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| Mar. 31st Program Summary | Tools |
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March
31, 2003 Program Summary
by Adele Sommers |
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“Creating the Perfect Portfolio: How To Use Electronic and Paper Portfolios to Ace Your Next Interview, Attract New Clients, and Network Effectively” was a follow-on to the series called “2003 Career Kickoff.”
1)
I am an expert. Those who brought their portfolios for Jack to review (shown at left) received customized advice on how to fine-tune their material for their intended audiences. For the rest of the gathering, he emphasized with words, pictures, gestures, movements, and yes, even chocolates how “people believe what they see, not what they’re told. Telling a story is good, but showing an example is better. However, a portfolio is not just a series of examples—it is a tool you use to walk a potential client/employer down a path of understanding.”
One potent element that many people omit from a portfolio is a sample of a project plan. What role does this item play in a portfolio, you ask? A project plan represents your mastery of the process of performing the work for an employer or client. This set of skills differs from your ability to create a particular set of products. Jack recommends placing the project plan at the beginning of the portfolio and using it as a guide to how you would approach the interviewer's needs. With this topic as a springboard, you can talk your way through samples that further underscore your credibility in each area. Maintaining hands-on control of your portfolio at all times gives you the ability to steer the interview in the direction in which you want it to head. A project plan has sections that comprehensively describe many aspects of a real or hypothetical project. The information listed below would typically be translated into a proposal or contract:
Triage refers to which of the three most desired things you can accomplish with the available funding and time: schedule (as in “fast”), quality (as in “high”), and cost (as in “low”). Typically, with limited resources you can achieve two but not three, so if constraints do exist, the client must choose which are the most important. Showing
Off Your Product Expertise The samples you select for your portfolio demonstrate your ability to generate the products your interviewer desires. In this area, Jack suggests tailoring each set of samples to appeal to a particular audience. Strive to include samples that reflect the results of using your project plan; whether they were made for hire is not important. You can even develop samples and project plans retrospectively. If possible, add the following items in your portfolio to further boost your prestige and influence:
Driving It Home with Before-and-After Samples Finally, Jack shows the potential client/employer a really, really messy “before” sample, and states that 90 percent of the time, the interviewer laughs and says, “That is exactly how our stuff looks!” After the interviewer stops his or her cathartic chuckling, Jack then shows the “after” sample—how he brought order to chaos. Summary The upshot
is that a portfolio isn't just a collection of samples. A portfolio is
a sales or interview tool you use to walk the client/employer down a precisely
mapped path of understanding that you are the person to hire, because:
The outcome is sure to be a highly impressed, prospective client or employer, ready to use your services! NOTE: Due to the high level of interest in follow-on activities such as a workshop on Digital Portfolio Design, the SLO STC chapter will be planning one or more of these events to occur in the Fall of 2003. To read a PDF article by the San Luis Obispo Tribune on the above event (published 5/22/03), click here. Photography by Mary Meyer. |
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“Creating
the Perfect Portfolio: How To Use Electronic and Paper Portfolios to Ace
Your Next Interview, Attract New Clients, and Network Effectively”
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| Date: | Monday evening, March 31, 2003 |
| Speakers: |
Panel
speakers included:
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| Description: |
“Creating
the Perfect Portfolio: How To Use Electronic and Paper Portfolios to Ace
Your Next Interview, Attract New Clients, and Network Effectively”
focused on techniques for using paper and electronic portfolios to your
greatest advantage. Whether you were interviewing for a job, looking to
start or expand client services, or seeking to increase your visibility
in your professional network, this presentation offered a host of new
ideas. Here were just some of the many topics covered:
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| Door Prize: | "The Web Portfolio Guide: Creating Electronic Portfolios for the Web," by Miles Kimball (2003). |
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Summary:
Personnel recruiting expert, senior technical communicator and instructor,
founder of 
Showing
Off Your Process Expertise
