LinkedIn's List of Resume Cliches

LinkedIn recently published a Top 10 list of overused buzzwords in the resumes and professional profiles posted on its website. They are:

1. Extensive experience
2. Innovative
3. Motivated
4. Results-oriented
5. Dynamic
6. Proven track record
7. Team player
8. Fast-paced
9. Problem solver
10. Entrepreneurial

What do you think of this list?

Editor that I am, I immediately checked my own resume for these culprits. I don't have any of them, except the word "experience" as a section header. My LinkedIn profile doesn't have any either. I'm sort of surprised to see that.

Which Came First?

While I find this list of buzzwords amusing, I think this is not about job seekers being appallingly uncreative. Job ads contain those exact same buzzwords in abundance! Who can blame a job seeker for using the same phrases that are in the ads for their desired jobs? If they want the job, they have to talk the talk. If the employer likes these phrases, the employee thinks, then maybe they will like my resume/profile/cover letter if I use these phrases too.

So I think this is a "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" issue. It's not fair to lay all the blame on the job seekers, LinkedIn. Where's your criticism of HR departments and corporate communications drones?

Are Cliches Evil?

Cliche is an interesting concept in writing. Back in high school, I took a creative writing class. I remember my teacher, Mr. Armstrong, hammering home the point that cliches were sinful and to be avoided in quality writing. And he was right. Exceptional writing creates original concepts and phrases, rather than relying on the creations of other writers.

LinkedIn seems to agree. In its article, it says: "With the national unemployment rate well over 9 percent, you might want to consider eradicating these phrases from your own professional documents and profiles next time you’re trying to impress an employer."

I take a live-and-let-live attitude toward cliches. Sure, they're never going to win any awards for creativity. But for every cliche, there's a reason it became so popular. Usually it's because it was an excellent way to phrase a particular concept, and so many people agreed that they used the phrase ad nauseum. It's like when a band writes a great song, and everybody loves it, so every radio station plays it all day long, and suddenly you hate it and start avoiding it.

If a phrase became popular because it was an excellent way to phrase something, then part of me has a hard time rejecting it just because it's popular. I value succinctness, conciseness, and elegant turns of phrase as well as creativity.

I'm sure I have used cliches in business writing and other types of writing. I try not to, but sometimes it happens, especially when you're writing on deadline. There's a big difference between creative writing and bang-it-out-quickly, get-'er-done writing.

When I write creatively, however, I actively try to avoid cliches, taking the word creative literally. Creative writing is a writer's place to shine, to channel that voice that is truly your own, to make something entirely original that you can be proud of. Mr. Armstrong, you taught me well.