Office Hours: Tell Me About Yourself

How do you explain who you are and what you do in a way that makes sense to others — and more importantly, to you? We’re here to help you present your myriad strengths as the highly valuable package that they are, by identifying your personal brand, translatable skills, and even what the heck to put on your website. So whether you’re gearing up to change careers, move into a new industry, or you just want to feel comfortable and confident about all of the pieces of your story, you’ve come to the right office.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, everybody, just an f y I. We recorded this
episode before we were in a pandemic. We thought that
my beautiful context for you indeed, but we hope it
still brings you inside and inspiration during this challenging time.
Hanging there. The Limit Does Not Exist is a production
of I Heart Radio. Hey, I'm Christina Wallace and I'm

(00:29):
Kate Scott Campbell, and you're listening to the Limit does
Not Exist. A podcast for human ven Diagrams, coming at
you every single week and hosted by us. Welcome back
to our virtual office. We're here with our second installment
of Office Hours, in which we tackle your big questions

(00:49):
and common human ven Diagram challenges. Today, we're helping you
talk about yourself. How do you explain who you are
and what you do in a way that makes sense
to others and even more importantly to you as you
navigate interviews, parties, and first impressions of all kinds. We're
here to help you present your myriad skills as the

(01:10):
highly valuable package that they are, and not as something
that you need to downplay or hide in a closet
on the internet somewhere. We'll help you reverse engineer the
whole process by identifying your personal through lines, translatable skills,
and yes, your personal brand will even break down brass
tacks like what the heck to put on your website. So,

(01:31):
whether you're gearing up to change careers, move into a
new industry, or you just want to feel comfortable and
confident about all of the pieces of your story, You've
come to the right office. So let's jump in, shall we.
Let's do it. So Christina, tell me about yourself. Oh

(01:53):
my gosh, is there a more dreaded question or diagrams?
I don't think they're is that question? Is just all
of the prickliness that comes with I feel every guest
we've had on the show hasn't deer in the headlights
look the second we we asked them that. I mean,
whether it's like a job interview, or it's a networking event,

(02:15):
or it could just be like meeting someone new at
a dinner party. Yes, this question can feel like such
a landmine, right because at its core, it's about how
do you show who you are as a whole person
without coming across its fifty whole people? Yeah, without just

(02:35):
like listing out your whole resume, right, Like, it's such
a fine line to tow but it's so powerful when
you get it right. Well, it's absolutely right, And it's
a great place for us to start in this episode
because you know, it really kind of opens up everything,
all of the feelings and fears that come up with

(02:57):
how do I talk about myself off in a way
that will make sense to you person? And I think, Christina,
something that I really like to do is when you
hear a question like that, so tell me about yourself,
I like to kind of unpack it. So first ask
what is this question really about? Like it's a way

(03:18):
of getting to know you. I feel like this question
is just one of those things that's kind of perpetuated
in our culture because it's kind of like I don't
know where to begin, so why don't you just begin somewhere?
You know, And they're putting the onus on you to
pick off the conversation. And at the very least here
in New York and a fair number of other major

(03:39):
cities I've lived in, your job is a proxy for
who you are, which is like not actually a true statement,
but it's how people start to get to know you.
That's not true in all cultures, but I think in
the US, and certainly on the East Coast. The job
as a starting point for conversation is a really natural,
easy place to start, but it can feel really problematic

(04:03):
when you don't have just one job. Well that's really interesting. Yeah.
It actually reminds me of when I was in college.
I was in a sorority and we had, of course
sorority rush, and the proxy there was where you from?
What dorm do you live in? And I remember, and
I remember that this girl came through on the second

(04:24):
or third day of rush and on her T shirt
she wrote her name, where she was from, and what
dorm she lived in. And I sat down with her
and she said, Okay, now that you know all of that,
let's talk about some fun stuff. And I was just
amazed by her. Did you like that or was it
did it feel like a little aggressive? Well, you know,

(04:46):
I thought it was really clever, because at that point
I was so tired of asking those questions as starters.
And I think that's another thing to really think about, right,
is that at the baseline here, what is hopefully going
to happen in an interview or a dinner party or
a networking event, is that there will be a human connection.

(05:08):
If you're asked this question tell me about yourself in
an interview, they already have your resume, and if you're
asked it in a social setting, they can look at
your portfolio online later. So I think you can really
help to take the pressure off and that very sort
of inorganic aspect to this question by really releasing yourself

(05:28):
from needing to be a resume and find some other
ways in So let's talk about what a few of
those are. A few of those sort of sparks to
answer this question. So I like to think of this
is less about the like let me tell you about
my entire work history, and more about let me sort
of share my personal brand. Now, some people are going

(05:50):
to cringe that phrase, and I get it, believe me,
I do. However, it's a good shorthand for saying, let
me tell you about what matters to me and the
types of work I'm doing or the thing that I'm
putting out in the world, because that's ultimately what I
think a personal brand comes down to. I don't remember

(06:11):
who actually originally said this, but it's a phrase that
I refer to a lot when I'm doing personal brand consulting.
Is that marketing is what you say about yourself, and
brand is what people say about you when you're not
in the room. That's really interesting because I think that
term personal brand can sound so like far away. It
can I feel so over there when you're meeting. You know,

(06:34):
if you're introducing your friend to someone new, what are
the first things that come to mind when you're about
to introduce them. If I'm like, hey, this is Kate.
She is I'm making this up off the fly, so
do not hold me to this later, I am watch
she is this dynamite multi hyphen its storyteller and creator

(06:54):
who I have been collaborating with for several years and
just is a obsessed with how do we tell great stories,
particularly to get women and girls really excited about things
like math and stem and technology and owning their future.
That's your brand to me, based on what I know

(07:15):
about you and how we've interacted. That might not be
your brand as an actress in l A, but in
our work, that's how I talk about you when you're
not in the room. By the way, so what's helpful
in personal brand work is sort of figuring out how
you would want to be mentioned or discussed when you're
not in the room, what are the pieces that you

(07:36):
would put together? And part of that is based on
your purpose, your why, what do you care about? And
part of that is based on what is the actual
work that you do that you want to contribute to
that purpose that why? Yeah, I think you bring up
a really great point, Christina, to which, of course is
built in and that is, of course, this depends on

(07:57):
what room you're in and who you're walking with, and
so there's some calibration there. I love that point about
how would you want people to talk about you? And
it can feel, i know, really overwhelming to say those
things about yourself, and it's often can be easier to say, oh,
I am my own fake assistant advocating for myself, rather

(08:18):
than myself advocating for myself. And so something that I
really like to do is I really like to think
about including both personal and professional information and really thinking
of a launch point that I don't need to answer
every possible piece of that question. I just need to

(08:39):
get the conversation started and we can go from there.
The number one thing you want someone to say after
you've answered that question is oh, tell me more, because
that gives you that opportunity to go into those details. If,
on the other hand, you have dominated the airspace by
just you know, dumping up paragraph of information on them

(09:02):
and their response to that is oh, and then they
turned to the person on the other side of them
at the dinner table. That's not a good thing, right.
So this actually brings me to one of my favorite
public speaking tips is that whenever you're giving a speech,
you can really think about it as a conversation, right,
even if you are the only one speaking, and certainly

(09:24):
in this situation, you are literally in a conversation, even
if you are the one who's talking about yourself. At
the moment, you're still calibrating did they get that right?
It's this really a two way street. Are we two
human beings here getting to know each other? You know,
to really kind of drop yourself into the moment and

(09:46):
be the whole person that you are, absolutely and back
to the conversation of it matters what room you're in, right,
and who you're talking to. This is where you really
have to calibrate, for how much do they understand the
work that I'm doing, the jargon that I might use
in that world? Right, do I need to translate some

