LinkedIn has hundreds of millions of members around the globe, and they are motivated. And passionate. And creative. Yes, LinkedIn’s users are so motivated and passionate and creative that they are driven to describe themselves over and over again in exactly those terms. The LinkedIn Everyman also has extensive experience at being responsible and a strategic track record as an organizational expert.
Now, surely it is not for lack of originality that these 10 terms also happened to top LinkedIn’s list of most overused buzzwords in 2014, because, as previously mentioned, these people are creative. And they are motivated and driven to set themselves apart from the rest of the LinkedIn résumé-building masses. Such strategic individuals wouldn’t toss around buzzwords in a heedless and irresponsible manner. That would be a novice move—not an expert one.
How much do LinkedIn users rely on buzzwords? Over the past three years, the company’s annual lists of the 10 most overused words have included a total of just 15 different terms. Creative, responsible, and organizational appeared in 2014, 2013, and 2012. Motivated, driven, extensive experience, strategic, track record, expert, effective, innovative, and analytical made the cut twice. The only words or phrases that are unique to a given year are passionate (2014), patient (2013), and problem solving (2012).
Maybe 2015 is the year LinkedIn should build in a thesaurus.
