Words to Avoid Like the Plague on Linkedin!

Linkedin is a great tool for business professionals and job prospectors to search through and connect with others.  According to Mashable, there were 300 million Linkedin users worldwide as of April 2014. With that many users how does one use Linkedin and rise above the crowd to be found? Make sure your profile avoids using common overused keywords in your Linkedin profile and, for added value, your Résumé.

In December 2013, Linkedin released the most used words within their member's profiles.  Linkedin found that these 10 words showed up the most:

1. Responsible
2. Strategic
3. Creative
4. Effective
5. Patient
6. Expert
7. Organizational
8. Driven
9. Innovative
10. Analytical

Obviously to stand out profiles want to avoid these words as much as possible.  But what happens if you're a "Creatively Organized Strategic Person" or a combination of other words?  There are ways around this.

Your Thesaurus may help.  Thesauruses are great tools for a Linkedin profile writer to avoid the most overused words on Linkedin or even to avoid overusing a single word multiple times in a profile itself. Thesauruses provide writers with an extensive list of similar words (synonyms) that can be used to replace a word that may be overused.

Don't have a Thesaurus?  No problem, if you are reading this article, there is a powerful tool at your fingertips. Google!  Here's the steps on how you can turn Google into a powerful Thesaurus search tool:

1. Visit www.google.com

2. Enter in the word you want something similar to and add the word "synonym" at the end. For example: "Expert Synonym"

3. Scroll through the search results and select a source to examine.  We find good results usually come from Thesaurus.com, CollinsDictionary.com, and Merriam-Webster.com.

4. In the source (i.e. Thesaurus.com) work your way through the recommended words until there is a word that works for your context and insert it.

Besides avoiding Linkedin.com's listed overused words, using a Thesaurus will also help to spiff up your Linkedin profile for the reader who has found your personal page. By using a variety of words to describe your duties as well as accomplishments, it makes your profile more interesting to read.  The average reader, never mind a recruiter, will grow bored with your profile after about the third consecutive use of the same word.  If the person reading your profile is bored, and moved onto the next candidate your chance at connecting for a big job or contract are lost. However, if you read as an intelligent yet exciting person in your field, you are more likely to end up on the either recruiters list or as a possible partner for another business.   So make sure you use a Thesaurus to review your possibilities to make your Linkedin profile shine!

Starting out with Linkedin?  Have a Linkedin profile that needs help? Suddcorp Solutions can help write an engaging profile and show you how to make the most of this professional platform.