Portfolio Advice

To comment: larry@larrylitwin.com

Portfolios…

With the trend toward brevity, my suggestion is…Limit your portfolio to you best “stuff.”

A three-ring binder still works. Your first page should be a brief applicant statement, similar to the one on your resume. That resume should be next, followed by examples of results-oriented products – carryout tactics that made it into the media or into targeted public’s hands.

They would include (in this order – from the simple to the more complex) a media alert, (hard) news release, a strong (soft) feature, newsletters (hardcopy and/or electronic), and such one-page publications as fliers, posters, inline e-mail attachments, etc.

Be careful not to overwhelm the recipient. Keep it as simple as possible (KISS).

And…if you have excellent products and want to knock the socks off a prospective employer, leave behind a copy of your portfolio – not a hardcopy and not on a CD, but a flash drive version.

You may not get a job with that person’s organization right away, but you will definitely be remembered for your work, ingenuity and outside the circle thinking. Be sure you have business cards to leave behind with your portfolio.

Other advice is welcome at:

larry@larrylitwin.com