LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, today released the most overused words in United Arab Emirates members’ LinkedIn Profiles for 2013. The number one most overused buzzword in LinkedIn Profiles globally as well as in UAE is “responsible.”
LinkedIn currently has over 259 million members worldwide, out of which over 10 million members are from Middle East and North Africa. Below is the complete 2013 list of the top 10 words that appear most often in the profiles of the over one million LinkedIn members in UAE.
- Responsible
- Effective
- Strategic
- Organizational
- Creative
- Dynamic
- Analytical
- Competitive
- Innovative
- Expert
This is the fourth year that LinkedIn has released its annual list of overused buzzwords. Looking back at the past few years, a variety of buzzwords have risen and fallen in terms of their popularity. In 2010, “extensive experience” was the top buzzword worldwide, and for two years running in both 2011 and 2012, the top buzzword was “creative.”
“LinkedIn continues to be an integral business tool that helps working professionals successfully promote their personal brand while vying for career opportunities,” said Ali Matar, LinkedIn MENA spokesperson. “Our annual buzzwords list demonstrates how UAE professionals are yet to fully utilize the LinkedIn platform to its maximum potential.”
“Instead of defaulting on commonly used words to describe your professional experiences, you can easily differentiate yourself by incorporating photos, videos and presentations in your LinkedIn profile to demonstrate your best work,” Matar added.
Show how you’re being responsible, creative or strategic and stand out from the crowd on LinkedIn using these tips:
Consider the opposite: Would you ever call yourself irresponsible or impatient? One of the quickest ways of deciding whether or not to select a word that may describe your professional brand is to consider the antonym. In the case of “effective,” its opposite is “ineffective,” making “effective” one of those descriptors that is a given. Your entire profile can show that you are responsible and effective without having to include the overused words.
Tie it to a result: Link your skills to a specific result that demonstrates your competence. Whenever possible, especially for buzzwords like “innovative,” “strategic” and “creative,” upload an example of your work to your profile such as a photo, video or presentation to give others a better representation of your talent.
Let others vouch for you: Another way of verifying the skill sets that the majority of others are also touting is to seek out endorsements or recommendations from reputable sources. When you are seeking recommendations, ask your connection to speak specifically to the skill set you are looking to emphasize and ideally tie it to an outcome they witnessed.
Use active language: Rather than saying you are responsible for something, demonstrate how that responsibility delivered results. Your peers, potential customers and future employers assume you were responsible for different programs, but how did that translate into results? For example, you could replace “responsible for social media,” with “accomplished goal of growing social media audience for the brand tenfold under my supervision” and provide visuals to further demonstrate it.
Right in front of your nose: Tailor your professional brand on LinkedIn and select the right words for specific opportunities by mirroring the language of aspirational companies. If you are aiming to work for or with a real estate company, for example, follow that company on LinkedIn and you will find a wealth of information that will guide you in your focus. By researching companies you aspire to work with, you can discover the right tone that you want to incorporate into your profile. If you’re not sure what words to select to describe your professional experience or need to switch out one of your buzzwords, go to the source and use one of theirs.