(10:06):
of this so that it makes sense and what level
of detail might interest them. I'm going to speak very
differently to an audience that's super familiar with the startup
world then I am if I am speaking with some
nonprofit funders, right, so really understanding kind of that check
for comprehension, right the did they get that? And which

(10:27):
of the things that I said sparked a little interest
in their eyes that gives you those clues of where
to take this conversation. You know, one of my favorite
things to do is think about a personal aspect of
myself that could then help me go down different professional roads. So,
for example, one that I always really love to use

(10:48):
is that I grew up on both sides of the
Golden Gate Bridge. And that's true. I lived on one
side of the bridge, I went to school on the
other side of the bridge, and in fact, I spent
my weekends over the Babbyage. I was constantly in cars
on bridges. But what this does for me is it
allows me to illuminate, depending on the room, my ability

(11:10):
to literally bridge worlds. Now it's a bit of a
literal metaphor, but it's a personal insight that then allows
me to go, Okay. If I'm speaking to somebody as
an actress, then I'm really able to talk about how
I feel a facility in moving between characters. If I'm

(11:30):
speaking with somebody about this podcast, then my interest from
a young age of really merging worlds. So finding some
of those little gems of your past that a friend
would absolutely say, oh that's so cool, right, or oh
it makes sense that that was a part of your story,

(11:51):
those little gems can really help crack open bigger conversations. Well,
and it goes back to the storied acting advice of
show don't tell, right, because instead of telling someone I'm
someone who can bridge worlds, You've found this fantastic little
anecdote that gets that entire point across. I do the

(12:11):
same thing that sometimes I mentioned that I climbed Kilimanjaro,
or that I want marathons, but I would not consider
myself a marathon nerve Like I am a slow and
steady turtle who doesn't give up, right, And like that
shows you who I am through a quirky and memorable anecdote,

(12:32):
And I think those are the elements and that so
tell me about yourself that makes it a conversation and
A story is find the elements of your character, of
who you are and why you care about things and
what gets you out of bed every day, and get
that across through these images and stories and metaphors. Don't

(12:53):
just list the verbs and adjectives on a resume that
says like I am hard working and multi disciplinary and
I can execute Like that's not interesting. I think it's
actually a really fun exercise. You know. Certainly our life
graft tool that we mentioned in episode one oh two
can be a really great base for this. But you
might even ask a friend to listen to a quick

(13:15):
recap of some details of your life and ask them
to tell you kind of what stands out as unique
or interesting or like, oh, so that's why you do that,
or oh you would totally do that, and then you
can kind of think about, well, what about that can
directly sort of help open up part of my work.

(13:36):
There's another tool that we love. You know you came
across it in your research. I use it actually when
I'm helping others figure out their personal brand, and we'll
link to it in the show notes. It's this great
workshop tool from PwC um that really helps you kind
of step through each of these stages of discovery to
identify what your personal brand might be. I mean, I

(13:58):
I've mentioned this in previous episodes as well, on the
three questions that I asked everyone when I had my
first startup fail and I was trying to figure out
what I should do next with myself, and and it
really was quite simple. Um it was what do you
come to me for when do you want my help? Um?

(14:19):
Two was where do I stand out against my peers?
Where am I really kind of head and shoulders above
the rest? And three crucially, when have you seen me happiest?
And those three answers, Yeah, those three answers really kind
of gave me the data that I needed to say, like, oh,
all of those things are true. And I didn't see

(14:40):
that about myself because I'm in my head all day long.
But that's again, that's what people are saying about me
and when I'm not in the room. So if you're
not sure and you don't know where to start on this,
go and get some feedback, that's right. You know, we've
mentioned this before that often the things that are your
superpowers are the things that feel really really easy to you.

