Resources

Create Positive Buzz: Five Words to Drop from your LinkedIn Profile

You’ve put together a killer LinkedIn profile that’s sure to land you an interview, if not a job. All jobs are listed with duties, you’ve added your education, and you’ve used the best, most buzzworthy language to put your best foot forward. So why haven’t you gotten any leads? Now that LinkedIn has become a staple in hiring, both for the candidate and the employer, it may be time for you to look through yours to make sure that you don’t have any tired, overused words that not only lump you in with every other job seeker, they turn an employer off from extending an invitation to interview. Eliminate these five from your profile ASAP:

  • Enthusiastic. If you have to tell an employer about your enthusiasm by using the word, you’ve already overdone it — show, don’t tell. Employers get hundreds of “enthusiastic” resumes but the duties listed don’t see to imply the same.
  • Motivated. Same here. Of course you’re motivated: You wrote the resume and applied for the job, and you probably want it because it fits well with your skills, so you’re motivated to do a good job (hopefully!). This is another word that a job seeker should demonstrate through skills or list of duties under each position.
  • Successful. Avoid using this as an adjective or an adverb (e.g., “I successfully worked with all departments”). It comes across as an empty filler word — what else would you write? Mediocre? The accomplishments you list will make your success obvious.
  • Passionate. That gets a little too familiar — passion is for personal relationships. And it’s gotten so overused that it doesn’t have the meaning it used to (even if you do feel passionately about your work). And on the other end of the spectrum, it’s also vague — how do you use all of this passion?
  • Creative. This essentially means you made something and you can think. Anyone who works in advertising, for example, can claim they’re creative. They may well be, but there are far more…creative…ways to show this.

Other buzzwords to avoid include “track record,” “driven,” “strategic,” “leadership,” and “extensive experience.” What you can glean from these tired words is they don’t really give that much information, and it will work far better if you manage to show, not tell this information by outlining your duties and accomplishments. For help writing an original-sounding resume, get help from the experienced recruiters at PrideStaff Thousand Oaks.

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email