Have you read any LinkedIn profiles lately? I have, and I’m astonished by how many people are “results-oriented.”
I mean, it’s the very first phrase on about 83.2% of all LinkedIn summaries. I made that number up. Because I’m results-oriented, and needed a statistic quickly.
What does that phrase even mean? That when you do your work, something actually happens? Isn’t that kind of on the level of, you know – breathing?
Employ me and I’ll produce something or other. WHAT A GREAT HIRE!!!
Here’s its opposite: Hire me for this role and I’ll do nothing. There will be no effect, no output, no ROI. Kind of like Wally in Dilbert cartoons.
Huh – well, I guess we’d rather have someone that, at very least, does something – so, let’s screen for potential hires that are “results-oriented”!
(I can just see the HR managers now, sifting through hundreds of resumes…”hey, Brenda!! Look – this guy is results-oriented!!! Call him in for an interview…!!!”)
Bottom-line: “results-oriented” is an obvious, vague, feel-good, throwaway term. And since everybody else uses it, how does such a description distinguish you?
When something is a meaningless commodity term, like “results-oriented,” get rid of it. It says nothing, it impresses no-one. And it won’t result in anything but making you sound like some corporate clone.
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