Updating Your Guru Profile
Overview
Employee profiles in Guru help your team learn about each other—who does what, how to work together, and who reports to whom. Every New School user has a profile that displays:
- Basic info: Name, job title, team, location, and start date
- Working style: Preferred working hours, how to collaborate with you, and current projects
- Organizational context: Your manager and direct reports
- Pinned knowledge: Cards you want teammates to see when working with you
This card includes information about the fixed aspects of your profile that are Synced with MyDay, and the information you can customize to connect with our New School community.
Guru MyDay Sync
Guru accounts are automatically generated based on employment activity in MyDay. New employees are generally granted a Guru account within 2 days of beginning work, once all of their related job information has been updated.
By default, permissions are based on the employee's Employee Type and Supervisory Organization in MyDay. Information your Guru profile inherits from MyDay includes:
- First and last name
- NetID email address (not alias)
- Profile picture
- Job title
- Team
- Work location
- Start date
- Manager
- Direct reports (if applicable)
NOTE: If a member of your team is unable to access Guru, it is likely an issue with their MyDay sync! Contact our team at guruhelp@newschool.edu for assistance getting connected.
How to Update Your Profile
- Select your profile avatar in the bottom left-hand corner of the Knowledge Base to reveal the settings menu (⚙).
- Click My Profile.
- You will be directed to your profile page in Guru.
- Next to your name, click the pencil (✏️) icon
- From here you may update the content in your profile.
- When you are satisfied with your edits, select Publish Changes to make them public.
Guru Profile Best Practices
It can be difficult starting from a blank slate, especially when representing yourself to a wide audience. Explore these drop-down fields for more information to put your best foot forward.
Personal Information
The majority of your personal information will be inherited from your WorkDay sync. The following are additional recommendations for customizable information in Guru.
Job Title
Present your job title exactly as it is listed in the University Directory.
Profile Picture
Guru icons are smaller, and detail can often be lost. Prioritize a high-resolution image of yourself on a bare or simple background to stand out in the knowledge base. For more information, check out this helpful guide on LinkedIn.
Working Hours
Indicate your time zone, and when you are typically logged in. Use the Best Way to Work With Me section to share hours you're able to be contacted, appointment times, and your best mode of communication during working hours.
About Me
This is a space for The New School community to learn about your background, role, and life outside of work.
Outline
An effective About Me section will answer the following questions:
- What is your job at The New School?
- What brought you to The New School?
- What do you enjoy about your work?
- What are your hobbies outside of work?
Keep it bright, but brief! Think of this as your opening line at a networking event, not the first draft of your memoir.
What I'm Working On
We encourage you to align this section with the basic work functions shared in your Performance Management sessions, to help your fellow teammates support your goals.
Try to keep this section evergreen, so your profile will remain accurate as your role adapts and changes.
Outline & Markdown
The following formatting is suggested to share your current work functions:
- Verbing Noun 1, with optional details to clarify the work
- Verbing Noun 2, with optional details to clarify the work
- Verbing Noun 3 with optional details to clarify the work
To apply this formatting with Markdown, copy and paste this section directly into your What I'm Working On field and edit with your personal information:
- Bolded Work Function 1 with clarifying information
- Bolded Work Function 2 with clarifying information
- Bolded Work Function 3 with clarifying information
You can also check out this cheat sheet to learn more about markdown syntax.
TIP: Don't stress over this section! Your profile will look great whether or not you use Markdown.
Best Way to Work With Me
Do you ever get annoyed when your workplace is on GChat, but you have to download Slack for a single collaborator? Or maybe you reserve your email for big projects, but a community member asks you basic questions in your inbox instead of DMing you. This is your space to advocate for your preferred communication methods!
Each department, unit, and person will have slightly different preferences. None
Outline & Markdown
The following formatting is suggested to communicate your contact information:
- Contact Scenario: Your Preferred Mode of Contact
- Contact Scenario: Your Preferred Mode of Contact
- Contact Scenario: Your Preferred Mode of Contact
To apply this formatting with Markdown, copy and paste this section directly into your Best Way to Work With Me field and edit with your personal information:
- Contact Scenario Your Preferred Mode of Contact
- Contact Scenario Your Preferred Mode of Contact
- Contact Scenario Your Preferred Mode of Contact
You can also check out this cheat sheet to learn more about markdown syntax.
TIP: Don't stress over this section! Your profile will look great whether or not you use Markdown.
Pinned Cards
Every employee is certain to encounter repetitive questions about their work, ranging from "What is it that you do?" to "How can I complete a process you oversee?" or "How do I make this broken process work again?"
Your Pinned Cards can answer these questions in advance, simply by linking out to a "Starter Pack" of information. These can be cards that you create, cards you verify, or cards that add context to the work you do every day.
NOTE: The section Guru automatically displays underneath this section is Published Cards. Be aware of what cards you publish that may appear in this section, and try to eliminate repeats.
If there are currently no cards in the database that explain your work, consider creating a card! If you are restricted to user permissions, reach out to an author on your team for assistance.
For an example of a completed user profile applying these best practices, feel free to check out my page—Sam Gravity, Knowledge Content Manager. (And hey, why not give me a follow while you're there for more fun updates?)
Adding Links to Your Guru Profile
As you may have learned from earlier sections, the formatting toolbar you see when editing Guru Drafts is not available when editing your Guru Profile. Instead, all formatting must be written using Markdown Syntax.
We've shared easy copy/paste Markdown Templates for your What I'm Working On and Best Way to Work With Me fields. However, these outlines do not include links. Read on for copy/paste templates to build links into your profile.
Link to Email
To add a link to your profile that will open a new email, copy and paste the markdown below and edit it with your personal information.
If you would like your email to have an automatic subject line applied, use the following markdown code and edit with your preferred subject:
For the preferred subject field to work properly, all the spaces in the subject must be written as %20
Link to Webpage
To link to a relevant external page, such as a Google Drive file or public .edu webpage, copy and paste the following markdown into your text and edit with your preferred information:
If you would like to learn more about Markdown, we recommend using Markdown.org for free information and training.