We all need to be more creative in choosing the words we use on LinkedIn to describe ourselves and our successes. Otherwise our innovative approaches and problem solving solutions will blend in – or feel trite and overused.

Drat. Strike that. I shouldn’t use the terms “creative” or “innovative” or “problem solving” since they show up on LinkedIn’s new list of most overused words on millions of its U.S. profiles. In fact, creative is the most overused catchword in the United States and around the globe, where 135 million people and organizations have  LinkedIn profiles. (Full disclosure: It’s also one of my favorites approaches and descriptors and it shows up five times on my LinkedIn profile.)

Since I’m a news hound, let’s provide the 2011 list of  top buzzword on U.S. profiles:

1. creative
2. organizational
3.  effective
4.  extensive experience
5.  track record
6.  motivated
7. innovative
8.  problem solving
9. communication skills
10. dynamic

The earlier list from 2010, which you can see on the LinkedIn blog, includes many of the same words – especially innovative, motivated and proven track record.

“Buzzwords are words we’re lazy with. They’re filler words… the wah-wah words; people just skim over them,” said Nichole Williams, LinkedIn’s connection director and author of three career books. Her profile is not immune – she uses dynamic, though only once in her profile. ”In this kind of competitive marketplace, you have so many people applying for a job. You need to differentiate yourself….You’ve got to stand out from the crowd.”

If you’re really creative (and I think I am), we have results that scream or tap dance or whisper seductively ‘this is so spectacular.’ So hyperlink to samples of your work. Or give specific examples of it. Show the results, don’t say the word.

Think about the word you’re using “in reverse,” she suggested. “You’d never write unmotivated” on your resume or profile. Every person is expected to be motivated. Come up with something more definitive, more action oriented. A journalist (like me) could say “I beat deadlines.”  Williams and I came up with other great substitutions, some of which will show up in my profile before yearend.

So Set aside 90 minutes on two or three different days to revise and reinvent your LinkedIn profile.  When you pull up your profile or your resume, unleash your inner editor and get ah inventive. Think of a short descriptive phrase that captures you and your essence.Pull out the thesaurus. Try creating a six-word autobiography – or see the most compelling career summaries collected in a book called 6 Words About Work by Mercer and Smith magazine.

Kick out those overused words and invite in something fresh, enthralling, delectable.

“Instead of using adjectives to describe yourself, you want to illustrate it,” said Donna Schilder, a career and leadership coach who offers a LinkedIn video seminar series and blog. If you want to show you’re a team player, talk about the times you’ve led the team or supported the team. Use the word “we” which indicates your collaborative nature. Schilder also suggests adding numbers to show the scale and measure the impact. If you don’t have specifics, estimate the change you helped to produce.

Consider the impact too you’re going to have when your descriptions and detail grab a future employer by the heartstrings or the lapels. You’re memorable and remarkable – and you’re hired.

When Williams. was looking for an office assistant, she chose someone whose resume highlighted her “enormous capacity for work.” “That’s why I hired her,” said Williams. “Don’t be afraid to describe yourself in terms that will catch someone’s attention.”

As someone who seriously considered a career as a librarian or book shop owner, I adore books  – and their ability to inspire, uplift and inform.  So when I consider Christmas and Chanukah gift ideas, books are always on my mind.

This year with the jobless rate at 8.6 percent, career books seem like a good bet.  So I asked some exceptional career experts to recommend the best books for work, job search and leadership.  Many of their suggestions appear in my Glassdoor.com blog (out on Monday). The rest are offered up here, with the understanding that any book selection must be tailored to the recipient, their personality and situation.

