Putting Together a Successful Portfolio

by Louellen Coker, Senior Member

With the current downturn in the economy, I've been getting calls from potential contractors interested in working at Content Solutions . If I have projects on my radar screen that match your skills, I will likely call you in for an interview to determine if you will be a good match for a current or upcoming project. Much of our discussion will evolve around your portfolio.

No portfolio: low potential of getting hired. If I’ve asked you to come in for an interview, it’s highly likely I’ve projects for which I need immediate assistance. (“Immediate” as defined by most of my clients means “due last week.”) If you come to work for me, you’ll be hitting the ground running, so seeing what you’ve already done is important. What I see in that portfolio and how you handle it during the interview process determines your likelihood of becoming a part of my team.

What an Employer Looks for in Your Portfolio

As a potential employer, your portfolio is very important to me because it enables me to determine:

• What skills you have
• If your experience complements the skills already present in my business
• How much mentoring/training you’ll need
• Your potential
• Your ability to follow instructions
• How I can expect you to treat my projects if you become a part of our team

While I am looking at your portfolio content, I'm looking at much more than just the pieces. In fact, I've hired some very amazing people who had only one or two relevant things in their portfolio because they nailed all the criteria I listed above.

To stress this point even further, my first job in this industry was due to the potential my new boss saw in my portfolio. As I made the transition from being a high school English teacher to a writer, editor, graphics artist, and web designer, my first portfolio was a paltry presentation with a few pieces that I had pulled together in an afternoon. (I happened to have bumped into the hiring manager as I was dropping off an application for a different position mid-afternoon, and as we set the interview for 8:00 am the next morning she said, "Oh yeah, be sure to bring your portfolio with you tomorrow.") Literally, my portfolio was a small report cover with a few "projects" tucked into clear page protectors.

These projects were:

• Three mini posters I had made to support a poetry unit for my classroom bulletin boards
• Worksheets I had made
• A one-page news brief I had done for my department
• A copy of a wine label I had made for a recent batch of homemade wine my husband and I had bottled the night before

The day I started, I asked my manager why she chose me over all the other candidates. (I wanted to know what I did right so I could be sure to do that the next time I was looking for a job!) And she responded, "The content and packaging weren't the best we saw. We hired you because it told us where you are right now, your career, your potential, your personality, and how you would fit into our department."

Five Ways to Blow It with Your Portfolio

Having a portfolio is really half the battle. The way you leverage your portfolio before, during, and after an interview will determine your success. If you don't want to come to work for me (or for anyone else), here are five sure-fire ways to blow it with your portfolio.

1. Your portfolio is the box you pulled out of the attic.

I definitely want to see things you've done. I don't want to have to help you carry a box of "stuff" up the stairs. I don't want to roll your portfolio's cart over my foot as we make our way to the interview room. Nor do I want to sneeze over the dust that billows out when you start digging things out.

Your portfolio is a representation, not an encyclopedia. Pull out the best pieces that show what you can do. If you have a manual, pull 4-6 representative pages out that will tell me how you handle different formatting issues, writing/editing, and that could possibly be a talking point about how you play well with others. If you can't manage to carry your samples in the crook of your arm in a tasteful binder (that you can manage effortlessly and still shake my hand), you're bringing too much!

2. Your portfolio is a bunch of loose pages thrown into a manila folder.

Every time I see this happen (and I see it more often than you'd think!), I cringe. I mean, REALLY! If you don't care enough about your work to doll it up a bit, do you “really” expect an employer to bring you into the fold? I'm not saying you need to go out and spend tons of money on a portfolio. There are inexpensive ways and professional ways to present your work.

Employers are looking for organization and a presentation that is easy to pass around as we're talking. I've been a part of interviews (on both sides of the table) that have had up to 10 people in them. Loose pages are worthless in this situation.

3. Your portfolio is filled with stuff that is CRAZY old.

I recently had a talented candidate bring in work that had been done 25 years ago. Yes, you read that correctly, 25 years ago. A layoff victim who had contributed to proprietary projects for 20 years, this candidate didn't have anything else. Or at least that was the perception.

Potential employers understand holes and even appreciate your ethics in not sharing proprietary information. In fact, if you show something in your portfolio that you shouldn't, the interview is usually over. You've just given a very strong representation that you can't be trusted.

If all you have is something that you did eons ago. No worries, you CAN use it. You simply need to revitalize it. Take a bit of time and redo the piece the way you would do it today. It's a great before and after opportunity. This simple exercise will show how you've grown (or not grown) and adapted to changes in technology over the years. It sets the stage to allow a conversation about special skills or training you've had.

4. You have no idea what is actually in your portfolio.

It kills me when I sit across from someone who fumbles through their portfolio for something that may or may not be there! Your portfolio is a tool that you use to represent yourself. If you don't know what is in there and can't turn quickly to something that supports the conversation, you're literally throwing red flags at your potential employer's head. And, quite likely hitting them square between the eyes. Not only do you look silly and incredibly disorganized, you're taking up valuable time that could be better spent in other ways.

A potential employer wants to see you have a command of what is in the portfolio. If you are one with your portfolio and can use it as a tool to show the skills you're discussing, you're not only displaying your skill set, you're giving a VERY strong indication of how organized you're going to be as an employee.

5. Your portfolio doesn't leave your hands during the interview.

Your portfolio is supposed to show off your skills. Let it out of your hands and let me actually SEE what you've got to show. I can't see how your sentences are constructed or the fine details of that form you made across the table or room.

When I say I want to “see” your portfolio, I literally want to “see” it. I want to look at the pieces up close and ask questions about how you constructed it, why you took that approach, what you would do differently, how you worked with others on the project, and the list goes on. I don't want to sit there, watch you turn the pages, and listen to you tell me what you think I want to hear.

The way you handle your portfolio during the interview also gives me a strong indication of how you will handle presenting projects to my clients. When you sit across the table from someone and go from page to page or project to project, you've quite likely lost your audience. Instead of wanting to get to know you better and learning how your unique skills will benefit my company, I’m quite likely trying to figure out how to get a word in edgewise, so I can end the interview and get back to the large pile of work sitting in my queue (which is quite likely the reason why you're there in the first place). I’m not going to take a chance on anyone making my clients feel that way.

Don't want to blow the interview with your portfolio?

The basic thing you need to remember is that your portfolio's purpose is to represent YOU. It should give you a common ground around which you and potential employers can have a conversation about how you are the perfect person to join a company or project.

Like this article? You can find more portfolio musings on Louellen’s new blog, Content Portfolio, found at www.yourcontentportfolio.com.