Would you get a job if you were irresponsible? Well, not quite that, but what if you went easy on the responsibility. Strangely, it may help. According to a LinkedIn survey of profiles on its site — and there are many millions of them — “Responsible” was the most common buzzword of 2013. It’s getting the goat of HR people who are, well, responsible for recruitment. Things may work better if you hide your responsibility away along with other trending terms such as Strategic and Creative.

Indian profiles also have Responsible at the top of the list, with Effective coming in at No 2. Buzzword No. 3 is Strategic, shared by a lot of other countries. Effective, on the other hand, has far fewer fans. What is the expert opinion on the use of such terms in your profile or CV? Avoid clichés like the plague, says an HR consultant. Adds another Mumbai-based consultant D. Singh: “It isn’t that easy. Sometimes, if some specific terms are missing, the CV doesn’t make it. It’s worse when the first screening is done by a software programme. If some key terms are missing, the application gets rejected without a human eye ever looking at it.”

LinkedIn assumes there are other keywords that can be used for elimination purposes. The Responsible-Strategic-Creative clan will come in only when the IT crowd has done its bit to chuck out the unwanted. The LinkedIn recommendations:

• Tie words to actual results — Instead of using weightless words, link your skills to specific results that demonstrate your competence.

• Use active language — Rather than saying you are responsible for something, demonstrate how the responsibility delivered results.

• Let others vouch for you — Seek out recommendations or endorsements from other reputable sources who can verify your talents.

Before you take the decision to excise the buzzwords from your CVs , it may be useful to look at the toppers of earlier years. In 2012, the list was Creative, Motivated, Responsible, Experimental, Effective, Specialised and Analytical. For the record, however, the top 10 of 2011 were Creative, Organisational, Effective, Extensive Experience, Motivated, Innovative, Problem-solving and Dynamic.

What is one to assume? Is Dynamism dead? Does Experience and Track Record not matter any more? Communication, of course, has gone through the window; the very existence of overused buzzwords tells us that. “As long as no one is knocking off your application on the basis of these terms, it is safer to go with them,” says Singh. “I would rather be Responsible and Driven than different for the sake of being different. The man who boasts of being pet-friendly and how he would love to bring his snakes to office will only get a job in a zoo or a circus.”