Are you struggling to make your LinkedIn profile stand out? Check out these buzzwords to remove Overused and improve your chances of getting noticed.
Young professionals tend to overuse buzzwords on LinkedIn. They think flowery words will attract career opportunities, but in reality, exaggerations make profiles look generic and sales-y. Some people even find them annoying.
To leave a solid impression, clean up your LinkedIn profile. Replace these overused, generic buzzwords with an accurate, straightforward summary of your professional identity.
Complete Life Hack
1. Successful
The term “successful” is vague and subjective. People define it differently—hastily labeling yourself successful tells nothing about your professional life. Various accomplishments give a sense of achievement, after all remove Overused.
Instead of making baseless claims, enumerate your work accomplishments. List some noteworthy systems, projects, innovations, or solutions you have developed throughout your career. Make people understand why you consider yourself successful.
To showcase your abilities further, add skills to your LinkedIn profile. You can show up to 50 items, although you should highlight hard and soft skills relevant to your profession. Listing random traits looks spammy.
Ask your coworkers to endorse your skills on LinkedIn. Potential business partners will find you more impressive if third parties can vouch for your abilities Overused.
2. Motivated
Motivation fuels passion and determination. A motivated individual commits to tedious, grueling work every day in pursuit of their goal. Employers and clients alike love working with driven professionals.
Despite the importance of commitment in the workplace, you shouldn’t plainly describe yourself as motivated. Parading the term “motivated” on your profile yields negligible results. Everyone on LinkedIn is motivated—they’re connecting with industry professionals and searching for relevant opportunities, after all Overused.
Prove your determination with data. Think back to the most exhausting projects you executed, illustrate the long hours, and explain the results of your commitment. You can list them in your profile’s Organizations and Honors & Awards sections Overused.
3. Creative
Creativity varies from person to person. Instead of calling yourself creative, showcase your skills with relevant samples. LinkedIn supports different forms of media. Upload videos, photos, voice recordings, and blogs on this dynamic social media platform—don’t limit Overused yourself to vague descriptions.
If LinkedIn still feels restrictive, link to your personal website. You can insert one URL into your Professional Headline; choose a website that illustrates your skill set and lists all your services. That way, viewers won’t bounce back and forth between pages. As for supporting documents, use the Featured section. It accommodates multiple links, so feel free to showcase several websites, online portfolios, articles, and videos Overused.
Creatives inexperienced in designing websites should use code-free site builders. They can launch sites within hours.
4. Extensive Experience
The phrase “extensive experience” sounds vague and sales-y. It doesn’t measure time. Indiscriminately saying you have extensive experience will only confuse readers Overused. SMBs (Small and Midsize Businesses) and marketers often use this phrase to make their brand appear more credible, although it rarely works.
Replace “extensive experience” with an accurate, explicit work history summary. In your profile’s Experience section, enumerate your previous companies. Share where you worked, what you did, and how long you stayed with them.
Also, mention any career breaks you had. You don’t have to go into detail, but give people an idea of your career progression. Maybe you temporarily stopped working after childbirth, focused on freelancing during the pandemic, or ventured into another industry Overused.
5. Responsible
As a working adult, you’re already expected to be responsible. Bragging about it on your LinkedIn Professional Headline won’t attract business and career opportunities. On the contrary, you might even turn off some people Overused.
For a more attention-grabbing profile, enumerate which skills, traits, and abilities make you a responsible professional. Let’s say you’re a writer. Prove your dependability by emphasizing that you never miss deadlines, submit error-free pieces, double-check facts, and self-edit meticulously Overused.
Back your promises with testimonials. Profile visitors will only believe your claims if third parties like clients, employers, and coworkers vouch for you.
6. Innovative
Saying you have an innovative mind is a bold yet common claim. Everyone wants to disrupt the industry. Startups invest billions into developing new business models, technologies, and systems Overused.
However, you don’t have to discover the next big thing. While industry advancements modernize business processes, innovation isn’t limited to groundbreaking inventions. Explore other ways to demonstrate innovative thinking instead.
On LinkedIn, you can share your most notable contributions, programs, and transactions in the Projects section. Make sure you explicitly describe your role. Overused Explain how your ideas affected the project, your coworkers, and the company. Also, mention fellow contributors for credibility.
If you want to reach a broader audience, upload content about your innovative ideas. Talk about them in detail. You can record podcasts, shoot videos, or write blogs on LinkedIn.
7. Analytical
Analytical skills are essential in any industry. Making objective, informed judgments requires extensive data analysis—which could prove challenging under pressure. Your emotions could get the best of you during high-velocity operations.
