Long awaited, why-didnt-I-think-of-it-before moment. Linked-in, the professional network which has 135 million members now, has come up with the most overused words and phrases in members linked-in profiles in 2011. The top ten overused words in the USA are:
The job market is getting more and more competitive and for senior managers, any lax in their effort at providing the company with a well formed and worded resume shows lack of motivation and effectiveness (chuckle). Therefore, the trick is to keep the words beside you and think what they mean. If there are specific examples of the traits these buzzwords describe, it would be best to line them up. Leave out words like motivated and effective and dynamic altogether, these are things which are very well expected from a senior experienced professional.
Using examples and specific instances makes your profiles unique to you and describes "you" and not another million people on this planet. And it is "you" you are trying to sell to a prospective employer.
- Creative
- Organizational
- Effective
- Extensive experience
- Track record
- Motivated
- Innovative
- Problem Solving
- Communication skills
- Dynamic
Apart from being heavily cliched, these words actually say nothing about a persons professional capabilities and yet we keep using them, sometimes all of them, to show the world how good we are at work. I am personally guilty of using creative, motivated (mine was one step further "self motivated) and problem solving and communication skills.
Having seen thousands of profiles till date, I can vouch that these words do not really work in themselves. They dont improve your value on paper one bit unless you give examples of how creative you were or how you solved some problem with an innovative idea. Isnt everyone effective really? It goes to really saying that just like everyone else on this planet, you are actually doing your job and finishing whats to be done. Extensive experience and track record: Anyone doing something for more than 2 years will have extensive experience in that subject. Anyone would have a track record. Those words dont add a thing to the sentence and is slightly irritating, because I know somewhere that you have run out of things to say now. And what about dynamic. What exactly does it mean in the context of your work. If you are a bank manager are you dynamic, does that mean you can jump around everyone's cubicles all day? Or if you are a sales manager, does that mean you have a lot of energy? Is that not why you are a sales person in the first place? Once you break dynamic into smaller parts, thats when you will come up with the exact words you would like to use in your resume.
Worldwide the number one buzzword in various countries were
- Creative: Australia, Canada, Germany, USA, Netherlands, UK
- Multinational: Brazil
- Dynamic: France
- Effective: India
- Problem Solving: Italy
- Motivated: Ireland
- Managerial: Spain
- Track record: Singapore
The job market is getting more and more competitive and for senior managers, any lax in their effort at providing the company with a well formed and worded resume shows lack of motivation and effectiveness (chuckle). Therefore, the trick is to keep the words beside you and think what they mean. If there are specific examples of the traits these buzzwords describe, it would be best to line them up. Leave out words like motivated and effective and dynamic altogether, these are things which are very well expected from a senior experienced professional.
Using examples and specific instances makes your profiles unique to you and describes "you" and not another million people on this planet. And it is "you" you are trying to sell to a prospective employer.
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