Hiring always boils down to who possesses an advantage.
A particular skill, amount of experience, and specific areas of study are just a few examples where you might be able to find such an advantage.
One particular advantage reigns over all others.
Who do you know?
While knowing someone on the inside can undoubtedly provide a breakthrough, most applicants don’t have a vast network to utilize. Furthermore, most openings won’t have an applicant with inside connections.
In the absence of having an established connection, you should fall back on the next best thing. Make hiring managers feel they know you.
Admittedly, that’s not the most straightforward task to pull off. Most hiring managers only know you via what they find in your portfolio and resume.
Your resume, homepage, and case studies all carry an expectation with them for the content they should deliver — but your About Page is the wild card. Handled correctly, an effective About Page can catapult you to the top of the consideration pile because it has the highest chance of resonating with a reader.
What the About Page should do
Many think of the portfolio as a purely visual exercise, but that dismisses the importance of the narrative within. The About Page is a place that allows time and circumstance to unravel and recombine in a manner that best suits your personal story.
Tell your professional story
There is a myriad of qualities that designers develop throughout their careers. Most are not attached to a project and lack visual representation that would accurately represent them.
In such moments, the written word has to shine. Designers are always growing — even when we’re not in the middle of a project. So those life-altering moments that often won’t fit neatly into a box can find a home on your About Page.
Up for debate is what qualifies as ‘professional.’ Does the growth have to happen within an office to count? Surely not, as the moment needs to reflect something that helps you operate as a better human being.
Capture and connect
A portfolio typically has a half-dozen different places where you are trying to connect with the visitor. Many of those areas carry prior expectations, but the About Page is free of most constraints.
Most About Pages are drab affairs. Maybe the resume is expanded. A link to a downloadable resume is likely included. Perhaps a list of skills and awards will round out the Page.
Those are great, but what people want to know is your backstory.
Why are you a designer and not a banker? You had a choice about the type of designer that you wanted to be, so how did you end up where you are?
In telling your story, you’ll share bits about you that on the surface might seem mundane. Sports camps, internships, life mistakes that took a quirky turn — they all count. Many of your visitors won’t care, and that’s completely ok. A few people will genuinely find you to be far more interesting because of these moments. This group will naturally feel more connected to you even.
If we hire the people we know, that principle extends to the people we don’t know but feel connected to when the hiring pool is a bunch of strangers.
Telling your story
Let’s discuss the elephant in the room.
Most people dislike talking about themselves. We universally love when other people speak well of us, but we’re conditioned that talking about ourselves is some mortal sin.
Feeding yourself is not a bad thing, and writing your About Page is crucial if you want to pay your bills. There, you have permission. Go nuts.
With that addressed, let’s discuss some options for structuring this tale.
Back in time
The most common trope in telling any backstory is to go the ”Once upon a time” route.
I haven’t personally seen anyone attempt to structure their pathway to design from the womb, but I do know of examples where people begin with family linage. I could roll out that story — great aunt was a painter, my dad doodled a lot, so naturally, I became a designer. I’ve never used that route, but it’s there.
More commonly, people begin with a pivotal moment.
- You won the LEGO contest.
- The family went on an extraordinary trip.
- Bit by a radioactive spider and can now climb walls.
From there, the story progresses to the modern-day with pitstops for essential moments along the way.
If you choose the chronological route, it’s vital to remember that this isn’t tied to your job history. Humans have breakthroughs randomly, so if you stick to retelling your career, you’re likely to miss the exciting stuff.
Life themes and lessons
While everybody can follow the passage of time from one moment to the next, that structure could obscure more interesting underlying themes.
Themes provide a useful storytelling device as they allow you to time-hop from one era to the next without following the traditional chronological path.
A few possible theme-focused examples include:
- Active in community development
- Life from an alternative perspective
- Competitive sports/activities
- Learning through travel
Each of the examples above could go in radically different directions as they are all dependent on the individual telling the story.
Is there a risk that you could venture into territory that could be seen negatively by an employer? Potentially, but at the same time, you might be avoiding a toxic work experience.
There is no deception when you share with the world who you are and what you believe in — and that is when your message truly connects with others.
Further review
All the about pages listed here belong to my former students. Each produced work that reflects a significant portion of the principles described above: