Session 2

Developing your Professional Profile on the Web

How and why to develop your professional identity on the web

Presentation by Jennifer Jordan, Career Services

Key takeaways:

Potential employers, collaborators, colleagues look for you on Google. You should make sure what they find is professional and useful.
You should actively curate and populate your Google Search results with professional artifacts:
- Professional profile on institutional site
- Personal website or professional landing page
- Professional Blog
- Blog posts and articles suitable for professional context
- Research, conference and work artifacts
Make sure your professional bio is
- well-written (error-free and stylistically appropriate),
- engaging (interesting and important) and
- accessible (understandable to broad audience).

What is "Professional?"

By "professional" we mean respecting the norms and culture of the workplace. If you are wondering if something is professional or not, we suggest thinking about a specific audience: a prospective employer.

Screen your online activity with a quick thought experiment

When you are considering putting digital content onto the web or social networks, we suggest thinking to yourself: if this webpage, post or photo was seen by a hiring committee for a job in my ideal field, would I feel comfortable talking about it? Could I embrace it in this professional setting to talk about myself in a positive way?

Professional is not necessarily the same as formal

For example, it may be just fine for a prospective employer to see you in a blog post in jeans and a t-shirt, dusty from field work, writing about a tough but rewarding day and how you are looking forward to a trip to the beach. This is an informal account of your experience doing work that is characteristic of many professional geologists. However, digital photos and accounts of your experience at that evening's beach party--also an everyday informal environment--may highlight the dress and behavior of you or others which cuts against the norms of the workplace.

Professional or Academic Profile

Your professional or academic profile is a single page which summarizes who you are as a professional for a professional audience. It usually includes a short bio (e.g. 150-250 words), clearly states you affiliation and position, and usually highlights key projects, research products, or goals or agendas.

Tips on writing a bio and emphasizing key marketable skills:

Worksheet Links to an external site. to get you started with a short professional bio.

For Undergrads:
- https://www.pullmanfoundation.org/professional-bio-writing-101/ Links to an external site.
- https://www.slideshare.net/rockefellercenter/sample-bio Links to an external site.

Where to host your profile

Grad students: The best place to host your professional profile is among the other profiles on the Jackson School website. Links to an external site. Here, your online profile will be situated among the world class community of researchers. You can also post your bio or profile on the website of your research lab.

Jackson School Geosciences Bios Links to an external site.
Create your profile: https://apps.jsg.utexas.edu/profiles/ Links to an external site.

Undergrads: if you are an undergrad, there are many sites you can use to create a simple public professional profile, for instance:

about.me
Google Sites
Wordpress

If possible, it is good to situate your profile among other students, professionals and scholars who reflect positively on your work and interests. Consider:

Your research lab if you are doing undergraduate research
A current employer if it is related to your career goals or highlights key interests or skills
A student organization you work with, especially if you are in a leadership position or if it is distinctly professionally relevant.

Example Profiles: Links to an external site.

Grad Student on JSG: https://ig.utexas.edu/students/brandon-shuck/ Links to an external site.
Grad Student on JSG: https://www.jsg.utexas.edu/student/sebastian_ramiro_ramirez/ Links to an external site.
Grad Student on Google Sites: https://sites.google.com/utexas.edu/hima-hg/ Links to an external site.
Undergrad: https://sites.google.com/utexas.edu/brookekopecky Links to an external site.
Faculty: http://www.jsg.utexas.edu/banner/ Links to an external site.
Faculty: https://www.jsg.utexas.edu/researcher/julia_clarke/ Links to an external site.
Faculty: https://www.jsg.utexas.edu/researcher/richard_ketcham/ Links to an external site.

Websites and Blogs

"The Cheeky Scientist Links to an external site.." PhD to Industry Careers.

"Post-Ac The Bad Boys of Academia Links to an external site.." The Scholarprenuer.

“Blogging Tips for Science Bloggers, From Science Bloggers. Links to an external site.” 2015. From The Lab Bench.

JSG Student Blog - Science Y'all: http://www.jsg.utexas.edu/science-yall/ Links to an external site.

Common platforms:

Wordpress
Google Sites
UT Blogging Service: https://sites.utexas.edu/
Squarespace
Jekyll on Github, or Github Pages

Making scholarly activity more visible

If you are proud of work you have published or presented at a conference, ensuring that it is indexed and available online can be a great way to professionalize your digital identity. Consider archiving scholarly artifacts (presentations, posters, maps, unpublished conference abstracts or papers) on:

Texas Scholarworks: https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/ Links to an external site.
Slideshare: https://www.slideshare.net/ Links to an external site.
Figshare: https://figshare.com/ Links to an external site.

Make sure you have the permission of your collaborators (e.g. adviser, co-authors) to share data and work!

Presenting and distinguishing yourself as an author and researcher

If you are beginning to publish and disseminate your work, a good way to present your scholarly activity and distinguish yourself from others is with your Google Scholar Citations Links to an external site. profile.

If you intend on pursuing an academic career, set up your ORCID Links to an external site..