LinkedIn has come out with its fifth annual list of ten words that are most overused by its 332 million members worldwide.\u00a0Again, the 12-year-old professional networking site cautions against profiles where people describe themselves as motivated, passionate, creative, strategic and responsible, driven to show off a track record that shows they are expert in their field. The message: Don\u2019t use trite, empty words that may sound good to your ear but say almost nothing.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the top ten list from 2014:<\/p>\n
Think about it for a minute and you realize that most of these words are generic descriptors that any employer would take for granted. Merriam-Webster defines \u201ccreative\u201d as \u201cmarked by the ability or power to create.\u201d In other words, it means you can do stuff.<\/p>\n
Instead of falling back on empty terminology, describe your skills and achievements in concrete terms. Don\u2019t say you have a great \u201ctrack record.\u201d Instead say you cut the annual sales cycle by half.<\/p>\n
To compile the list, LinkedIn<\/a> sifted through the \u201cSummary\u201d sections in profiles worldwide, to rank how often each buzzword appears. There have been eight shifts since last year. \u201cEffective,\u201d \u201cpatient,\u201d \u201cinnovative\u201d and \u201canalytical\u201d have all fallen off the list, replaced by \u201cmotivated\u201d (no. 1), \u201cpassionate,\u201d \u201cextensive experience\u201d and \u201ctrack record.\u201d I\u2019m scratching my head about what this means. Given the ever-increasing speed of digital communication, it\u2019s not surprising that people are no longer patient, though I\u2019d maintain it\u2019s a virtue and has more meaning than the other buzzwords. It\u2019s strange that \u201cinnovative\u201d and \u201canalytical\u201d also didn\u2019t make the top ten. To be sure, anyone can throw those words around, but do we not care about those skills anymore? As for the new words, it does seem like it\u2019s in to be \u201cpassionate\u201d about your work and how you live your life. Maybe with more people looking to change jobs in the reviving economy, people also feel like they need to emphasize their \u201cextensive experience\u201d and their \u201ctrack record.\u201d<\/p>\n LinkedIn also sent me a breakdown of the most common buzzwords in 21 countries, including the US, the United Kingdom, India and Saudi Arabia. There is a lot of overlap. \u201cPatient\u201d is gone from everyone\u2019s list, while \u201ceffective\u201d still shows up in Saudi Arabia, \u201cinnovative\u201d in Australia, France and India and \u201canalytical\u201d in eight countries including Singapore and Sweden (but not the US). Mexico is the only place where people say they are making \u201ccontinuous improvement,\u201d possibly a positive sign for the country\u2019s improving economy.<\/p>\n One good piece of advice LinkedIn offers: When you\u2019re choosing words to describe yourself, consider the antonym. Would you ever describe yourself as unmotivated or inexpert? If not, leave the positive forms of those words off your profile.<\/p>\n I take issue with one word on the list: \u201cresponsible.\u201d While it can be used in an empty way, as in, \u201cI\u2019m a responsible worker,\u201d I also think it can be a concrete description of, well, your responsibilities,as in, \u201cI\u2019m responsible for all of our enterprise sales revenue.\u201d What\u2019s a better way to say that? I suppose you could say \u201cin charge of,\u201d but why use three words when one will do?<\/p>\n That detail aside, I think LinkedIn does a service by releasing its buzzwords list, reminding us all that we should use active, concise words to describe specific achievements.<\/p>\n This article was written by Susan Adams from Forbes and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. SmartRecruiters is the hiring success\u00a0platform<\/a> to find and hire great people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LinkedIn has come out with its fifth annual list of ten words that are most overused by its 332 million members worldwide.\u00a0","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":30792,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":""},"categories":[841],"tags":[29],"series":[],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/www.smartrecruiters.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/linkedin-profile.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/www.smartrecruiters.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Podcast-icon.jpg","download_link":false,"player_link":false,"audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/hiring-success-podcast\/id1472174987","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9oaXJpbmdzdWNjZXNzcG9kY2FzdC5jYXN0b3MuY29tL2hpcmluZy1zdWNjZXNzLXBvZGNhc3Q","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"soundcloud":{"key":"soundcloud","url":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/smartrecruiters\/sets\/hiring-success-podcast-1","label":"SoundCloud","class":"soundcloud","icon":"soundcloud.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/3bM8YzLjM2G9qJXLBBySaB","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/www.smartrecruiters.com\/blog\/feed\/podcast","embedCode":"The Top 10 Buzzwords To Cut From Your LinkedIn Profile In 2015<\/a><\/blockquote>