‘Synergy’. ‘Percolate’. ‘Strategise’. ‘Touching base’. ‘Curated experiences’. Like a first-year uni student using the thesaurus function on every third word of their essay, office culture has cultivated its own lexicon of convoluted terminology. Already, the buzzwords of tomorrow linger on the horizon.
LinkedIn, home to the world’s career hungry, has revealed the 10 most used buzzwords in Australian profiles – and boy, if you describe yourself as ‘creative’, this list (found at the bottom of the article) is really proof that you’re not.
But what’s more important than knowing what’s hot? What’s not, obviously. Disappearing off the list this year were ‘excellent’ and ‘focused’. You must avoid them at all costs.
Shiva Kumar, head of LinkedIn’s Brand and Communications in Australia and New Zealand, attributes this to their vagueness. Taking their place was ‘skilled’ and ‘motivated’, rounding out a list that Shiva says speaks to the general sense that employers are seeking more specialised, independent workers as opposed to all-rounders, given the rise of specific job openings and contract positions.
“There’s more interest in professionals highlighting experience and specialities,” Shiva says, “because recruiters are looking for specialist skills because those are the roles on offer.”
Suitably, number uno on the list is ‘experienced’, the top five rounded out by ‘specialise’, ‘passionate’, ‘skilled’ and ‘leadership’. Of course, using the same jargon as everyone else won’t get you very far. If you want to stand out, Shiva reckons you need to take inspo from LiLo’s second album and get A Little More Personal.
“Just using these words doesn’t stand out, you’ve got to match your personal story to the words,” says Shiva.
“What we always emphasise around these buzzwords is that you have to add some substance to it. Add tangible examples to what you’ve done. If possible, share a piece of your work on your profile which shows that experience.”
Here’s the list:
- Experienced
- Specialise
- Passionate
- Skilled
- Leadership
- Motivated
- Expert
- Strategic
- Successful
- Creative
Source: LinkedIn
Image source: Office Space
