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Mentioned in our previous post, LinkedIn is king when it comes to this industry. It’s going to be where you interact with most folks in the industry, and it’s going to be where you post most of your content outside of a portfolio space. It is important to be, for better or worse, constantly posting and updating with something.

YOUR NAME AND SUBTITLE

In the example above, we can take a look at how my current LinkedIn is formatted to be accessible to people hiring. Very first rule: DON’T BE AFRAID TO USE THE BANNERS. Open to work banners let recruiters and networkers right away you’re looking for work, even if you are currently employed; your contract may be coming to an end or may be part-time, allowing for more work.

You’ll notice there isn’t a lot here. That’s important. Here is some of the key things on this profile:

• Full name (No usernames here! This is for professional name use) and optional pronouns
• A professional and up-to-date headshot of yourself that is friendly but business-approachable. You don’t need to be in a blazer, but it shouldn’t be a tank top.
• A banner photo, which is typically for artists a piece they’re proud of.
• Your subtitle & roles (more on this later)
• Portfolio link, especially if you’re an artist. Make sure it works on mobile!
• Location, especially if you’re looking for non-remote work
• Graduate information so people know your education status

YOUR SUBTITLE AND ROLE:

People often have a problem creating their subtitle and roles in a concise way. You should absolutely not have more than one line, and you should make sure right away people can see your role (IE: What you’re looking for). ESPECIALLY in art, you need to keep this specific and concise, unless you are choosing to write “Generalist” (which especially on it’s own is not recommended).

Highlight exactly what kind of art you do. “Artist” isn’t going to cut it. Are you a 2D artist? a 3D Character artist? Environmental? Concept? Do you do QA work, or are you a game designer? Levels? As you can see, things get a bit complicated. I recommend searching up titles of roles in the industry and selecting the one or two that best suit you.

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In the past, I have also included generalist as I work in a variety of fields, but my main focus is character & concept and Japanese translational work.

If you follow these rules, your name and title will be easy to read in messaging, which often determines heavily if people want to accept your message & connection requests.

ABOUT YOU

About you can just be a general set of information, and you should be choosing top skills relevant to your role (I focus on art and 3D modelling materials as well as inter and intrapersonal skillsets).

FEATURED POSTS:

Featured posts can be highlighted on your profile page if there are specific things you want people to see, as posts on LinkedIn are very collapsed when being normally viewed. You want to catch peoples’ eyes right away, and this is a great way to do it. I choose typically to highlight an upcoming steam release with a studio I worked with, as well as the weekly recent issue of ENTRY-LVL.

EXPERIENCE

Experience is where you highlight the things you have done that make you a notable hire. You shouldn’t include every single thing you’ve ever done in your life, but you should cover recent past jobs, especially the ones that are relevant to the roles that you’re applying to. While you may not have any professional experience specifically, you can also feature volunteer work or adjacent tasks.

At the end of the day, you should have a clean and professional account that is easy to navigate if you are letting people explore your portfolio or other links. Good luck, and happy networking!