A portfolio is the pinnacle of your education and the end product of all the hard work put in during your years as a student. The importance of a good portfolio is easily overlooked. I get the impression that the majority will think that if they ‘slap’ a few good ‘jpegs’ of their best work in an A3 folder, its good enough to entice their potential employer to grant them their dream job. This is a crucial oversight on the part of the potential employee. A portfolio, in most cases, is the only link between you and the employer. The potential employer is most likely viewing hundreds of portfolio’s for that position, what will make your portfolio stand out from the rest? A decision can be made solely on the quality of work and the effort put into the design of the portfolio itself. Lets say, your portfolio is ‘you’, and ‘you’ treat yourself with respect, you should treat your portfolio with respect, and put the blood, sweat and tears into creating a portfolio worthy of that respect.
Remember, when it comes to your portfolio be clinical, don’t give an inch to the employer or potential client. A portfolio which is neat and clean will make more of an impression than one which has brilliant work, but is dirty and not well put together. One must remember that, like in graphic design, there is no right or wrong, there is only effective and non-effective. Effective portfolio in this instance would contain the following aspects;
-it would showcase the full spectrum of your work,
-it would highlight the field that you would like to pursue,
-it would display your best work,
-it would be cleverly laid out and be interesting to the viewer
-it would clearly show the thought process which goes into each project.
Show your versatility, if you want to go into Architecture, don’t leave your structural drawing work out. The employer wants to see how diverse you are and therefore would pick you over someone who has no structural knowhow, because you would be more of an asset to the company. In saying this, be sure to focus more on the field in which you would like to pursue, Architecture in this example. I would recommend getting up to speed on a graphic manipulating program (if you have not already) to be able to express yourself and get that image from your head onto the A3 canvas. All these extra skills will hold you in good stead when creating your portfolio.
Your value is contained within your portfolio, what you have, and potentially can achieve is being heavily scrutinized. Don’t sell yourself short with a mediocre portfolio, don’t stumble at the final hurdle. Take initiative and create your masterpiece and go get yourself that job you have been drooling over for as long as you can remember.
