Big words don't give you a leg up, they just make you look pompous.

At the commencement of this periodical, I wish to articulate that the optimum means of disseminating critical data related to your vocational expertise is, inarguably, not through the utilization of

Big

Stupid

Overkill

Words.

In fact, when you go out of your way to stuff your resume, cover letter or LinkedIn profile with a whole bunch of words that no one actually USES in real life, you don't just look pompous (you do look pompous, by the way. You do) ...

You also shoot yourself square in the foot.

Pow.

You shoot yourself in the foot because one of the primary goals in marketing yourself to potential employers is to make it super easy for them to relate to you. And the easiest way to make people relate to you is to roll up your sleeves and act sort of like them.

Speak their language.

Be human.

And guess what?

Most of us humans don't, in the course of any given day, use words like "nascent," or "mollify" or "expedient."

Most of us humans are lucky to get out the door each morning without forgetting our laptops, our coffee, our kids, or (in my strangely frequent case) our deodorant.

We sure as hell aren't thinking about how many giantly stupid overkill words we can embed cram into our days.

And so before you run like hell over to the thesaurus, consider this:

The people reviewing your resumes, cover letters, LinkedIn profiles?

They are people.

Much like you, they eat chicken wings, use swear words, fret about bad hair days, vote on American Idol, and sweat more than they ought to when they forget to wear deodorant.

And more than likely?

They're going to appreciate that, WHEN they hire you ...?

You're going to be much the same.

Forget a lot of what your high school guidance counselor taught you about resumes and business writing.

When crafting your brand message for a future employer: