No-Fly Words for LinkedIn
Here is the post you’ve been dying for. My personal collection—FROM ACTUAL PROFILES—of words to never use in your profile description or title on LinkedIn.
I understand wanting to stand out, but LinkedIn is a professional platform, and you don’t want to be noticed for the wrong reasons, including hyperbole and being too trendy to be timeless.
Everyone is a ninja at heart.
These are in alphabetical order, which allows you to have fun regrouping them from most offensive to least in your downtime:
Difference Maker
Disrupter
Goddess
Guru
Innovator
Maven
Ninja
Rock Star
Serial Entrepreneur (Join the club.)
Strategist (Unless it’s part of your actual job title, save it for the summary.)
Trail Blazer
Thought Leader (See Strategist. Even then, use sparingly. It’s kinda ‘90s, anyway.)
Visionary
Wizard
[Fill-in-the-Blank] Professional (Screams “I AM BETWEEN JOBS PLEASE HIRE ME RIGHT NOW.”)
Here’s my own Job Title Hall of Infamy. Again, these are actual profile titles:
Job title: “Thoughtful, experienced networker & business resource”
Just goes to lunch all day and talks constantly. Honest to god, you can’t make this stuff up.
Job title: “Experienced Business Development Professional”
…who doesn’t know what he wants to do when he grows up.
Job title: “An accomplished investigations & trial lawyer with an international regulatory, advisory & white collar defense practice”
Whoa, no character limit on LinkedIn! Yippee! Also sounds like “I have no job.”
Job title: “IST”
Yup, no idea what this is. Don't use acronyms that only two people know.
Job title: “Chris bangs his head against the wall for ideas so that you don't have to.”
Clear as mud what industry he’s in. Plus he’s likely concussed.
No title:
Unfathomable. This is where profile SEO matters most! And this was a recruiter who is a Premium User!
OK, you get it now. Send additional suggestions to this list to skostal@mac.com. I’ll update with the best candidates.
