Tip #4: Show me your badges

Badges are what make you, you. Make sure your own badges are right, or make your own badges,

Who exactly are you?

We're all polyatomic.

I am Dad to a wonderful daughter. Husband to an amazing wife. I am a Digital Marketing Director. I started hand coding HTML in 1996. I like to cook Indian, Thai, Chinese, French, Italian, Spanish. I write online Profiles at Polywork and LinkedIn.I founded two companies in 1993 and 1995. I speak Russian and Spanish. I am a critic for Opera and Theatre. I drove to Biarritz to make sure a car's engine was working OK. I dined with Samuel Beckett's publisher in Paris. I have a credit in four books and two films.So my badges on my Polywork profile try to cover this diversity.

People find you, and understand you, through your badges. Clicking on a badge from your own profile takes you to kindred spirits — others who have this badge. This is where you can find your tribe.You can reorder your badges

Drag and drop to Group together similar skills.

Choose your 'top' skills carefully — the five or six that appear at the top of your profile before people click to see more, because people may not click to see more.

Your top skills, together with your headline, define your main focus of work and interests for others. So prioritise these in line with what you want to make most prominent about you. You can always adjust these and swap them in and out.

Something not listed? Create your own badges

Just click to add your new badge.

Choose a colour and icon for the badge.

You'll be forever credited as the creator of the badge. You can see this when that badge is clicked on from a member's profile, along with everyone else with that badge.

This adds to your chops as an early Polywork member.

I'm credited as this badge's creator... you can create a badge too.

Keep it up to dateYou're always evolving as a person, so make sure you add new badges as your experience evolves.Looking at others' profiles, you may spot a skill, interest or area of expertise badge on their profile, and realise 'That's for me too'. So add it to your profile — it just takes two clicks.

Click on the badge

Click at top right on 'Add to your profile'

Your'e done

Remember that your badges are also there to answer the eternal question people have about others — how can this person help me? What's in it for me to follow you, hire you, talk to you, download your free information, or visit your site?Your badges should help answer that question, along with your headline and intro.