(15:02):
And it really does help to have those around you
shine a light on some of those and ask, you know.
I also like really trusting yourself and your own creativity
to play within this format. Like, for example, I really
like personifying things in a way that sort of creates
a clever umbrella around my unique skills. Certainly the phrase

(15:25):
human ven diagram does that for us and and all
of you on our show. Right. I used to call
myself a one woman think tank when I was just
like very much feeling like I was doing all of
the things, and I was like, well, I think a
friend was telling me that he was part of a
think tank, and I was like, oh, ha ha, That's
what I do all the time. And then I was like, well,
why don't I kind of try personifying that. So my

(15:47):
whole point here is to make sure that you're having
fun with this and it feels playful and true to you,
not like you're standing up in front of a lecture hall, right,
having to speak at a podium out. I love that
idea of like finding that image or that personification. I
have a friend Njaliere who describes herself as an idea doula.

(16:09):
Oh my god, is really interesting, right? That a way
to kind of get across that she doesn't give you
the ideas and you can't outsource them to her, but
she can help you kind of grow them up and
get them ready to be born um in a way
that I think sometimes is hard to describe. Otherwise, I
love that. I think even just the process of bringing

(16:32):
to things together that aren't usually put together just says
so much about your mind and your unique point of view.
So that's going to be one of the through lines
as we continue to talk about this today. Literally, how
can you find your through lines? How can you crack
this in a unique way? So let's take a question

(17:08):
from a listener. We have one from our friend Spencer.
Yes we do. Spencer is a voice over actor, a writer,
a creative director, and a video editor. I mean, he's
also a vintage dresser and a Disneyland enthusiast is and
he also happens to be one of my favorite collaborators
and brains. He's edited many of my own projects and

(17:30):
fun fact, the videos for our podcast. I mean, he
is an amazing editor, to be sure, but I can
also speak to the vintage dressing and the Disneyland enthusiasm
based off his amazing Instagram feed. Yes, check out at
Dapper World Duo on Instagram. You're welcome. Okay, Spencer, what's
your question? Hey, Kayden Christina. So here's my question. I

(17:53):
often feel like my own human ven diagram nous might
not come through in a first Russian without sounding like
I'm bragging or like I'm a dilatant who just doesn't
know what he wants to do. I was wondering what
your thoughts would be on how a person could effectively
communicates all the many circles of their own venn diagram

(18:15):
when the meeting somebody, or do you think it's even
necessary to do that in the first meeting? Is it
better to just bring new skills to the table as
they're needed. Thank you. That is such a great question, Spencer.
So here's my first take at this. The best thing
you can do is to connect the dots for the listener.

(18:35):
You can't expect them to see how your work in
one area translates to another, So your job is to
give them that narrative right to synthesize this. So here's
an example of how if I were in your shoes,
I might connect all of those different things that you do.
You could say, I work in the entertainment industry as

(18:56):
a performer, creator, and editor, and what makes my work
stand out is that I have experience telling stories from
multiple angles, whether I'm in the recording studio as a
voiceover actor or in post production as a video editor,
or crafting that big picture as a writer and creative director.

(19:16):
And my experiences in each of those roles they make
me a better collaborator in the other ones. So you're
getting all of those things you do across, but you're
doing it in in a way that says I am better
for having all of these multiple roles. Not I am
a dilettante. Not I'm not good enough at any one

(19:39):
of them to make a career out of it. It
says by having these different skills, I am actually someone
you want to work with. Even more, you know what
I love about that, Christina, is even just as I
was listening to you say it, it really shifted the
power dynamic as I was listening to you. And this
is another crew shoal idea that comes up in things

(20:02):
like public speaking or performing, where even having a very
brief motto like put yourself in my hands or let
me illustrate for you, right, like a phrase that really
says it's okay if you don't understand right away, I've
already worked the logic in and I'm going to show

(20:24):
you why my unique skill set connects together in this
beautifully unique, in dynamic way. Another thing that I was
thinking about Spencer's I was thinking about your body of work,
and we talk about the word translate a lot on
the show, but the word translator came up for me
when I was thinking about your work. So, for example,

(20:45):
in your work in voice over dubbing, you specialize in
adapting translated dialogue literally right and researching the originating culture
as you're putting a new language over words. As an editor,
you've translated certainly my vision and many others to create
a cohesive product. As a creative director and graphic designer,

