Say Goodbye to These 2013 HR Buzzwords

Buzzwords are dangerous for original thinking. Used judiciously, they can augment your way of communicating and add meaning to your statements. Used carelessly, as these 2013 buzzwords have been, they become meaningless clichés. Owing to the complex and variable nature of their work, human resource development professionals are at special risk of lapsing into jargon. Here are some 2013 buzzwords that have become tired and clichéd—and are, hopefully, on the way out.

"Twinternship" (sometimes rendered "twitternship") is one of the buzzwords of 2013 that wore out its welcome the fastest. According to most sources, the term applies to interns whose main responsibility is to raise or maintain the company's social media profile. While the term is certainly descriptive and might refer to an actual person somewhere in your office who hopes to earn a paid position as an HR staffer, it's simply too specialized, with too many more common alternatives already available—among them, the simple "intern." Of all the 2013 buzzwords, "twinternship" is destined to be the shortest-lived and least mourned when it's gone.

"Responsible" is another of the doomed 2013 buzzwords. In its fifth annual study of buzzwords, professional social media networking giant LinkedIn determined that "responsible" was the most overused buzzword across the platform's 259 million profiles. When a buzzword has achieved this level of penetration—to the point that it's almost strange not to see it on a resume—then, ironically, its days are numbered. The oversaturation of "responsible" and similar vaguely positive resume terms has a deadening effect that robs the word of all meaning. Eventually, "responsible" will join "dynamic" and "innovative" on the list of meaningless buzzwords that betray a lack of effort on the part of job applicants.

"Social learning" is unique among 2013 buzzwords in that it has a special relevance for human resource development. The phrase refers to the process by which new employees acquire skills on the job. In order to qualify as social learning, the newly acquired skills should not be the result of formal training, but rather picked up via a kind of mental osmosis from coworkers. Social learning is a popular approach for managers charged with training duties, as it greatly lessens the load, but studies have shown that it isn't especially effective at transmitting complex skills. Expect this term to fade as the concept it describes falls out of favor.

Technical jargon can save space and time by telescoping whole concepts into a compressed phrase with an agreed-upon meaning. When a word or a term is used too much, however, or it becomes a substitute for real thought, then it's fallen into buzzword territory. These 2013 buzzwords might once have had a purpose, but they probably don't have much of a future.

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