I'm preparing to job hunt out of state from where I live and need a bit of adivce. I am perfecting my resume and have a cousin creating a website portfolio. When at the interview, should I also have a hard copy portfolio readily available? How about samples of work sent with the resume? I have taken a break from the work force for the past few years and would appreciate any insight as to the current trends in the hiring process.
I was given this advice as a student, and it proved invaluable: always leave them with something. A copy of your resume and/or a teaser portfolio. Also, definitely bring a nice, full version of your portfolio for them to leaf through, something that is professionally bounded perhaps (never leave that with them though)!
Not to sound offensive but I find your questions rather simplistic; questions that could easily be answered in a skim through a FAQ section of a jr. high career fair. I think you aren't asking the right questions. You should be asking how you can show edge. In any case, yes you should always be prepared! Just picture how the interview process would go and how smoothly things would run if you were able to have both verbal/visual communication; plus it would put less pressure on you with the interviewer starring at you bored out of his/her mind. You want to be able to have evidence and visual narratives to justify what you are saying. Ex. Here is the building I designed demonstrating... Let me show you what I mean by.... Here is a design in which I've won an award for...
As for "current trends" there still is nothing like a CLEAR, PHYSICAL, SIMPLE piece of visual evidence demonstrating your skills and work. People won't really care if you have a fancy bible covering your work or a fancy website for that matter. During the hiring process they want to see CONTENT and a clear "getting to know" process of your personal statement, resume, and work. If you really care about "current trends" you can cater your energy in preparing a presentation with a fancy ipad or phone projector. But I am telling you, nothing is more effective than catering to your interviewer, as he/she wants nothing more than something simple and easy to read/hold/see when he/she is interviewing you. Goodluck!
Thank you Zoe, I will plan on bringing something physical to leave with them. Narddog, thanks for your advice too, I'm glad I read the post all the way through as I thought, after the first 2 sentences, that maybe you were having a bad day and needed an outlet. (I'm glad I was wrong about that as your advice sounds very good.) I will tailor the website to be a sampling of work, prepare a bound portfolio, and a "teaser" to leave behind. I don't have access to any high dollar porfolio design programs, but will focus on the "clear" and "simple" aspects. Thanks again to both of you.
personally i prefer if you send a digital pdf under 5 mb and leave the website out of the picture, but if you really want to make one then of course go for it.
a physical portfolio or samples to leave behind is also not necessary for our office, though it could be useful for larger firms.
good luck
Apr 22, 12 3:50 am ·
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Web site portfolios
I'm preparing to job hunt out of state from where I live and need a bit of adivce. I am perfecting my resume and have a cousin creating a website portfolio. When at the interview, should I also have a hard copy portfolio readily available? How about samples of work sent with the resume? I have taken a break from the work force for the past few years and would appreciate any insight as to the current trends in the hiring process.
I was given this advice as a student, and it proved invaluable: always leave them with something. A copy of your resume and/or a teaser portfolio. Also, definitely bring a nice, full version of your portfolio for them to leaf through, something that is professionally bounded perhaps (never leave that with them though)!
@LEDO:
Not to sound offensive but I find your questions rather simplistic; questions that could easily be answered in a skim through a FAQ section of a jr. high career fair. I think you aren't asking the right questions. You should be asking how you can show edge. In any case, yes you should always be prepared! Just picture how the interview process would go and how smoothly things would run if you were able to have both verbal/visual communication; plus it would put less pressure on you with the interviewer starring at you bored out of his/her mind. You want to be able to have evidence and visual narratives to justify what you are saying. Ex. Here is the building I designed demonstrating... Let me show you what I mean by.... Here is a design in which I've won an award for...
As for "current trends" there still is nothing like a CLEAR, PHYSICAL, SIMPLE piece of visual evidence demonstrating your skills and work. People won't really care if you have a fancy bible covering your work or a fancy website for that matter. During the hiring process they want to see CONTENT and a clear "getting to know" process of your personal statement, resume, and work. If you really care about "current trends" you can cater your energy in preparing a presentation with a fancy ipad or phone projector. But I am telling you, nothing is more effective than catering to your interviewer, as he/she wants nothing more than something simple and easy to read/hold/see when he/she is interviewing you. Goodluck!
Thank you Zoe, I will plan on bringing something physical to leave with them. Narddog, thanks for your advice too, I'm glad I read the post all the way through as I thought, after the first 2 sentences, that maybe you were having a bad day and needed an outlet. (I'm glad I was wrong about that as your advice sounds very good.) I will tailor the website to be a sampling of work, prepare a bound portfolio, and a "teaser" to leave behind. I don't have access to any high dollar porfolio design programs, but will focus on the "clear" and "simple" aspects. Thanks again to both of you.
have a physical portfolio in hand.
personally i prefer if you send a digital pdf under 5 mb and leave the website out of the picture, but if you really want to make one then of course go for it.
a physical portfolio or samples to leave behind is also not necessary for our office, though it could be useful for larger firms.
good luck
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