeholders are allergic to a long list of fuzzy duties; they want hard evidence. Take your real day-to-day tasks and attach them to commercial metrics. If you cannot find perfect numbers, use strong proxies:
- Time Saved / Efficiency: Cycle time reduction, faster turnaround, or minimized rework volume.
- Risk Mitigation: Financial or operational exposure reduced, error rates cut.
- Value Protection: Revenue protected, client satisfaction (CSAT) improved, or cost avoided.
3. Owning the “Conductor” Mindset (AI & System Orchestration)
Value has migrated from producing the work to shaping how the work gets done. You do not need to look like a data scientist, but you must prove you know how to direct modern tools. Document exactly how you manage workflows, verify AI-assisted or automated outputs, and handle the risks that come with accelerated processes. Show that you are the architect, not just the builder.
4. Build Your Two “Redesign” Battle Stories
When your title stays exactly the same on paper, you have to prove your internal growth through narrative. Prepare two crisp, interview-ready stories that highlight your elevated judgment:
- Story One: How you successfully redesigned an outdated process to cut inefficiencies.
- Story Two: How you reset a complex role or team boundary across functions to eliminate friction. These stories prove your value upgraded even if your corporate grade didn’t.
5. Package It into an “Evidence Pack”
You are the product, and nobody buys a product without a clear label. Take your real job description, your outcome metrics, and your redesign stories, and bundle them into an intentional Evidence Pack (a targeted, value-forward resume or portfolio). Use this package to update your positioning, or use diagnostic coaching tools to pressure-test it, ensuring your external market value aligns perfectly with the heavy lifting you are actually doing.
The uncomfortable truth is this. Your company may never update your title, grade, or pay fast enough to match your real value, so you have to do it yourself, in the language of outcomes.
And if your job description still matches your job perfectly? Don’t celebrate too quickly… it might mean the market has already moved on without you. Ouch!!!
