Heck no, it’s your career narrative, not an advertisement. Your personal story.

But who else can portray it as well as you can, professionally, when you tell us how you came to become the professional you are today? Through the trenches of your first position out of school, life’s ups and downs, successes and learning lessons from missed opportunities, all to give the reader the marketing version of “why you do what you do.”

What if you seem to have been as successful if you really were? If you tell us in rich prose how well you fared in the x years of your career, what you learned from the early days to today. and who you are at this moment, with timeless skills and insights, that will all shape our future expectations of collaborating with you.

And if you have quotes from others that demonstrate their admiration for your work, add them so others will laud you if you are reticent to go that far. I did.

And get endorsements from people who really know your skills. I did.

And selectively approach others who will publish a Recommendation on your profile, to tell in words, in anecdotes, in memorable stories those  times when your work was exemplary and memorable and how well you did your “why.“ I did.

So yes, there are ways to coopt others’ comments to augment yours about “why you.”

Then you aren’t bragging–you are exuding confidence and earning respect from others who read your profile and decide if you are the right candidate for whatever they are offering, But they won’t offer unless they fall in “like” with you enough to contact you.

Then they contact you, and hearing the same value they read in your profile, they fall in “love” with you enough to offer you a position or a project.

No one dances with a wall flower, as my father used to say. Stand out, proud and in full explanation of your accomplishments, and that’s today’s business love story.