Although being analytical is appealing, just mentioning it on your LinkedIn profile won’t impress anyone. Prove your capacity to make quick, rational decisions Overused. List major projects wherein your core responsibilities involve in-depth research, data analysis, and critical thinking.
Likewise, demonstrate your proficiency in using data analytics tools. They quantify business processes and daily operations. Mastering software programs that automatically pull data gives you a competitive edge. Manual data entry wastes time and energy.
8. Guru
The word “guru” has diminished in value. While it originally comprised industry experts and authority figures, most nowadays are self-proclaimed. Thousands of fake gurus teach topics they barely understand. They blind aspiring professionals with shady get-rich-quick schemes and sell overpriced, subpar programs.
Considering the term’s negative connotation, avoid it altogether. Follow the same rule for its synonyms, e.g., mentor, leading expert, and thought leader Overused. Calling yourself these things comes off as unfounded arrogance.
Instead of boasting self-appointed titles, share your credentials. List the schools and universities you attended, plus any accomplished programs, courses, classes, and certifications. Tell people about your educational background. Let them assess your reputation and credibility based on your extensive training and industry experience.
Build a Professional, Straightforward LinkedIn Profile
As a general rule, avoid sales-y language on LinkedIn. Instead of enumerating your traits and qualities, provide irrefutable proof of your competence. You can request skill endorsements, promote your personal website, upload original blog posts Overused, and engage with your network.
After editing your LinkedIn profile, revisit your resume. It might also contain cheesy buzzwords. Hiring professionals come across dozens of supposedly passionate, goal-oriented, and career-driven applicants every day—set yourself apart from the competition Overused.
11 Overused Words You Should Remove From Your Resume
Most experts believe that employers only spend six to seven seconds scanning a job applicant’s resume. They already know what to look for in a candidate. If your resume contains too many irrelevant details, it’ll get junked.
Of course, companies follow different hiring procedures, but in all likelihood, you’ll have fewer chances to leave an impression. You can’t waste time beating around the bush. So before sending your resume, see if you used any of the generic, overused words listed in this article.
1. Resume
Don’t place the word “resume” at the top of your resume. Apart from being redundant, it makes your job application look like that of an amateur. Only first-time job seekers Overused follow generic templates. Employers already know that they’re reading your resume—you don’t have to spell it out for them.
Use your name as the main header instead. That way, the recruiter in charge of your application could easily find, store, and sort your application papers Overused.
2. Passionate, Career-Oriented, or Goal-Driven
Job hunters tend to overuse buzzwords such as passionate, career-oriented, and goal-driven, among others. Unfortunately, they don’t add value to resumes. Employers already expect a positive, enthusiastic mindset from anyone who wants to work at their company Overused.
A better way to express your personality is to explain your interests. Recruiters can use your hobbies, passion projects, and drivers of motivation to gauge how well you’d relate to their company culture.
3. References Upon Request
Try preparing at least three references before applying for a job. Reach out to qualified professionals who can vouch for you, like old managers, coworkers, Overused direct supervisors, or even college professors.
Should your references decline, skip the section altogether. Never use the phrase “references available upon request” as a filler. Hiring managers expect you to list your references right from the get-go if you already have some ready.
At least get recommendation letters from old supervisors or professors if you don’t have references yet.
4. Responsible for or Worked On
Don’t just say you were “responsible for” a project. It’s a weak, vague action verb that gives minimal insights into your actual duties and responsibilities. Overused Hiring managers don’t find this phrase impressive. If you played a crucial role in executing a project, don’t shy from explicitly describing your accomplishments and duties.
Let’s say you did influencer outreach for a successful campaign. Instead of plainly stating you were responsible for the project’s influencer marketing, make sure to emphasize that you helped the brand build stable, long-term relationships with relevant online personalities Overused.
5. Objective Statements
Generic objective statements won’t improve your standing. Employers already know that you want to work at their company. Overused Your intentions and objectives are quite obvious; creating an entire section about them is just redundant.
Instead of wasting your time creating several points for your Objective Statements, learn to write a resume summary. A brief Overused yet compelling paragraph will set your application apart from the rest. Remember that most recruiters don’t have time to read resumes in detail, so always emphasize your strong points.
6. Excellent, Great, or Best
Although superlatives express the highest degree of an adjective or adverb, they’ve lost their value in resume writing since job hunters overuse them. Hiring managers see buzzwords like best, excellent, and great regularly. If you hit Overused them with another generic superlative, your resume will likely get junked.
