LinkedIn's most (un)popular buzzwords

Describing yourself as ‘creative’ has ironically become the most unimaginative thing you can do, according to a list of the most common profile adjectives published by business networking site LinkedIn.

The site’s annual ‘top 10 overused buzzwords’ list ranks ‘creative’ as the most commonly used description on profiles in the US, followed by ‘effective’ and ‘organisational’.

The term was also the most common on profiles in Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK (New Zealand wasn't ranked).

‘Extensive experience’, the most popular phrase from 2010, was fourth on the US list, followed by ‘track record’ in fifth.

Due to changes in methodology people probably shouldn’t read too much into the differences from last year’s list; the important thing is, if more than a couple of these are on your profile, you should maybe take another look at it and see if you can scrub some out in favour of something less cliché.

Here is the full list:

1. Creative

2. Effective

3. Organisational

4. Extensive experience

5. Track record

6. Motivated

7. Innovative

8. Problem solving

9. Communication skills

10. Dynamic