Margaret Dikel created The Riley Guide to help university professionals and students with career information. It has grown exponentially since then. Here’s her book suggestions:

• Well Connected: An Unconventional Approach to Building Genuine, Effective Business Relationships by Gordon S. Curtis with Greg Lewis.  It is true – who you know makes a huge difference in your career.  Gordon explores a variety of ways to tap a network for introductions and opportunities to present your credentials to decision-makers will move your job search or career ahead at a much faster rate than you ever thought possible.
•  Knock ‘em Dead: Secrets & Strategies for Success in an Uncertain World by Martin Yate (2011, Adams Media).   A great alternative to “Parachute” by another well-regarded expert on job search and career planning.  His writing style is more casual, so it may be an easier read, but you still are pushed into much effort in your search.
•  The Twitter Job Search Guide by Susan Britton Whitcomb, Chandlee Bryan, and Deb Dib (2010, Jist).  Yes, there are opportunities in the world of 140 characters, and not just job postings. A network awaits if you know how to tap into it, and this is your guide to doing it the right way (and avoiding potential problems).

Kate Wendleton is president of the Five O’Clock Club in New York, a membership group that helps professionals and executives with career transitions. Her advice and insights are always first-rate, whether I’m interviewing her for Fortune or for a blog post. Her book picks include:

• Your Great Business Idea:: the Truth About Making It Happen.  by Kate Wendleton. Make sure your business idea works – for your personality and with success in mind. Contains dozens of case studies showing how people made their decisions. Offers business strategies  for start-ups including the “One-Hour Business Plan” technique to help your test your ideas.
• The Little Black Book of Success: Laws of Leadership for Black Women by Elaine Meryl Brown,  Marsha Haygood, Rhonda Joy McLean and Angela Burt-Murray. Said Wendleton: “It’s really for everyone – black, white and other, male and female. Extremely well written and full of nuggets for everyone.”

Phyllis Mufson, a career coach for 25 years, works from Philadelphia, is also an artist who makes and sells jewelry. She recommends:

•  Leadership and Self Deception. Getting Out of the Box by Arbinger Institute. The Arbinger Institute offers seminars, videos and books to help organizations and individuals with problems springing from self-deception. Mufson calls this “a wonderful book on how people get in their own way, at work and in their personal lives. It is very clear about the mechanics of self-justification, the consequences, and how to set yourself free.”
• Social Networking for Career Success: Using Online Tools to Create a Personal Brand by Miriam Salpeter – Social media is profoundly changing how people get and keep jobs, influence others, and build businesses and Mufson considers this book “very accessible and well-presented how to information.” It also was recommended by Riley in the Glassdoor.com post (link coming Monday afternoon).

I recommend these books:

•  Better by Mistake, The Unexpected Benefits of Being Wrong by Alina Tugend.  This book, by a New York Times contributor, explores all the ways mistakes can trip us up or build our intelligence and resilience, Technically this is not a career book, but its findings could be useful to your career and your ability to bounce back from a setback or big screw up.
• The Adventures of Johnny Bunko / The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need by Daniel Pink. This book, told comic book style, is great for the 18- to 25-year old who’s just starting out. It offers advice including “make excellent mistakes” and “it’s not about you” and it’s one of only a handful of career books I wish I had written!
• Today We Are Rich by Tim Sanders. Sanders, who’s the author of one of my all-time favorite books Love Is the Killer App, writes about the wit and wisdom his grandma, Billye, gave him and how it guided him through his career at Yahoo and as a motivational speaker and consultant. This book may work especially well for anyone facing hard times or who needs some folksy encouragement and guidance.

To be sure there are many other great books available this year. If you’re looking for something more focused on spirituality, personal finances or wellness, check out the finalists in the Books for a Better Life award.  And if you’re finding too many books to give for the December holidays, consider offering some as a Valentine’s gift, including perhaps The Start-Up of You by Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, and Ben Casnocha.

Some days I cannot help myself. I just burst into song. Songs like “If you’re happy and you know it (clap your hands)” and “I believe I can fly.”  Sometimes I sing Christmas carols – “Feliz Navidad” – and sometimes it’s Shania Twain.

This week, I feel like singing because I’m feeling healthy and successful.

