Build Your Professional Identity
Present your best work—and the professional behind it.
Your professional identity is how employers, clients, collaborators, and graduate programs come to know you. These resources will help you create a compelling portfolio, build a strong LinkedIn profile, develop a personal brand, and establish a professional online presence that reflects your skills, experiences, and career goals. While you can explore the resources in any order, we recommend working through them in the sequence below to build a strong foundation.
LinkedIn Profile Guide: Learn how to create a LinkedIn profile that goes beyond your resume. This guide walks you through each section of your profile—from your headline and About section to showcasing your experiences, skills, and projects—so you can build your professional network and increase your visibility to employers, alumni, and industry professionals.
Building Your Portfolio: Your portfolio is often the most important tool for demonstrating your abilities in creative fields. This guide explains what to include, how to organize your work, and how to present projects in a way that showcases both your technical skills and your creative process. Whether you’re building a website or a PDF portfolio, you’ll learn how to create a professional portfolio that evolves with your experience.
Portfolio Development Worksheet: Use this guided worksheet to plan, organize, and strengthen your portfolio before you begin building it. You’ll reflect on your professional identity, inventory your experiences, identify your strongest projects, evaluate your skills, and create an action plan for developing a portfolio that tells the story of who you are becoming.
Website Builders: Explore a curated collection of website-building platforms to find the one that best fits your needs, technical experience, and creative goals. Whether you’re looking for a simple drag-and-drop builder or a platform designed specifically for creative portfolios, this resource introduces several options to help you create a professional online presence.
Personal Branding for Creatives: Learn how to intentionally shape the way others perceive you as a professional. This guide will help you define your unique value, write a personal brand statement, build a consistent online presence, and communicate your skills and strengths across your portfolio, LinkedIn profile, website, and social media.