BSNS 4440 SENIOR MARKETING SEMINAR
PORTFOLIO GUIDELINES
Your
professional portfolio may also be known as your “book,” which some
interviewers will ask you to bring to the interview with you. It is a portfolio of your accomplishments,
skills, recognition, achievements, and just plain evidence to support your
candidacy. It backs up what you say you
can or have done with physical, tangible evidence. You might think of it as your “Interview
Kit.” Following is what you need to know
about a portfolio, what it should look like, and how to use it. Your completed portfolio is due on Friday,
April 20, after you have presented it to a Marketing Advisory Board
professional in a mock interview type of situation here at
I. APPEARANCE—PROFESSIONAL!!!!!!
(This is not a scrapbook.)
A. Portfolio binder
1. Material: should be leather. If unaffordable, high-quality vinyl is a good
substitute. A shoulder strap is
optional, but you should carry into the interview by its handles (like a
briefcase), if it has them.
2. Pockets: should have several pockets inside for extra
copies of resumes, letters of recommendation, transcripts, etc.
3. Dividers: This needs to be a THREE-RING BINDER
type of portfolio. You need to buy
attractive, high quality, hole-punched dividers to separate your sections. Be sure to TAB your dividers
by typing
or very neatly block printing the name of each section on your tabs. Examples:
MARKETING RESEARCH, ADVERTISING, WEBSITES, BUSINESS PLANS, AWARDS, PR,
INTERNSHIPS, JOB EXPERIENCES might be titles of some
sections.
4. Page
covers: You need to buy oversized,
clear, hole-punched page covers.
This is so you don’t have to hole-punch any of the materials you put in
the portfolio. You will put your work
into these page covers. They need to be
oversized so 8 ½ by 11 inch papers will fit into them.
B. Organization: Everything should be neatly organized,
divided into sections, with extra copies of materials tucked into pockets,
ready to pull out to hand to the interviewer.
Make sure that everything is secure so that when you open the portfolio,
papers do not fall out. Make sure that
you know where everything is. You might
consider organizing the portfolio chronologically or by skills or by
accomplishments.
II. CONTENT
OF PORTFOLIO
A. Resume: goes in the pocket of the portfolio—at least
three copies.
B. Typed
list of references: goes in the pocket
of the portfolio—at least three copies.
C. Transcripts: can be unofficial. Can go either in a pocket
or a tabbed section called “ACADEMICS”.
One copy is sufficient and can be either official or unofficial.
D. Evidence
of achievements: go in tabbed sections,
called “ACHIEVEMENTS, or ACTIVITIES, or, AWARDS”, etc. Put in any kind of certificate you’ve been
awarded/earned, Dean’s List letter, athletic letter, theater bill/program, club
officer position recognition, etc. If
you have been active but don’t have letters or certificates, make a list of
your activities and put it in this section.
In this section you would also want to include any press or publicity
you’ve received, e.g., newspaper clippings about you or with your name.
E. Evidence
of skills and abilities: tabbed section
called “ABILITIES, SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE,” etc.
Here you will include work you have done in functional areas such as
Marketing, Management, Accounting, Finance, Economics, etc. For Marketing, you will break this down
further into Marketing Research, Advertising-Mass Media,
Advertising-Specialized Media, Direct Marketing, Sales Promotions, Logistics/Distribution,
Personal Selling and Sales, Internet Marketing and Website Development,
Business Plan, or Marketing Plan Development, Strategic Marketing, Sports
Marketing, Multimedia Presentations, Brochures, and anything else for which you
have physical evidence to put in your portfolio. Each of the above sections may
have its own divider.
This
can include class projects, BUT, you must NOT include the entire paper you
submitted for the class, especially if you worked in a group. You must use a COVER PAGE for a paper or
lengthy project that includes the following:
·
Name of Company
or Project (e.g. Ricker’s Marketing Research Project)
·
Your name, or all
group members’ names if it was a group project
·
STAR bullet
points:
o
Situation or
problem, e.g. “Client wanted to increase in-store sales vs. at-the-pump only
sales”
o
Tasks that
needed to be done, e.g. “Survey pump-only customers”
o
Actions that
were taken, e.g. “Marketing research through observation of customers, surveys
of customers, and brochures of in-store items”
o
Results of
the study, e.g. “Client was given a formal marketing research study which he
used to implement promotional programs at the pump as suggested by group that
increased in-store sales by 15%. Client
made a donation to the Falls School of Business.”
·
Parts of the
project that YOU worked on/were responsible for, e.g. a chart, graph or table
you made up; the survey itself that you developed; the statistical data that
you ran and analyzed; the brochure you wrote; the photographs you took; the
section of the paper you wrote or researched; the Internet website/home page
you developed; a picture of you with the client; a picture of you in the
newspaper and article about you and the client (even if it’s with the
group). Employers want to see what YOU
did, not the rest of the group. Do
NOT put the graded/marked up paper into the portfolio. Get a clean copy. Otherwise it looks like a school project, not
a professional portfolio.
F. Anything
else that well-represents you, looks professional, and can be used to make an
interview point. For example, a section
on “GLOBAL” could be used as follows:
“One of my skills is cross-cultural experience and relational abilities. As you can see in my portfolio (turn to that
section), I have been on three international trips we call “Tri-S” where I
helped build schools, worked with children, and helped local businesses.” Have pictures and any write-ups of those
trips in your portfolio. Or, if you’ve
taken any global/international courses at AU and done a Marketing Plan or
research project for a particular country, have some kind of representation of
that in the portfolio to demonstrate your global knowledge and exposure. Be sure to mention any languages you speak.
III. USING
THE PORTFOLIO
A. PRACTICE,
PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!! Practice handling
the portfolio, holding it, finding sections you need quickly, talking and
pointing things out at the same time, etc.
Be smooth, don’t fumble, know the contents. Do
this with your friends.
B. TIMING: The portfolio can be used EITHER
1. During
the interview itself when an interviewer asks a question such as, “Tell me
about any international exposure/experiences you’ve had”, and you would flip to
the section tabbed “INTERNATIONAL” or whatever you’ve called it and show them
your proof;
2. AND/OR
at the end of the interview when the interviewer asks “Is there anything else
you’d like to add?” You ask “Do you have
about 5-10 more minutes in which I could share my portfolio with you?” They’ll say yes, then you pull out your portfolio
and start going through it. Be aware
that YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GO THROUGH THE ENTIRE PORTFOLIO, or go through it in
order. Concentrate on areas which have
been covered in the interview or are related to the job for which you are being
interviewed. Use words like “I’d like to
share my marketing research experiences with you by showing you a survey I
designed for this study…”