# Professional Identity Kit — 5 points **Due: Week 8 — Friday, October 16** **Submit: one PDF with links + the Target List spreadsheet** --- ## What this is Four small pieces of writing that live outside your portfolio and do most of the work of getting someone to look at it. *(This replaces the old "social media accounts" requirement. Having accounts isn't a skill. Writing the profile, the bio, the note, and the list is.)* --- ## 1. LinkedIn — headline, About, featured LinkedIn is not a portfolio. It's **the index recruiters actually search by name and skill**, which makes it non-optional even if you hate it. - **Headline:** a search field, not a slogan. Target job title + your two most searchable tools. `Junior Environment Artist · Maya, Substance Painter, Unreal Engine 5` beats `Passionate creative seeking opportunities` by a mile. - **About:** your resume summary in first person, plus one sentence of actual personality. Four sentences total. Nobody reads more. - **Featured section:** your portfolio URL, pinned. - **Photo:** a real photograph of your face, neutral background, no sunglasses. Phone camera is fine. - **Banner:** a crop of your own work. Free real estate; almost nobody uses it. - **Open to work:** turn it on, set to recruiters-only if you're currently employed. ## 2. Platform bio (ArtStation / Behance) Two sentences and a contact route. Its only job is to convert a viewer into an email. Say what you make, what you're looking for, and how to reach you. No manifesto. ## 3. The 120-word outreach note **Not a cover letter.** This is the message you send a human being who might look at your work. Four sentences: 1. Who you are and what you make. 2. **The specific thing about *them* that made you write** — a title, a shot, a talk, a post. This sentence is the whole email; it's what proves you're not mass-mailing. 3. One link, with a one-line reason to click it. 4. A low-cost ask. Under 120 words. Count them. > **Low-cost ask examples:** "Would you be open to fifteen minutes sometime in the next month?" · "Is there anything in this that reads as below the bar for a junior role on your team?" > > **Not low-cost:** "Can you help me get a job?" · "Are you hiring?" · "Please review my portfolio and give me detailed feedback." ## 4. Target List of 10 Five aspirational, five realistic-adjacent. This is the document your Week 11 tailored resume and your entire Networking Log are built on. | # | Company | Why them | **A named human** | Their role | Where I'd find them | Realistic or reach | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| **The named-human column is the assignment.** Companies don't answer email; people occasionally do. A row without a name isn't a target, it's a wish. Pull the "realistic-adjacent" five from the DFW Industry Map in the course Reference module. Look past game studios — simulation, motion, arch viz, medical and technical animation, and location-based entertainment hire far more juniors in this region than AAA does, and the queue is a fraction as long. ## Rubric | | Points | |---|---| | LinkedIn complete: searchable headline, About, featured portfolio, photo, banner | 1 | | Platform bio converts — says what you make and how to reach you | 1 | | Outreach note under 120 words with a genuinely specific second sentence | 1 | | Target List has 10 rows, correctly split 5 reach / 5 realistic | 1 | | Every row names a real human being with a findable role | 1 | ## Related - Week 6 page — the writing session - **Networking Log** (Week 15) — you'll be contacting these people - **Resume Final** (Week 11) — tailored to one of these postings - DFW Industry Map (Reference module)