5 Do's & Don'ts of Creating a Personal Website to Showcase Your Professional Achievements

Whether you're on the hunt for a new job or just looking to get organized, you've come to the right place.

Applying for jobs is meticulous, frustrating, and downright boring at times. You probably spend hours browsing job sites, submitting resumes, and writing out different versions of cover letters about why you're the best person for the job, just to not even get the luxury of a response from hiring managers half the time. 

Although the process is grueling, with a bit of luck and strategy it can produce incredibly rewarding results. You could land the perfect job to start or continue to grow your career, furthering the path to success you've dreamed of – and that's what keeps you going. 

But what if I told you I could make the application process much easier and faster?

Why You Should Build a Website to Showcase Your Professional Achievements

Personal websites are all the rage these days; they're a great way to showcase your resume and keep all of your experience easily accessible to recruiters. They can also set you apart from the competition, which is crucial in today's post-COVID-19 job market. 

We also talked about optimizing your online image not too long ago, and a personal website could really open the gateway to starting that process. Your personal website will centralize all of your "Google-able" traits – from social media to your portfolio, and maybe even some hobbies – in one place. You can even use some pictures to help put a face to your name, making you seem more like a real person with real aspirations instead of just a name on a sheet of paper to a recruiter.

5 Do's and Don'ts of Crafting a Professional Personal Website

However, personal websites can be a blessing and a curse; if your website is anything less than impressive, it will make you look unprofessional. To avoid that possibility, here are 5 do's and don'ts to take into account when crafting your professional website.  

1. Don't: Use Unprofessional Photos

Photos can be an asset on your personal website; they establish your personal brand, and, as I said before, put a face to your name so you're more than just a resume.

This means that your Facebook profile picture probably won't cut it here.

Think about the professional image you're trying to project to the people viewing your website. Pictures with your friends from your last birthday party probably won't give the impression that you're professional and driven. 

If you can't afford, or just don't want to, pay for a professional shoot, have a friend take a picture of you against a neutral background. You can also include pictures that align with the industry you're interested in. For example, a travel writer could include a picture of their recent trip to Dubai, a CNC machiner could include an image of themselves working at their facility, and so on.  

2. Do: Include References and Testimonials

While listing relevant experience on your website is certainly a good idea, including references and testimonials from people you've worked with in past roles will make your experience look that much more valuable. Advocating for yourself can be difficult as we're typically trained not to brag about our own accomplishments, so why not have someone else do it for you?

Testimonials will also give you a degree of credibility. If someone else (especially a manager or supervisor) is willing to vouch for your strengths and skills you learned on the job, it shows that not only do you definitely have those skills, but you also are on positive terms with previous employers and in a position to ask for the favor of someone writing a recommendation for you.

3. Do: SEO Optimize 

It's easy to put SEO optimization on the back burner or forget it entirely. Why should you take the time to optimize something so personal? But we're talking about optimizing your online presence here, so it's not very useful to have a personal website if it doesn't appear when someone Googles your name.

Take the time to make a few small adjustments to your site to ensure it's front and center when a prospective hiring manager or recruiter searches your name. Keeping an eye on search engine results for your name can also ensure that any embarrassing or irrelevant mentions of your name don't appear on the first page of search results.

Here are 4 tips to point you in the right direction: 

1. Use your full name in the website's URL and in the beginning of the website title.
2. Design your snippet. This means creating or updating your personal information since Google will pull your name and picture right onto your website link. 
3. Use keywords that align with your skills and personal brand.
4. Add links to your other social media platforms. 

4. Don't: Have Multiple Pages That Look Bare

Although it's great to have multiple pages on your website to keep your education, accomplishments, and relevant experience organized, nothing looks worse than a blank page. This is especially relevant to candidates in entry-level positions where there's just not much experience to list. 

While you can't help having limited experience in the beginning of your career, you can help how that looks to employers. If your only professional, hands-on experience is a recent internship or apprenticeship, use the extra space on the page to describe your experience in that position. What departments did you collaborate with, and what skills did you learn when you were there?

Give your viewers as much as you can so they can learn about not only where you spent the last year, but how wisely you spent it. 

5. Do: Make it Personal

If you're taking all of this extra time and effort to make your resume really stand out, use your new platform to give viewers the opportunity to get to know you and your career.

Just like an "About Us" page on a company website, write a little "About Me" blurb. This content can encompass everything from your career aspirations to what you like to do in your free time to give your next employers an idea of the type of person you are. It's great to show people that you're well rounded and confident in yourself. 

We also tend to forget that recruiters are not only looking at how qualified you are for a position, but how well you'll fit into their company's culture. Often they have to wait until the interview to gain that understanding, but if your recruiter or hiring manager can already make a good determination that you'll fit in with peers, it could give you a leg up on the competition. 

Image Credit: Create a Pro Website / Youtube