(21:08):
you're translating ideas into spot on visuals. All of your
work really sits in this umbrella of language, from spoken
to visual to code. It in the way that you
can create websites from scratch. So thinking about a common
trait like somebody whose love of language informs what they

(21:30):
do in different ways, is also a great way to
think about tying up all of the work in a
way that feels communicatable. I love this. It's a way
that says like, let me give you the thematic through line,
rather than recite the function and the industry that I

(21:51):
work in. I think so much of when we talk
about our our work is I do this in that industry.
I'm a object manager in healthcare. And you know, sometimes
when you have changed jobs or changed industries, it can
make sense as long as one of those stays put
and only the other one changes. But when both change,

(22:16):
or when they change too many times, that's when it
starts feeling like the and and and you know, disease.
And so instead of even approaching and and and and situation,
turn the whole answer ninety degrees and find the theme, right,
find the thematic talk about being a translator rather than

(22:40):
the specific jobs. I I love this, Yeah, thank you.
I really do think that it's a wonderful way also
to create your own personal logic for yourself in a
way that can be very empowering. Because when you're a translator,
for example, right, and you can translate ideas into code

(23:03):
or into visuals, etcetera, etcetera. That's a skill that can
certainly apply across many many industries. By the way, there
are a couple of great articles on this that we found.
One is called ten Human Skills for the Future of
Work and it lists some core strengths like complex problem solving,
conflict resolution, and empathy mindset. Another is literally called List

(23:26):
of Strengths for resumes, cover letters, and interviews. Yeah, definitely
those can be helpful to look through as you mind
your body of work for your own through lines. On
that note, we have another listener question from Lynn we do.
Lynn is a friend on Twitter. She's a longtime listener
and she is pivoting her career toward product management. Her

(23:50):
question to us was, how do you put your best
foot forward on a resume or in person if you
don't know the language of a new industry? Another great question,
another really really great question. Certainly that is so ripe
for all of us as we think about crossing industries. So, Christina,

(24:13):
what are your thoughts on this? So I did this
pretty dramatically my first couple of years right out of college,
I worked in opera. I was at the Metropolitan Opera
and a job called the rehearsal associate, which is like
a niche within a niche. If you want to talk
about translatable industry. And when I went to business school

(24:34):
and I was starting to interview for summer positions, I
was going to interview for consulting management consulting, which is
nothing like opera. And I wasn't sure how to translate
my experience that the met wrangling schedules and divas and animals,
no joke, there are live animals on stage of the

(24:56):
Metropolitan Opera. How do I make that clear that I
should be giving management advice to fortune companies right? Like?
This doesn't make sense at first glance. So what I
did was I grabbed one of my fellow MBA students
and I said, we're gonna put my resume down, We're
not gonna look at it, and I'm just gonna tell
you what I did in my job. We're going to

(25:18):
talk about the content of what I did day in
and day out, and you're gonna tell me the business
jargon that I need to do to explain this to
a business person instead of an opera person. And it
took us about an hour, but in the end we
got to it where she said, oh, you just you
did operations and I was like, yes, yes, I did operations. Right,

(25:44):
So I would say, you know, in the era of
the Internet, not knowing the language of the world you
want to enter is not okay, like you're totally forgiven
for not knowing it off the bat, But it's out
there and you can learn. So your job is to
find either a person or a community. And this is
one of the reasons I love Twitter. You can find

(26:07):
that community and see how are they talking about their work,
what is the jargon, the language, whatever it is, and
how can I explain what I've done in their words
rather than expect them to understand when I'm speaking in
my kind of native tongue, if you will. And this
is another place where stories are super helpful, because stories

(26:29):
can demonstrate how your experience translates. Back to that show
don't tell. I can tell you that I'm good with
difficult personalities, or I can just tell you a story
about how I got a certain opera singer to show
up for rehearsal for which he was contractually obligated to
do but did not feel like doing. And that will

(26:50):
help you understand why I'm pretty confident I can do
client management. Yes, I think there's a couple of things
that we're really talking about here, Lynn, I think you're
asked thing about the actual language, the actual jargon of
the industry, which Christina, as that colleague of yours so
beautifully helped you find with the word operations is so valuable.

