Customizing Your Profile

Why Customize My Profile?

You may ask yourself - why do I need to edit my Projects section, for example, if Udacity auto-generates descriptions for me in my Profile? Think about it this way - if a recruiter looks at uncustomized Profiles of graduates from the same Nanodegree program, they will see nearly identical Profiles. How will they be able to decide between candidates?

Especially for your final or capstone project, you must communicate how your work is unique. Remember that the recruiter already has an idea of what you've done in the Nanodegree program - you do not need to describe the specifications of the project. Instead - describe what you built or analyzed, and how you did it.

What Do Recruiters Look For?

Recruiters and hiring managers have a difficult job - they want to find the best candidate to hire, but also don't have the time to look in-depth at every job candidate. So - they have to narrow their search and make initial decisions on first impressions. If they're looking for a Ruby Developer, for example, they'll search for people who are explicitly seeking that job role, are a student or graduate of a Ruby Nanodegree, or who have Ruby technical skills.

Most recruiters glance at Profiles for a few seconds, and make a decision then whether or not to continue reading further.

In order to attract recruiters, you must:

1. Give a great, professional first impression.

2. Provide a clear snapshot of your relevant skills and experiences. The key word here is "snapshot." A recruiter tends to give a first glance, then a first skim. If they like the Profile, they'll continue looking at your other materials, maybe your GitHub profile or resume. If you provide too much information at first, the recruiter can't easily discern if you may be a good fit for the role because there's too much to read or look at and they may not dig deeper.

• Make sure the recruiter knows what you're looking for and what your skills are. We'll go into this later in the lesson, but it's important to not oversaturate your Profile with information. Think hard about your dream job. If your dream job is to be a data analyst, strive for that role. Even if you have web development experience, advertising that you want a web developer role may confuse a recruiter looking to fill a data science role, and they may pass on your Profile.

1. Make your portfolio accessible. Once recruiters have skimmed through your Profile and decided to further consider you for the role, they'll want to take a look at your work. Maybe they want to go to your GitHub to see your code. Maybe they're curious about your previous work experiences and want to look at your resume or LinkedIn. Each element of your portfolio should further elaborate on who you are as a candidate. Make sure they each tell a consistent narrative, are up-to-date and optimized for your desired job!
2. Make it easy for them to contact you. Make sure your LinkedIn profile is public, without any sections hidden to non-connections. Make sure your email is displayed on your resume, GitHub, Kaggle, or any other accounts.

Now, let's look into each section of your Profile!