Looking for a New Year’s resolution that does not require daily effort and discipline? Desire a high-impact resolution that boosts your appearance and awesomeness without losing pounds, spending hundreds of dollars on creams and getting sports injuries?
Well look no further!
Recently, LinkedIn released the 10 most overused buzzwords found on the site’s individual profiles (http://press.linkedin.com/node/1051). Boasting 135 million members worldwide, the largest professional social networking site suggests avoiding these 10 words to make your LinkedIn profile standout, especially for job hunting.
There are other reasons to use this underused but powerful tool for expanding your professional network and pursing business ventures and marketing.
Naturally, I looked at my resume, the basis of my LinkedIn profile, to see if any of these top 10 stale words were there. It turned out I had only one overused word, “effective,” which was found in the word “effectiveness.”
How come I passed the LinkedIn litmus test for profile originality? Because by trying to “show” my background and capabilities instead of “telling” them, I present a professional record as specifically and results-oriented as possible.
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New Year's resolutions aside, it’s always a good time to commit to investing in your LinkedIn Profile.
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Bolstering your profile means challenging yourself in the rich lexicon of language. For those who would rather wash windows, dig trenches or wait in post-Christmas return lines than write, it is difficult to find substitute plug-and-play words. Words with similar meanings can invoke unintended nuance. Some alternatives offer other resume no-no’s such as sounding too pompous or using slang.
As a service, I am presenting a brief list of alternatives, useful and otherwise.
1. Creative. Inventive, imaginative, and original. (My personal favorite: “yeasty,” means “exuberantly creative.” Eeek!)
2. Organizational. Just avoid it. Name the organization first and in second reference use its alternative shorter reference and, for that matter, “its.” Use words like “corporate” sparingly.
3. Effective. I use this word a lot because it lacks an easy alternative. Impact is an overused option with a bang! (And yes, I know I used it to start the blog, but I wanted the bang!) Close cousins are efficient, impressive, impelling, powerful, useful and potent.
4. Extensive experience. Alternatives for “extensive” are comprehensive, encompassing, broad, blanket, all-inclusive, all-encompassing, wide, across-the-board, and diverse.
Alternatives for “experience” include seasoned, go through, live over, background; and been there, done that.
5. Track record. Achievements, accomplishments.
6. Motivated. Driven, intended, actuated, passionate.
7. Innovative. Original, groundbreaking, advanced, forward-looking, modern, newfangled, seminal, germinal, fresh, daring, avant-garde, unconventional.
8. Problem solving. Finding solutions, out-of-the-box thinking, divergent thinking, cerebration.
9. Communication skills. Please specify. Options include, but are not limited to, shouting, pouting, whining, threatening, public speaking, active listening or writing.
10. Dynamic. Active, forceful, changing.
Remember, your LinkedIn profile is not like the resume of old with a limited audience. Anyone at anytime can look you up and check you out.
My resolution is to optimize my LinkedIn profile, a work in progress, just like my new exercise routine. New Year's resolutions aside, it’s always a good time to commit to investing in your LinkedIn Profile. If you need help, get it.
Showcasing your professional prowess is just one click away!
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