The healthy results mostly from a bit more exercise – an almost daily walk with my dog, Dannie, – and a renewed commitment to healthier eating.

The successful comes from a few sources, including most notably that my New York Times article on mortgages was — however briefly —  the most viewed and most emailed piece in this week’s Real Estate section. (The piece, on how relatives may gift money toward a down payment, has since been bumped but remains in the top five.)

So when I’m singing or feeling successful or taking a walk, I underscore those positive emotions and I feel even better. My energy levels are higher, my motivation is strong and I leap into my next assignment with gusto. Scientists may say this comes from the endorphynes released while I’m walking. I see it coming from positive steps and positive action – and acknowledging the joy of the moment.

Even when life feels hectic and stressful or I feel unfocused, I try to do something that or sing something upbeat. Sometimes it’s loud or offkey, sometimes I may make up many of the words, but the act of singing and walking really make a difference.

What are you doing to make your life sing? What positive moves will you make today?

I haven’t written much, if anything, about football or served up entrepreneurial success stories built on locally produced cranberries or candy canes. But I have written some stories that work nicely as Thanksgiving leftovers, or as a door into the December holiday season and all the delicious treats and times that await us.

GRANDMA:  While you’re around the table enjoying sweet potatoes or some chicken soup, take time to learn the wisdom of your grandma – or grandpa too.  My Fortune.com piece told of how business leaders and entrepreneurs depend on grandma’s wisdom and values; it certainly ranks as one of my favorite stories this year.

HOMES:  My columns on mortgages for the New York Times are mostly practical, actionable consumer pieces, not a lot of spice or frills. But I really liked the piece on co-signing for a loved one’s mortgage, and hope that it did not scare away too many parents or grandparents from generously helping their relatives into a first home or apartment.

TOYS.  I adore playfulness and toys and games. So I wrote a piece on people who keep the in their office for the Washington Post Capital Business. Turns out they are a good creativity and productivity tool as well as lots of fun.  (Sometime soon I hope to write about puppets and work – so send me your stories or ideas.)

I could have shared my Glassdoor blog post on goal setting or my new New York Times piece, based partly on my experiences, about what happens when two people with two very different credit scores try to buy a home together and get a mortgage. And soon I will write more about gratitude and work, a riff on another Fortune.com story.  For now though, this is enough to share.

So I’ll leave you with this dollup of play from Lucinda Crabtree: “It looks like play but it really is a way to keep the bottle open” and the creativity flowing and stress at bay. That’s so important during the busy month of December.

Marco Mattiacci was 29 and working for a consulting firm in London when a recruiter for Ferrari called, asking if he would join the storied automaker. For an Italian man, working at Ferrari represented one of two dream careers, he said. The other: the Italian national soccer team.

So he quickly accepted and was sent to South America for “an incredible opportunity” to bring the sexy two-seaters to Brazilians and Argentinians. “I had a decent knowledge of English and a decent knowledge of Spanish,” Mattiacci said. From that sales job, his career has raced forward. At 40, he has served as CEO of Ferrari North America for almost two years.  Recently, I was fortunate to interview him for a Fortune magazine piece on personal branding and careers; some outtakes and extras are offered here.

“There is definitely not a Coca-Cola formula to succeeding in life,” he told me. Still,  he has his own secret sauce: “I think curiosity is what makes the difference, and listening.”

His ideas for career success do not mandate driving a Ferrari, and as the father of three – a 2-year-old and newborn twins born Oct. 27 – he doesn’t tool around in one every day  either.  But Mattiacci does expect hard work and dedication. Here then are five approaches to make your career shine as brightly as a new red Ferrari, from Marco Mattiacci:

1. Cultivate curiosity.   ” Your mind is always open. and your ears are open to listen,” he told me. Listen to a wide variety of people – including many  in fields very different from yours, such as the orchestra leaders and software industries. That creates cross fertilization. “The more you know, the more you understand: You don’t know that much,” he said. So read books and newspapers every day – including the New York Times and Foreign Affairs Review. ”I like to be challenged,” he said.
2. Be open to opportunities.  “The best things in life arrive to you,” he said, comparing it to a surfer who watches and waits for just the right wave to ride. When it does, you must know you’re prepared and also prepare for a learning curve, Mattiacci said.

