How to Build a Professional Online Profile That Still Sounds Like You

A professional profile should help the right person understand what you do, what you are building and how to contact you. It should not sound as if a committee of management words borrowed your face.

Clear and human beats impressive but vague. Build the profile from evidence you can explain in a conversation.

Decide who the profile is for

Choose the main audience: employers, clients, collaborators, industry peers or community members. One profile can serve several groups, but the headline and first lines should give the primary reader a clear reason to continue.

Review the platform’s purpose and privacy settings before adding details.

Write a specific headline

Use your current profession, target direction or service plus a useful area of focus. Avoid a chain of adjectives with no work attached.

• Clear: Graduate data analyst | Reporting, SQL and customer insights
• Clear: Melbourne-based event photographer for community and family events
• Vague: Visionary results-driven professional creating impact

Make the summary sound like a person

Open with what you do or are moving toward, then explain relevant experience, strengths and the kind of problems you help solve. Use first person if the platform suits it. Include a small amount of personality, not your complete childhood autobiography.

Read the summary aloud. If you would never say the sentence, rewrite it.

Support claims with evidence

Add projects, roles, qualifications, portfolios or outcomes that support the headline. Explain your contribution and context. Protect confidential employer, client and customer information.

Only list licences, registrations and qualifications accurately, including status when relevant. A course you are considering is not yet a qualification.