The Folio blog
Portfolios, resumes, and getting hired.
Practical, no-fluff guides on building a portfolio that ranks, writing a resume that gets past the bots, and owning your corner of the internet. Written by the team building Folio.
All guides
Portfolios
The product manager portfolio: case studies, not a Jira board
Most PM portfolios are a Notion page of shipped features. The ones that get interviews are three to five decisions, each with the tradeoff you accepted and the number that moved.
11 Jul 2026 / 10 min read
Portfolios
What is an online portfolio URL, and what do you put in that box?
The field appears halfway through a job application, right after your phone number, and it expects a link you may not have. Here is what it wants, what to paste, and what to never paste.
11 Jul 2026 / 8 min read
Resumes
Cover letter vs resume: what each one is actually for
The two documents answer different questions, and treating them as one wastes both. Here is what belongs in each, which one gets read first, and whether to send them as one file or two.
11 Jul 2026 / 8 min read
Resumes
ATS resume format: the rules, and what actually breaks the parser
Photo or no photo. Which font. One page or two. Tables, columns, references, PDF or Word. Every rule people ask about, answered plainly, with the reason behind it.
11 Jul 2026 / 9 min read
Careers
How to keep track of job applications (and the week the spreadsheet quits on you)
A working column schema you can build in any sheet today, the three things a sheet can never do for you, and the honest point at which you should stop maintaining one.
11 Jul 2026 / 8 min read
Careers
Why am I not getting interviews? Rule out the four causes in order
The usual answer is five platitudes and a wish of good luck. This is a diagnosis. Two of the four causes can be tested today, and the other two are not the ones you are worrying about.
11 Jul 2026 / 9 min read
Careers
How many jobs should you apply to per day?
Everyone wants a number. The number is a bad target, and the ratio behind it is the thing that decides whether your search ends this month or drags into next quarter.
11 Jul 2026 / 9 min read
Personal branding
Domain vs hosting: what you actually have to buy for a personal site
Everyone who ranks for this question sells hosting, so everyone who ranks for this question tells you to buy hosting. We sell none, so here is the version with nothing to protect.
11 Jul 2026 / 9 min read
Portfolios
Can a blog be a portfolio? The honest test.
Everyone tells you to start one. Almost nobody tells you what it costs when you stop. Here is the test to run before you write the first post.
11 Jul 2026 / 8 min read
Personal branding
How to start a blog on a domain you actually own
Almost every guide to this question is written by someone earning a commission on a hosting plan. Here is the version where nobody sells you a server.
11 Jul 2026 / 8 min read
Resumes
Should you use a CV template? Yes, if it survives the parse
Templates are not the problem. The decorative ones are. This is the short list of layout features that break an applicant tracking system, and the honest thing to do when your template has them.
11 Jul 2026 / 9 min read
Personal branding
Consultant website examples: what the ones that book calls have in common
Screenshots of pretty consulting sites will not tell you why they work. Strip five of them down and the same five parts show up every time. Here is the anatomy, and how to assemble it without a designer.
11 Jul 2026 / 9 min read