A couple of weeks ago we looked at the importance of tailoring your resume to a particular job opportunity. While a resume provides a brief picture of your experience, a portfolio presents a tangible proof of your ability. Today, we'll look at one overarching principle that can work as a measuring stick for all of the decisions you make as you create your application package. When it comes to your work samples, you want to do your best to capitalize on your opportunities to show your work.

There are too many portfolios out their that just look too pretty, too perfect. We need to start roughing them up a bit. The final product (the "money shot") is the culmination of all of your work. An employer wants to see how you arrived at that final result. Think about math class in grade school. You had to show the teacher how you solved your long division problem. The teacher's job was to teach you how to arrive at the solution not just how to write down the correct answer on the page.

It's the same in architecture. Foundational to our practice is our ability to solve problems. Ultimately, this is what a firm is hiring you to do. When we show our thought processes; the rough sketches and study models, how we arrived at a solution, we demonstrate to the hiring team the powers that will be most useful to them in the long run. The skills that they can mold and build on.

So go scan that page in your sketchbook where you worked through a difficult bench detail or explored various facade options. Photograph those pin-ups and study models. That's the stuff that architects love to see. Pretty pictures and renderings are becoming easier and easier to produce, but clear methodical thinking is more rare. If you can show your prospective employer your ability to think well, you will be on your way.