LinkedIn Says Most Overused Buzzwords Are... | Hacker News Reader

LinkedIn Says Most Overused Buzzwords Are...

businesswire.com

73 pointsdanielamitay34 comments

I love how the first sentence after the list, the quote from LinkedIn's Chief Data Scientist, is also 100% Buzzword Compliant: LinkedIn has a unique ability that reveal insights that help professionals and much more.

If this is your kind of thing, check out Buzz Whack: http://buzzwhack.com/ .

Come on, you're just paraphrasing. Here's the full quote:

“We have the unique ability to uncover interesting workplace trends in our data given the high volume of people with profiles on LinkedIn,” said DJ Patil, LinkedIn's Chief Data Scientist. "In this case, we wanted to reveal insights that help professionals make better choices about how to position themselves online whether they are reaching out to new clients or networking with peers.”

I picked out some over-used words and phrases. For example, how many times have you been told by someone they have "unique abilities" and they "help professionals"? At least with LinkedIn you can believe it, but that doesn't mean the words aren't abused.

Reminds me of Action Item Man for those who have not seen it: http://professionalsuperhero.com/

Also: Give your profile a makeover now by making your it more actionable, from start to finish and lose those clichéd terms.

There is nothing in the article that indicates anything about these phrases being "overused" - they are simply commonplace. If there was actual data connecting the use of these words with not being hired, we could say that these words should be avoided, but as it is, the whole page is pushing the unsupported assertion that popular words = overused.

That's like saying that the word 'the' is an overused buzzword in the English language and should be avoided in order to make yourself stand out from the crowd.

It looks like research design skills haven't quite caught up to the size of our data sets.

I don't know what they're talking about... My CV currently:

I am an entrepreneurial team player that has a proven track record being an innovative problem-solver. I have extensive experience operating in dynamic and fast-paced environments where I am results-orientated and extremely motivated.

You are the go-to guy when it comes to future-proof, but cutting edge, forward-moving, but standards-compliant solutions for tomorrow's world today.

It reminds me the masterpiece "I am a Modern Man" by George Carlin -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkCR-w3AYOE

These 'findings' are as obviously vacuous as the words they bemoan. I really hope this was just an off-handed observation by Patil and not a serious attempt at inquiry.

From LinkedIn:

DJ Patil’s Summary:

Diverse experiences in a wide range of domains. Strong experience in working in ambiguity to solve complex problems. Focus on strategy, development , operations, and defining unique solutions. Experience in developing unique solutions via broad partnerships. Always looking to innovate by bringing smart people together.

Excellent track record of innovating using data & machine learning to develop revenue generating products.

My favorite is "problem solver", the ones who use it carelessly in their resumes are usually "problem creators" instead.

That is what I have always hated about any company that has the word "Solutions" in their name or tagline - or even list out what they do as solutions rather than products.

Solutions implies that you're solving a problem - yet I very rarely encounter any solutions oriented anything that can clearly and succinctly state the problem to which they are the solution.

PR Linkbait to get people to update their profiles - drives attention for LinkedIn, drives activity for their advertising. Buzzword problems with C.V's are not new at all. They needed all their data to figure out this?

It's certainly noteworthy that these assertions are now backed by data.

Are they really? I don't see any sign that they decided what's "overused" by any sort of data analysis. It would be very interesting to read about an automatic data-based approach to identifying overused keywords in LinkedIn profiles (or political speeches, or technical marketing materials, or whatever) but there's not the least hint of such a thing here.

I think this is pure fluff which they happen to have put into the mouth of their "Chief Data Scientist". Probably good advice anyway, though.

[EDITED to add: actually, there is just one thing in the article that does seem to be based on actual data: supposedly you're 12x more likely to be looked at if you have more than one position listed. But there's no sign that they've considered the difference between, e.g., "more senior people get looked at more" and "any given person will get looked at more if they add more positions to their profile".]

I wish OkCupid could get their hands on LinkedIn's data. Then we might learn something useful.

Great observation. Lets come up with a new list of replacement buzz jargon;

1. Extensive experience == Seasoned

2. Innovative == Novel

3. Motivated == Passionate

4. Results-oriented == Outcome focused

5. Dynamic == Malleable / Flexible

6. Proven track record == Successful history

7. Team player == Social

8. Fast-paced == Quick witted

9. Problem solver == Tinkerer

10. Entrepreneurial == Boot-Strapper

Thanks for that, I know how to update my profile now :)

What about "squamous" and "rugose"?

Those only apply if you are Joe Lieberman

When I was a recruiter, Seasoned == Old

We need to borrow terminology from other fields. Given the nature of the software trade, I propose we adopt "blooded" from infantry jargon.

I always found buzzwords to be both purposeful and innocuous at the same time. The effect seems to be to present the speaker as dynamic but at the same time not saying anything too controversial or that can easily be refuted in normal conversation.

I am sure there is a genuine motivation behind this form of speech - any linguists or psychologists care to shed any light on this ?

It seems everyone is "Entrepreneurial" nowadays.

Not everyone can actually back that up with a shipped product that is making real money from real users though.

It seems like 95% of the folks claiming to be "Entrepreneurial" are also sitting in a farm of cubicles somewhere. Just saying, it has a completely different meaning to the person who left everything they have and moved to somewhere like the bay area or NYC with a few thousand bucks to follow his or her dreams.

Yes, because only people who have dropped everything and moved to NYC or SF are entrepreneurs.

In fact, that's the most pretentious thing I've read all day. There are MANY people who are entrepreneurs on the side while still supporting a family from their cubical farm. Not everyone can "leave everything" and sleep on a couch in SF like they're 20.

I guess "Entrepreneurial" is "Entrepreneur-like". Otherwise a person could just say "Entrepreneur".

I am shocked that "value" or "value add" didn't appear on this list. Everyday, I hear someone talk about how they "added value" or the need to be "value add" and each time I hear this I throw up in my mouth a little bit. It has gotten so out of hand that, for fun, I keep a sticky note on my desk and keep tally of how many buzzwords get used by my colleagues each day. Some fun facts from the sticky note:

Newest addition: "arrow in our quiver"

Most frequent sports analogy: "utility infielder"

Second most frequent sports analogy: to "tee up"

>> Most frequent sports analogy: "utility infielder"

That's funny. If I were using sports analogies about myself or something I was working on, I wouldn't use one that essentially means "bad hitter".

You are a pinch hitter. Better yet, a clutch hitter. You know, when the game is on the line, the chips are down, and the fat lady is about to sing.

The utility infielder is used for late inning defense to protect a lead. Versatile guy on to have on the bench, cheap and therefore hard to let go. Definitely not a rock star though.

The same concept applies when applying for jobs.

Besides overusing cliche buzzwords (which is hard not to do), the biggest problem I see is that applicants send the same template response to all jobs postings. They ignore specific requests and details of the posting and simply apply in masse:

http://www.customsoftwarebypreston.com/job-boards-resume-bla...

I was fully expecting 'passionate' to be no.1

I pretty much stop taking people seriously after they drop the P-bomb

the most I hate is "Visionary Entrepreneur"

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