3. Grab international experience. It’s stimulating and helps you understand people unlike you. “We are an interconnected world. Have experience abroad,” he recommends.

4. Develop an entrepreneurial mindset.  “Be an entrepreneur in the way to manage your job,” he said. “Execution is fundamental” and so are the relationships with staff and customers.

5. Mix passion and humility.  Despite his success for Ferrari in China and Asian, he wakes up with the idea: “There is someone better than me that can aspire to take my job. ” He also sees the global market for cars and talent as “so competitive.” This forces him to work very hard, and to see ways to adapt and learn.  The passion piece is important because it creates momentum. “When you do things with passion, you do things 120 percent,” said Mattiacci.

Like Ferrari, he appreciates and embraces the idea that being highly selective, authentic and true to core values works for individual as well as automotive success

————-

Marco Mattiacci prefers books on business, history – especially ancient Rome and Greece – as well as biographies and personal improvement books. Here are a few he recommends:

·         The Rational Optimist By Matt Ridley

·         The Last Place on Earth  By Roland Huntford

·        Caesar’s Legion By Stephen Dando-Collins

·         The Ascent of Money By Niall Ferguson  (link goes to PBS two-hour program based on the book)

·         Memoiries D’Hadrien  By Marguerite Yourcenar (French tile of a book about a Roman emperor)

·         The Culture Code  By Clotaire Rapaille

This post was updated on Nov. 7, 2011

Zingerman’s Mail Order brings in about 300 temporary workers to send out sugarplums from Portugal and brownie bites from its Bakehouse. Toys R Us will hire some 40,000 temporary workers for its stores and distribution centers, and United Parcel Service and FedEx together could add 75,000 drivers, helpers and others.

‘Tis the season to work in retail, and it’s already Christmas time in the malls and Main Streets of America.

Almost 30 percent of retailers will add to their staffs for the busy holiday period and so will 10 percent of hospitality companies, about the same as last year, according to a new CareerBuilder survey of 2,600 employers.

That’s about 480,000 to 500,000 seasonal jobs, according to an estimate by the National Retail Federation, or maybe 627,000 positions based on a Challenger Gray Christmas estimate for this year.

While many of those jobs have already been claimed, one-third of the employers say they’re still adding staff this month and 10 percent will still be hiring in December, according to CareerBuilder.   November is the big month for hiring, according to Challenger Gray, which recommends going to the store and starting an in-person conversation with a manager.

So start now if you want a holiday job this year, but don’t go anyplace on a Saturday because most retailers and restaurants are too busy handling paying customers to consider potential candidates. Go on a weekday afternoon or another slow time.

Here’s three more  tips on landing a seasonal job:

1.  It’s who you know and what you know.  Start your search at a store where you know someone or something, Challenger Gray suggests. “You should also target establishments of which you are a frequent customer,” CEO John Challenger said. If you are very familiar with the merchant, the store and the merchandise, show that clearly – by wearing their sweaters or shoes to the interview or commenting on their new line of hair care. If a friend works at the location 15 miles away, ask her to email or call the general manager the day before your interview and sing your praises.
2.  Show success and customer-service savvy.  This may come from volunteering at a dance marathon or PTA fundraiser. It may appear in your leadership role in a student organization or working in your aunt’s shop on busy weeks.  But make sure it shows up in your application, even if the work was unpaid. Demonstrate your customer-focus mindset in the way you treat people before and after the interview, and if you see a row of books that needs straightening up or a person who needs assistance, jump in and do it.
3.  Weekends and midnights – perfect! You must be available almost every weekend through New Year’s and some strange shifts that start or end at 1 or 4 a.m. If possible, be upbeat and enthusiastic about the chance to sell truffles or Teddy Bears at 6 a.m. every Saturday. Attitude matters – and so does availibility. People who are unwilling to work certain hours was the biggest turnoff to hiring managers in the CareerBuilder survey.

