We first posted this to the Internmatch blog.
We’ve seen a lot of great student profiles at about.me. But, what are they for and how can they help you get hired?
First, about.me is your corner of the web – it’s a one stop shop for your various networks and websites online as well as providing a visual representation of you. It can be used as a cover letter to your online resume. You have control over the image as well as the content that displays.
This differs from a lot of your other profiles online, where your image is small or non-existent or you are forced to display content unrelated to where you want to be or how you want to present yourself.
Add your about.me url to your resume, your email signature and personal cards, rather than linking to a half dozen social networks, some of which have no connection to your potential job.
Then, focus on making your profile professional and targeting the industries and roles where you are most interested.
- Be succinct – explain your background and what you want to do next. Make it easy to read and quickly get to where you want to be.
- Be yourself – add a background and bio that reflects who you are, where you’re from and what motivates you.
- Be creative – if you have skills, show them off! In design, photography, writing or more. Link to places the display the best of what you do.
- Be careful – get a few friends or advisors to take a look at your page and provide constructive, honest feedback. And update based on what they say!
We have a few offers to help you put your most professional foot forward. First, set up an about.me email address. It presents a more professional address than sk8tr02@example.com. It gives you the opportunity to separate your job-related contacts and messages, preventing any mix-ups.
In addition, get a free set of about.me/Moo cards. These are great to distribute at networking events, ensuring your introductions are memorable. Having business cards to give means you get them in return, providing you with valuable contact information with potential employers.
So go, have fun and get started!
I know that this brilliant Splash page idea will only get bigger and even better and I’ve been using Aboutdotme since the beginning of 2011 and love it’s concept design and more importantly how it really reflects me.
Signed,
It’s really all about me!
That’s a good point to add your location. It would be a great idea to have another line simliar to the “headline” field to add your location. Then it would be something special if you could click on a little map icon or something on each profile page to view their location. Or if there was a world map of all of the profiles. You could hover/click on the little [me] icons on the map to pop up the profile thumbnail.