Profile attachments: show us what you’ve got

Since the middle of July, all Premium Members have the ability to add attachments to their profile to share even more of themselves and their work with the XING community. Providing work samples or references makes sense for graphic designers, for example, who can uploads samples of print-ready work they’ve done, or management consultants uploading a letter of reference from a well-known client. It’s up to each member, though: you can also upload a complete CV or your diploma, for example. You can use the upload area to introduce your company to clients or investors.

Upload files to profile

To upload a file, just go to your profile, then to the “References & awards” area. You can choose separately for each file whether it will be visible only to your contacts, or to the entire XING network. Uploads are not visible to XING non-members.

You can upload a total of three files with up to 2 Mb a piece. Three file formats are permitted at present, PDF for documents, PNG and JPG for image files. Despite their popularity, MS Word documents are not permitted for several reasons. They can contain dangerous macro viruses, and they do not display properly on all platforms and systems. Finally, they are not protected from manual changes. In contrast, a PDF looks the same on every system, and makes a professional impression.

Convert text documents to PDF

How to do so depends on which program you start with:

• MS Word 2007 allows you to export the document directly as a PDF. Just click on the Office logo on the upper left, select “Save as” and then “PDF or XPS”.
• OpenOffice.org also allows you to export as a PDF; the option can be found under the “File” drop-down column.
• Converting to a PDF is easy with Mac OS X: Using Pages from the iWork Suite, Office 2004 or 2008, or using OpenOffice.org or NeoOffice, just click on the “Print” menu (not the symbol for fast printing), and then select “PDF” on the bottom left.
• If you work on a Windows machine with an earlier version of Office, you can use one of several mini programs allowing you to convert to a PDF (two examples are CutePDF and PrimoPDF). If you don’t want to install a program, you can convert docs online at Media-Convert.

By the way: Your new upload will appear to your contacts in their “What’s new in my network” box, and is sure to whet their interest to find out more about you.