If you apply online as many retailers require, stop in at the store about three or  four days later. This helps you stand out from the crowd of candidates and allows you to show positive attitude and company attire.  “Have a three-sentence elevator pitch on why you’ll be a great employee ready,” said Shawn Boyer, CEO of SnagAJob.com. Then be prepared for a hello and a handshake or an impromptu interview.

MORE IDEAS / INFORMATION:

Home for the holidays? Here’s my WorkingKind post on making connections while you make merry.

Five tips for getting started on temping -in my Glassdoor piece.

 Fortune.com contributor Anne Fisher has advice on holiday hiring – and turning it into a permanent job.

If your company is sinking and you are starting to plan for your future, read my blog post first written for Borders Books staffers.

Wandering around Grand Rapids during Art Prize feels a bit like being transported to a country where the currency is creativity and art. Yes, there are a number of counterfeiters operating there – some crassly commercial pieces that seem to be more about promoting a company than creative expression. But there’s also some stunningly beautiful and inventive art installations.

Rick DeVos, the founder of ArtPrize, acknowledges that some of its sculpture and paintings are “goofy and poorly made” and a few may offend some residents in a town once known for the number of Christian radio stations. Yet he believes that is the price one pays for a “radically open” art competition – and DeVos sees openness as critical to bringing higher quality and more variety of artforms.

“It’s that belief that people can create much more value when they can create their own ideas,”  he  said. I interviewed DeVos for Fortune.com - my piece appeared last week.

“By weaving the rules as minimal as possible, you can get a maximum sort of diversity in participation. Over time, it creates a more interesting and diverse ecosystems,” said DeVos, whether  for art or Android mobile phone apps.

This resonates for me – as a way of managing a team, my teams. Set the basic rules in place and leave plenty of room for improvisation, for individuality. Believe that the best will come forth, even if not in the way you imagined.

“It’s impossible to forecast where things will take you. Have somewhat of a lunatic faith – let things happen,” he told me. I love that term  – “a lunatic faith” in our creativity, in our collaboration, in our problem-solving abilities.

That lunatic faith has brought Grand Rapids hundreds of artists, working in borrowed ladders, nails, stained glass, Rubik’s Cubes, and red threads among many other media. They come in hoping to claim prizes that total $474,000 last year.  They come hoping to be inspired, or to meet collectors. Among the pieces were a 12-ton steam pig, a sea monster lying in the river and a variety of murals and sculptures that still are visible around Grand Rapids.  (You can see many photos on the official ArtPrize Flikr stream and I am hoping a few of my photos from 2009 will be posted here too.)

I’d also like to share one question and answer that didn’t make the Fortune.com piece.

Q Elmer: Why do business people need to think more like artists, or do they? 

A DeVos:  ” Innovation is a way overused word, but in a way that’s what it comes down to. What are the ways that we’re going to create value. It’s not necessarily technology. It could be 200 year old things that you bring together in a new way. You need to embrace the chaos at the beginning … let the thing happen. Find new models, new methods, new products. Create value for your firm.”

“People come up with crazy ideas and some of them become wildly successful. Some are weird little projects that people just want to do for fun.”

ArtPrize seems on its way to success today – it’s growing and inspiring others and may be self sufficient before too long. Yet it could have been something more mundane. DeVos told me a couple of years ago that originally he wanted it to be a film festival. That was a well-worn idea, and so he threw it out and tried again.  He threw away the maps and the blueprints on art events, and used that family money, some openness and his “lunatic faith” to open many eyes.