A more effective way to express your competence is to provide concrete evidence. Explain why you claim you’re “great” at your job. For instance, you could zero in on the most in-demand soft and hard skills or present data showing your career progression Overused.
7. Assisted or Helped
The buzzwords “assisted” and “helped” are even weaker than “responsible for.” Not only do they describe your job vaguely, but they imply that you take zero initiative and blindly follow orders. Employers want professionals who think for themselves Overused. Otherwise, they would have invested their funds in software programs and AI technologies.
Explicitly describe your role. If your contributions didn’t make a big enough impact, consider leaving them out of your resume altogether. Overused Save space for your actual accomplishments. Focus on your tasks and explain their relevance to the job you want.
Dice is a career advancement portal dedicated explicitly to your technical job application needs. The portal helps businesses head-hunt applicants that befit their exact technical skill set requirement, experience, and budget.
You can apply on Dice for a wide array of technological specialties. It helps you cut through the volume of cross-posting on other job application websites. It dispenses precise job filtration keyword presets to give you the exact job openings matching your career niche Overused.
Dice’s AI-enhanced application matches keywords on your resume against the skill set requirements of the employers. Once you have connected with an employer, you can easily communicate with them in real-time for solving queries Overused.
8. Responsibilities and Duties
Employers already know the responsibilities and duties of the position you’re applying for; you don’t have to list them again on your resume. You’ll only waste your time.
A more efficient approach would be to describe your previous roles. Hiring managers can use this information to gauge how quickly you’d meet their company’s expectations.
GlassDoor is the original job marketplace innovator that introduced interactive employee-employer engagement and transparency. It has helped businesses curate a digital showcase of their infra, departments, workforce, etc Overused.
GlassDoor rolls up a condensed portfolio for every employer with a prospective opening for you. Before applying, you can check reviews, testimonials, and ratings from past and present employees.
With GlassDoor’s transparency, feel free to verify if that fledgling startup is legitimate and destined to grow. Alternatively, you can even Overused validate which location of office best suits you and will be most convenient and ideal for your career.
9. Successful
“Successful” is an ambiguous, subjective term. Anyone can say that about a past initiative or project, so hiring managers don’t find it impressive anymore. Moreover, you shouldn’t even mention unsuccessful campaigns in the first place Overused.
Instead of simply saying that a project was successful, back your claims up with facts and data. Quantify the meaning of “success.” Prove that your efforts helped your previous employers increase sales, attract more prospects, or boost company morale, among other accomplishments.
10. Extensive Experience
The phrase “extensive experience” is just marketing fluff. You’ll see it on business websites and ads, but you shouldn’t use it on your resume. Overused Vague superlatives never look professional.
If you have confidence in your tenure, quantify your business and industry experience. Most hiring managers would appreciate knowing when you got your degree or how long you’ve been working.
TheMuse is a job application portal that enhances better employer-employee compatibility. Rather than focusing on mere skill set requirements, you can verify your prospective employers’ work environment, culture, ethics, and vision beforehand Overused.
Search for jobs by scrutinizing workplaces; you can further this search by vetting employers with feedback from currently employed individuals. By following this approach, you can ensure you are applying to the most suitable workplace options.
The Muse provides you with excellent job application coaching from certified specialists. The site also regularly publishes career guidance-oriented content Overused.
11. Proficient With
New job hunters often use “proficient with” to describe their ability to use basic software programs like Google Workspace and Microsoft Office. However, proficiency in these areas is expected. Employers might find it more surprising if you were to apply for an office job despite not having basic computer skills Overused.
With that said, you can still use Overused “proficient with” sparingly. Just make sure to pair it with a complex, job-relevant skill that’s challenging to learn and in demand.
Impress Employers With a Clean, Concise Resume
We understand that you want to impress employers. However, keep in mind that overloading your resume with cliché terms and redundant information will likely do more harm than good Overused. Keep your application concise and organized. Present facts and data that demonstrate your potential as a job applicant instead of throwing around flowery words Overused.
Moreover, we suggest reviewing your resume several times before sending it. Apart from removing the words and phrases we listed above, consider Overused editing other irrelevant details that employers might not need during the hiring process (i.e., physical attributes, political affiliations, home address).
Best Websites to Post Your Resume Online
Each of the job websites listed above are the best in their own respective fields. However, posting your resume on these websites won’t land you the job of your dreams Overused.
To ensure the best results, you need to have a well-created resume, which follows the protocols of an effective resume Overused.
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