How to Reference Your Portfolio or LinkedIn in a Cover Letter

For many roles — creative, technical, academic, consulting — an online portfolio or professional profile adds significant credibility to your application. Knowing how to reference it in your cover letter without it seeming like filler or self-promotion is worth understanding.

When to Reference External Profiles

Portfolios are genuinely useful evidence for:

Design, UX, and creative roles (work samples are primary evidence)
Developer and engineering roles (GitHub, technical writing, open source contributions)
Writing, journalism, content, and communications roles (published work)
Academic and research roles (publications, preprints, research outputs)
Consulting and advisory roles (case studies, writing, speaking)

LinkedIn is relevant to reference when:

Your profile has significant recommendations or endorsements that add to your candidacy
You have published thought leadership on LinkedIn that is relevant to the role
Your profile is substantially more complete than your CV (unusual, but possible)

For most professional roles where your CV is the primary evidence, referencing LinkedIn in a cover letter is not necessary.

How to Reference It

Brief and active, not passive:

"My portfolio at [URL] includes case studies from three enterprise UX projects referenced in my CV, including [specific project]."

"Recent writing samples at [URL] demonstrate the editorial voice I have developed in the B2B SaaS space."

Do not just drop a URL without context. Say what the reviewer will find there and why it is relevant.

Placement in the Letter

Reference it in the paragraph where you make your main evidence case — not in the closing paragraph. If the portfolio is your strongest evidence, bring it forward.

Keep URLs Short and Clean

Long, auto-generated portfolio URLs can look cluttered. Where possible, use a custom domain or shortened URL. Make sure the URL is live and takes the reviewer to exactly what you described.

What Not to Do

Do not reference a portfolio or profile that is not current, polished, and directly relevant to this application. A half-built portfolio or a LinkedIn profile that contradicts your CV is worse than no reference at all.

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