Professionals from across the world will head online in their droves in January as they put their career resolutions into practice, according to research released by LinkedIn. The insight, based on the behaviour of LinkedIn’s more than 300mn global members, reveals that January 21 has been the busiest day for New Year career development on the world’s largest professional network.
To help people stand out from the crowd, the site recently released a list of the 10 most overused “buzzwords” on LinkedIn profiles in 2014 - guaranteed to lose the interest of would-be employer.
Coming in at the top spot for Qatar is “motivated”, closely followed by “extensive experience” and “dynamic”.
The 2014 buzzwords for Qatar profiles are:
1) Motivated, 2) Extensive Experience, 3) Dynamic, 4) Responsible, 5) Track Record, 6) Creative, 7) Driven, 8) Organisational, 9) Enthusiastic, 10) Expert
Buzzwords for professionals from other sectors:
Marketing: Creative, Strategic, Motivated
Sales: Motivated, Strategic, Dynamic
HR/Talent: Organisational, Motivated, Strategic
To aid members in Qatar on their professional journey, Darain Faraz, LinkedIn spokesperson, recommends taking some time to think about one’s professional brand and how “Brand You” can benefit from giving up buzzwords.
“January is typically a time for professionals to explore career opportunities, since that is a popular area of focus for New Years’ resolutions,” says the spokesperson. With these simple updates to your profile, you can set yourself apart, and help brand you as the best candidate for your next opportunity.
♦ Your Summary: You’ve made the pledge to rid all buzzwords from your LinkedIn profile. That’s a great start! But don’t go to your trusty thesaurus and replace one buzzword with another buzzword. Rather, include examples that illustrate how you’re motivated. Does your motivation drive results? Has your motivation helped champion a program? You can easily illustrate your motivation by uploading examples of your work in your summary that showcase the results you achieved.
♦ Your profile photo: Take a good look at your profile photo. Does it reflect the professional image you want to portray? Your profile photo counts more than you may know – you’re 14 times more likely to have your profile viewed if you include a photo, so make sure the photo shows your best professional self.
♦ Your headline: Don’t bury the news! Write a strong headline that makes people want to learn more about you.
♦ Your good side: What better way to show you are a “motivated” person than by including your volunteer experience and causes you support. It can also help you get hired. Forty one per cent of professionals surveyed by LinkedIn stated that when they evaluate candidates, they consider volunteer work equally as valuable as paid work experience
♦ Your skills: Listing your skills on your profile makes you 13 times more likely to be viewed on LinkedIn. Your skills are a visual overview of your professional brand – an easy, digestible way to show what you can do. You’ll want to include a mix of high level and niche skills to ensure you show up in search results and show your range of talent.
♦ Your champions: Let others vouch for you by asking for recommendations. To get the best recommendation possible, ask them to provide specific examples of your skills and talents.”
Hiring trends changing in the Mena region
A new survey has revealed that a staggering 84.1% of respondents working in HR departments in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region conduct reference checks prior to hiring eligible candidates.
The poll, conducted by Bayt.com, one of the Middle East’s leading job sites, reveals that online hiring will be more important than ever before in 2015.
According to 20.2% of those responsible for hiring talent, online job sites will be most widely used to source candidates in 2015.
In parallel, 29.3% of respondents operating in the field of HR claim that the recruitment of active candidates online will become the number one hiring trend of 2015. On the other hand, 11.6% state that the recruitment of passive candidates online is set to be the leading hiring trend in the next 12 months.
As for the time needed to find a qualified candidate to appoint, it’s not very fast; 48% of respondents responsible for hiring admit that their company now takes one to three months to fill a vacant position. Most employers (32.9%) call up candidates to notify them about a hiring decision, with a further 30% notifying jobseekers via e-mail.
Interestingly,16.1% of respondents involved in the hiring process say that the biggest mistake that candidates make with online recruitment is not emphasising their skills enough. For 15.9%, a critical misstep made by job seekers online is having an incomplete public profile. The third most cited critical mistake (according to 12%) is not having active online conversations.
To acquire new and important skills, companies will be helping professionals in the next year in acquiring new skills via a combination of on-the-job experience (13.5%), formal internal training provided by the company (21.9%), formal external training provided by the company (16.5%) and by shadowing and observing others (9%).
Additionally, the top three skills most likely to get jobseekers hired in 2015 include problem-solving/analytical thinking (18.5%); creativity (14%); and leadership (13.3%). Fortunately, 73.1% of respondents claim that their company’s project investment in training will increase in 2015.
Data for the Bayt.com “Skills and Hiring Trends in the Mena” poll was collected online from 5,961 respondents from the UAE, Algeria, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Tunisia, and Yemen.
