As much as I love Jeff Haden’s writings, this essay just seems cranky. All of these terms are useful and descriptive, even if they are sometimes overused. For example, if you’ve ever worked in an actual company, there are indeed “results oriented” people, and their output is vastly different from “process oriented” or “outer directed” employees, in ways both good and bad. And it doesn’t seem inappropriate to mention it in a resume.

Particularly when job hunting, it is useful to describe your outlook and priorities, and most of the terms-you-should-never-use do precisely that. These all relate to “soft skills” that determine how well a person will do in a role, and how well they fit into a company’s culture. I have a work role where I do most of the technical hiring for my company, and I find these kind of terms useful, both in assessing a candidate’s self concept, but also whether they’d be effective in the role they’re being considered for.

I don’t take them at face value, but as a general rule, peoples self perception does align generally with reality.