(27:13):
So I love that find someone who's already in the
industry and have them help you with that translation. I
think to your point to Christina about so much being
available on the internet, I'm a really big fan of
using skills that seem like they're just things that you
do all the time to really help you here. So

(27:33):
as a human ven Diagram, you are great at research,
and this doesn't have to feel like an overwhelming deep dive.
It can just be as simple as taking a look
at the company's website. If you're looking at a company
or different articles within the industry and looking for the
key words and concepts that feel like they match those

(27:53):
other areas that you have expertise in. So certainly project
management is a perfect example of this. That is a
set of skills that certainly can live in so many
different industries. So I would really lean into your ability
to learn new skills, your curiosity to really help you research.
And the last thing I would say is to not

(28:15):
be shy about being honest that you are new in
this arena. That can really be part of your appeal.
You know, I have definitely gotten jobs because I have
a mix of different industries and backgrounds, and I'm going
into an industry that's looking for fresh ideas and fresh perspectives.

(28:36):
So I would really encourage you to own your newness
and know that there's gold to be had in that
as well, Sure, Christina. Another related question that we hear
a lot is how do you help convince the future
employer that even though you're new to an industry or
even a style of work, like going from freelance to

(28:57):
full time. How do you convince someone that you are
equipped for it even though you might have what seems
like a very different background. So say you've been, for example,
working in hospitality for a while, and now you want
to go right into tech. For one. If you're someone
who's changed industries a couple of times, and I have

(29:18):
my hand up high, my name is Christina, showing that
you've done it before successfully is a really great way
to demonstrate that you can do it again. You know,
I have a track record of being able to kind
of make these leaps from one world to the next
and learn quickly as well as bring that outside perspective
that demonstrates why a new person would be valuable. So

(29:42):
that's kind of the easy one if this is your
first time doing it. This is where coming back to
those stories as well as kind of finding the kernels
of what is consistent, whether they are skills, heart, technical skills,
soft skills, the way is of communicating and collaborating that

(30:03):
you bring to the table that will translate easily are
really valuable. And sometimes it's just the confidence to say
trust me, like put me in coach, I got this,
you know. I remember one of one of my interviews
during my MBA experience when they were pretty skeptical that
my opera background had anything to do with what they

(30:23):
were up to. I said, listen, I thrive from the
high five that like, oh I love that. Yes, it
was like the curtain goes up. We made everything happen
like high five backstage. We did it. Guys. That drives me,
and that was a way for me to help them

(30:44):
understand that, like project based work is what is going
to keep me excited and keep me going rather than
the sort of every day looks a little bit like
the day before that. I really like the cadence of
the crunch time good away toward that deadline. Everything is
on the line. Hitting that goal, big high five teamwork

(31:06):
also crucial to get across in that example, and that
that's what really is translatable, whether it's in opera or
in I don't know, the beauty industry. Yeah. What I
love about this is that switching industries really can be
a hotbed for imposter syndrome, and I think it's so

(31:26):
natural to feel vulnerability and even shame around this. It
reminds me of this Joseph Campbell quote where he says
the cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.
And what that means to me is, for example, when
I was starting to work more as a writer and
a copywriter, a constant strategist, producer, I used to really

(31:48):
kind of hide the fact that I'm also an actress
and job interviews. But you know, I had this thought
where I was like, why am I hiding something that
is such a source of passion for me. I really
had to examine it, and I talked about this in
episode one O two about how I made that connection
between the ability to write in different voices, with the

