‘Fess up folks, how many of these do you use on a regular basis?
If we were to make a conservative estimate, we’d say that approximately 95% of people use words that never feature in their general conversations when attempting to boost their career prospects.
The other 5% on the other hand, are probably lying.
If you’re guilty as charged, you’re probably well familiar with the most overused words on Irish LinkedIn profiles, released by the online professional network on Wednesday.
For the sixth year running, the ‘buzzwords’ were drawn from analysis of millions of profiles worldwide to compile the 10 worst offenders from the past 12 months. The list is revealed during what is historically the busiest week in January for LinkedIn profile updates in Ireland, as people think about their career path for the year ahead.
Top of the pile for Irish LinkedIn users is ‘specialised’ followed by ‘leadership’, ‘experienced’, ‘excellent’ and ‘passionate’ in the top five.
The top 10 Irish buzzwords for 2017 are:
- specialised
- leadership
- experienced
- excellent
- passionate
- focused
- hard-working
- strategic
- enthusiastic
- creative
New buzzwords that emerged in 2016 that didn’t make the top ten but have impacted LinkedIn member profiles, meanwhile, include words such as ‘interdisciplinary’, ‘savvy’, ‘distinguished’, ‘thinker’, ‘entrepreneurial’ and ‘aggressive’.
Commenting on the overuse of buzzwords, Wendy Murphy, Senior HR Director of LinkedIn EMEA, said: “It’s a great time to start something new whether it’s a new career, building your professional brand, making new connections or even becoming a mentor. If you’ve thought about pursuing a new career or tackling a challenge, you’re not alone.
“To highlight how ineffective it is to rely on these buzzwords are, we imagined what they would look like as self-descriptors for some of Ireland’s best known historical figures (see below).
“The one thing that all of these Irish icons have in common is that they let their work talk for them. This is a lesson we would encourage everyone to learn from.
“Bring your professional accomplishments to life by sharing samples of your work on LinkedIn like presentations or photos from events to demonstrate how you live these buzzwords, not merely say them.”
