How to Differentiate Employees by Level

Senior? Junior? Mid-level? How do you know the difference between employees? This is often based on years of experience, which is dumb. Someone’s “level” is not time-based. Everyone learns at a different pace, and we all have inherently different mindsets. Some of us act like toddlers no matter how old or experienced we are, and we’ve all seen teenagers who act wise beyond their years.

Here’s how we break it down at Blissbook (and how you should break it down, too). We’re assuming your company has some sort of a mission, vision, or purpose + core values or behaviors. If you don’t, start there.

Junior Employees:

• Live your values but require constant coaching and guidance to demonstrate them.
• Are given specific tasks and are actively supervised to ensure those tasks are completed successfully.
• Are novices within their technical domain and require considerable coaching from others to complete tasks.

Mid-Level Employees:

• Live your values most of the time and collaborate with teammates and managers to demonstrate them.
• Are given specific goals and work with others to derive tasks from those goals. Often passively supervised to achieve those goals and tasks, but the reliance is on the employee to ask for help and guidance when needed.
• Are comfortable within their technical domain but often require help from others to achieve goals.

Senior Employees:

• Live your values with minor slip-ups, which are owned, and coach others within your organization to demonstrate them.
• Are given high-level goals, which are broken down into smaller goals and tasks, which are then achieved rapidly without supervision. Teammates and other groups are involved as necessary.
• Are experts within their technical domain and coach others within the organization.

Senior Evangelist Employees:

• Live your values with minor slip-ups, which are owned, and coach others within your organization as well as the community at large to demonstrate them.
• Recognizes opportunities to further an overall mission, breaks down those opportunities into a series of achievable goals, and inspires others to help achieve those goals.
• Are experts within their technical domain and coach others within your organization as well as the community at large.