(32:09):
ability to form different characters. But to your point in
the opera, Christina, also my ability to lead with empathy,
perform in incredibly high stakes scenarios, ride the wave of
uncertainty right, really start to unpack some of those overarching
qualities that I was able to say, Yeah, I'm an actress,

(32:30):
and that's why I'm going to bring value to this.
And so I would say, for example, if you're going
from a freelance creative industry to one that's full time,
think about how you've been able to cultivate stability and
a naturally unstable field, how you've been able to be
both autonomous and collaborative. Really start to unpack these universal

(32:52):
traits that have made you successful in a separate field
up until now. Absolutely, I mean it really for me
comes down to if you understand why you're making the switch,
then you should be able to help someone else understand it. Potentially,
what is coming up if you're struggling to help someone

(33:12):
understand that connection is that you might not have done
that work yet. You might not understand how your work translates.
Maybe you just want to try something new, which is fine,
totally but like that actually might be an opportunity for
you to sit down and try to piece that narrative
together first, because once you get it, you can help

(33:33):
someone else connect those dots too, that's right. And if
they don't get it, which there will definitely be people
who don't, then fine, Right, you are on your train,
and your train is going whether or not they're going
to jump on board. This is the perfect test of
are these your people? Yes? You know, like if they
don't value the interdisciplinary nous that you bring to the role,

(33:57):
then find someone who does, because that's part of your superpower.
That's going to be part of why they want to
hire you. And if they don't see it, this isn't it.
Keep looking By the way, I was just saying this
to a friend the other day that as someone who
has a lot of different interests, I always love when
I can eliminate an option. I really do. Like I've

(34:20):
started to really enjoy that to say, oh, that's not
my place, and that's okay. That's just helping me get
closer to what is because the fact of the matter
is you are not someone who is probably going to
be happy being boxed in, right, Like that is what
we are all about is not letting that happen. And

(34:42):
so as you continue to, as you said, Christina, own
your story, other people will want to read it. They
really will. Okay, Now, I know a lot of you

(35:06):
have been listening to our conversation and probably hopefully thinking, oh,
this resonates, Yes I can do this, Yes I can
work on that. And there are likely many of you
who are thinking, yeah, Kate and Christina, but what do
I put on my dang resume, website and or linked In?
Let's talk some brass tacks here, shall we. Okay, this

(35:28):
one is a hard one for sure. Um and I
would kind of break apart those three different channels because
they're actually a little bit different each of ye, they
really are. So the problem with your website or LinkedIn
is that there's only one version that lives on the internet.
Right certainly with LinkedIn, I would say, Yeah, a resume

(35:48):
you can tailor for different jobs, you can kind of keep,
and I do keep one really long. It's like seven
pages CV a full resume with all of the things
that I've done your master resume. May I'm laughing because
I was internally counting how many resumes I've made in
my life. And then you know, I'll change which projects

(36:10):
at each job I highlight, depending on or I might
modify my language to be more stem focused or be
more teaching focused, or you know, whatever it is depending
on the job. Even change kind of the order of prioritization.
Just small, right exactly, but LinkedIn and your website. You
gotta put one version out there and that's all you have,

(36:32):
at least for now. So here's how I would approach it.
I think Lincoln can be really great for people who
have a straightforward resume, since that's not us and I
get a little bit frustrated with it sometimes, I have
chosen to not use it like a traditional resume. I
do not put the content of what I did at
each job. Under each of my job listenings. I just

(36:55):
list the job title and the company it's four and
the dates, and then I include the blurb about what
the company or nonprofit does, Like I just opped out
of describing what I did. And the point is, I
want this to be incomplete so that you have to
look for a second source to get Yes, I love

(37:16):
this idea of the bare bones approach. Yeah, I want
you to look for, you know, a second source, whether
that's sending me a message for a conversation, whether that's
going to my website or googling me. I want you
to keep going because on my website, I'm in control
of the storytelling. And that's why I actually really support
human diagrams having a personal website. First of all, you

