Cliché Watch

Hire This Dynamic, Results-Oriented Team Player

Elspeth Reeve 345 Views Dec 14, 2010

LinkedIn is offering a statistical analysis of what it feels like to watch a PowerPoint slideshow under fluorescent lights with a roomful of lobotomized office drones you only tolerate because you're too drained to strangle them all with your bare hands. Or, at least, what it's like to sift through resumes while trying to hire those drones.

The networking site analyzed the CVs of its 85 million users for the most-abused words. Among the top ten were "team player," "results-oriented," "proven track record," "extensive experience," "motivated," "dynamic," and "problem solver." Applicants try to jazz up their CVs with this classic business-speak, but the clichés "may do more harm than good," LinkedIn spokeswoman Lindsey Pollack told The Wall Street Journal's Jennifer Valentino-DeVries. They "appear empty," like your corporate soul.

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Sources

  • Resumespeak, Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, The Wall Steet Journal
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