Tips for Using Professional Networking Sites

Hi Lily. How much professional information should you share on a site like LinkedIn? The issue I'm having is that I have done some political work, but I am also interested in working in non-political areas where it may not be good to be associated with a lot of political activism and partisanship. But, I just joined the board of a nonprofit (nonpartisan, but political) group and they want a bio, which would be a good time to cite my political activities.

I don't know how to both highlight and hide my disparate experiences when someone could Google me and see everything. I'm still at the beginning of my career, and it's hard to figure out a path without trying different things, but I also don't want the visibility of that trial-and-error to hurt me. Do you have any tips? Thanks so much.

If you choose to participate in an online business network, you should play by certain rules. The reasonable expectation of those participating in the network is that other members will provide accurate information about their job history. At the very least, therefore, you should list your recent past employers. When it comes to volunteer and community service work, clubs, consulting, and other affiliations, you should feel free to list those things that will enhance the career profile you are creating.

This is very much like deciding what to include on your professional resume. You must be honest. But you also need to be concise and keep the information current and relevant. So, at some point in your career, you delete the line about your part-time job at Orange Julius. Later you might decide that your tenure as president of the ecological society in college is no longer impressive.

At some point, you have accumulated enough diverse experience that you can afford to skillfully chip away at the marble here and there to refine the persona you present. You write job descriptions that tend to highlight the skills and experience that you would like to further develop in your professional life. You find yourself deciding whether it is wise to reveal your political roots as a volunteer for Al Franken's presidential campaign. There is nothing disingenuous or dishonest about polishing your image in this manner. This is part of the tacit language of professional networking. Everyone understands that we are all trying to put our best foot forward.

Personally, I think that involvement in political activities, especially as a leader and organizer, displays a level of initiative and engagement that could make you a valuable asset to many organizations. Especially if you are seeking jobs in the D.C. area, you will find that many people are comfortable expressing political leanings and are tolerant of political activities. As a general rule, however, I recommend steering clear of listing controversial political activities on your LinkedIn page or elsewhere online. A mainstream employer might be not be able to see beyond the controversy to appreciate the experiential value, for example, of your lobbying work for NORML.

When you write your professional biography for that nonprofit board, do include political activities that you think might help to explain to other board members and stakeholders why you are a good leadership choice. If someone Googles your name and discovers the biography or otherwise learns of an activity you did not list on LinkedIn, that's okay. Nobody expects your LinkedIn page to be a detailed history of your life, just a helpful synopsis of your professional experience.

Join Lily Garcia on Tuesday, Sept. 2, at 11 a.m. ET for How to Deal Live. Lily Garcia has offered employment law and human resources advice to companies of all sizes for more than 10 years. To submit a question, e-mail HRadvice@washingtonpost.com. We reserve the right to edit submitted questions for length and clarity and cannot guarantee that all questions will be answered.