Next time you’re interviewing for a new job try not to say, “I’m a dynamic and motivated team-player with a proven track record as a problem solver who loves a fast-paced, results-oriented work environment.” According to LinkedIn, if that’s how you describe yourself, you need to change your entrepreneurial mindset and get a little more innovative with your extensive experience.
The business-minded social networking site says those terms are the 10 most overused on the site’s more than 85 million profiles. LinkedIn calls its list the “Top 10 Overused Buzzwords for 2010.” Here they are in order of abuse:
- Extensive experience
- Innovative
- Motivated
- Results-oriented
- Dynamic
- Proven track record
- Team player
- Fast-paced
- Problem solver
- Entrepreneurial
The same buzzwords are overused all over the world, but in a different order. From LinkedIn:
While members from the USA, Canada and Australia tend to emphasize their “extensive experience”, Brazilians, Indians and Spaniards identify themselves as “dynamic” professionals. Members in the UK call themselves more “motivated” and the French, the Germans, the Italians and the Dutch see themselves as “innovative”.
Bottom line? LinkedIn says “give your profile a makeover now by making it more actionable, from start to finish, and lose those clichéd terms.” What do you think? Can it be done? What are some words or phrases that can be substituted for those 10 overused buzzwords? I may need a few of them next time I’m looking for a job (hypothetically speaking of course).
“Did you use one of these 10 most overused buzzwords in your LinkedIn profile this year?”
