Indian professionals feel less ‘strategic’, but more ‘skilled’

Data shows that Indian professionals are highlighting skills over personal strengths in describing themselves. LinkedIn, the professional network, analysed the most popular words across 45 plus million member profiles in India and found that the words ‘strategic’, ‘excellent’, and ‘certified’ have dropped off the Top 10 2017 Indian buzzwords List, and in contrast ‘skilled’ has entered the list for the first time this year and is in the top 3 in India and globally. Words ‘oriented’ and ‘innovative’ have are also new entries to this year’s list.

The ninth spot to the first spot in comparison to last year’s list. The emphasis on the words ‘experienced’ and ‘skilled’ over ‘certified’ also highlights that recruiters are looking for talent with years of practical experience within a role, and not necessarily only for talent that is academically certified.

The change in vocabulary shows that Indian professionals are keen on using specific and simple words to describe what they are good at and are deploying ways to quantify the use of broader terms.  

“The Indian job market continues to be fiercely competitive, and now backed by rapid technological advancement across industries, we are also witnessing skills disruption. Our buzzwords data also corroborates that Indian professionals are keen on highlighting their experiences and skills over personal qualities to gain a competitive advantage over other candidates. Interestingly, recruiters are also using keywords to identify candidates, so professionals should use the right words to bring them closer to the right job,” said Deepa Sapatnekar, head of communications for India, LinkedIn.