I have a question or two for some executives who outsource their LinkedIn profile content to someone who is about the same age as my son, Pete, a 30-something.
I got a request to connect from someone who posted this in his About section. One thing I always do is to read the person’s About section as I review their request. Reading through this will tell me if the person is worth completing their connection.
To not embarrass the profile writer, I switched his name to mine to demonstrate what I saw in his profile’s About Section.
Matt Scherer is a go getter with an extensive array of experience in brand development, talent acquisition management, real estate investment, asset manager, acquisitions and brokerage.
My questions were:
“Have you ever thought that everyone wants to read this corporate-speak?
Do you really think it makes a positive first-time impression?”
Like many others, the profile writer uses some editorial words in this first paragraph of the “About” Section with the word “go-getter.”
Go-getter is up there with some of the other well-known LinkedIn buzzwords. If I had $100 every time I saw “demonstrated history,” “proven leader,” and “expert” within their LinkedIn about section, I want to ask this question.
“Are you really sure about this?!?”
The writer is not the first one to use this term in his profile. However, attribution could make me believe he had the skills I need if I needed someone with his talents.
If he was to talk to a coach like me, I would suggest this simple update to his profile using attribution.
I work with others in brand development, talent acquisition management, real estate investment, asset manager, and acquisitions. My customers will tell you that when I am engaged in their project that they consider me a “go-getter.”
Attribution like this makes me want to believe this person’s story. Working with my clients in organizations such as the Military Transition Roundtable, I encourage them to add a recommendation or two from their previous commanders and supervisors.
I have them pull out their awards and decorations to find comments like “go-getter.” According to David, one of my Military Transition Roundtable students, a retired Air Force colonel with several tours as a commander, this was a common phrase he used on performance reports.
If I had worked for David and he put that comment in my performance report, I would have repurposed it with something like this within the experience section of my LinkedIn profile. If I had either the performance report or my award or decoration from my time as a community relations manager at Lowry Air Force Base, I would write something like this.
According to my commander, Col. David Jones, “Matt was a real go-getter as he created a community relations program that started four school adoption programs and worked with more than 1000 veterans who visited Denver for the 8th Air Force reunion.
Billy, another of my Military Transition Roundtable students, now works as a staffing professional. When we discussed the term “proven leader,” he said he considered them “filler words.”
I found Billy’s comment of interest as so many of us use overused words like “Go Getter” within the About section or Experience section in our profiles.
If you want to be different in how you convey your goals and talents, take some time to look within your spectrum of capabilities. Then, become your own worst critic and say to yourself: “Will others believe this!!!!”