(37:40):
want to own your name on the Internet to the
best extent you can, so that when people google you,
you at least have some control over what pops up.
And the best way to do that is to have
a dot com or dot org or dot co or
whatever you need to have, but to have your name
and to build a website. And they're real easy platforms

(38:01):
like squarespace that you can do this off of for
super cheap without knowing how to code. But to have
a website that says here is who I am, and
here's how you can learn more. And there's a bunch
of different ways you can go about it. There's one
that will link to in the show notes a friend
of the pod, former guest Sydney Skybetter. I think he
does it brilliantly where he has a different page for

(38:24):
each of the pieces of his ven diagram. Choreographer writer teacher, researcher, consultant.
He has a different page for each one and is
able to really kind of tailor what he tells you
about that side of himself, assuming that's the piece that
connects for you. So you're able to kind of have
all of your experience on there without dumping it all

(38:45):
on one page in the way that LinkedIn can sometimes force.
But that's my what do you think, Kate? I really
like that, you know, for me, because of my work,
I've really had to sort of think about it in
two categories. My work as an actor US, which also
includes writing and directing, and then my work doing content
strategy for for brands. So I actually I'm in the

(39:07):
process of having two websites. And I know this sounds like,
oh my gosh, double the work, double the fun, But really,
you know what I started realizing, Christina, is that for
my writing portfolio, I was really keeping that as a
hidden page on my website. And by the way, I'm
a big fan of hidden pages on websites because you

(39:28):
can still link to them and share. So say there's
a portfolio that you've curated just for one specific person
or company, absolutely think about making that something that's just
for your and their eyes only. There's no shame in
that game. But what I started to realize is that
as my sort of consulting and strategy work started expanding,

(39:50):
that it really just made sense for me to put
my content and my writing portfolios on one website, with
that and my acting and directing work on a separate website.
That's just what's worked for me and help me feel
really streamlined, just because also what people want to see
in each of those expressions of myself tend to be

(40:11):
quite different. You know. I know that there's often a
feeling of I just want to let my work speak
for itself, right, And what I actually feel like is
that's absolutely a great strategy for online. So for me,
a website like Vimeo has been very valuable to really
curate what are the things that I've created as a producer,
writer and director and actress that I really want to

(40:33):
sit there. So I've actually been thinking less about LinkedIn
and more about Vimeo and my own personal portfolio. So
I think the point is is this is a moving organism,
and you are behind the wheel here. You can really
by how much you choose to include on each platform,
you can really help guide people to the one that
you want them to be on. You can and you

(40:54):
can decide, do I want people to see that one
unified theory of me, you know, with all of my pieces,
or like you're doing, Kate, do I want to have
kind of a different homepage for each of them? And
there's no right answer. It really just depends on how
you want to position yourself. Yeah, and by the way,
because we live in the world of the Internet and

(41:16):
everything is searchable, I do want to say that I
feel very much at comfort with all of my portfolio
being available to everybody because it makes sense to me. Right.
This has just sort of helped me have this drawer
for these projects and this drawer for those projects. Those
could be different pages or different websites altogether, and only
you know what's going to feel right to you. So

(41:37):
tell us about yourself. How are you navigating speaking about
your human ven diagram nous We love hearing from you.
You can reach us on Twitter or Instagram at t
L d n E pod or you can email us
at Hello at t L d n E podcast dot com,
or you can leave us a voicemail at eight three
three High, t L d n E that's eight three

(41:58):
three four for a five three six three, then dial
eight oh three and we'll link to the p w
C Personal Brand Workbook, the Core Strength articles we mentioned,
relevant past episodes, and even our own links so you
can see how we are cracking this. You'll find all
of those at tldny podcast dot com slash. Thanks so

(42:29):
much to our producer Maya Coole, and to you for
tuning in. As always, please subscribe, rate, and review on
Apple podcasts if you like what you heard, it really
helps us get the word out to fellow human ven diagrams.
Until next time, remember the limit does not exist. The

(42:50):
Limit does not Exist is a production of I Heart Radio.
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