When it comes to proving yourself professionally, it’s important to show and tell – after all, people retain visual information 6x more vs information they’ve heard or read. Whether you’re trying to attract a new client base, give employers a feel for your skills, enhance your personal brand or make yourself more visible; a portfolio is the perfect opportunity to showcase your work and experience.
Why should I have a portfolio?
Other than the reasons just outlined, a well-crafted portfolio is a sure fire way to stand out from the crowd by presenting your best conceptual ideas and creative works in one place. You should this opportunity to identify your key skills and how they relate to your career, by doing so, it can make you a more effective interviewee and as it will provide evidence of your core skillset.
Clients also like to see that you have experience in projects similar to the brief they will be asking you to complete – so it’s a great opportunity to showcase a breadth of work.
What should I include in my portfolio?
Your portfolio should include:
Your most recent work along with any historical campaigns you’re particularly proud of – be sure to keep this succinct. Also, it’s worth noting that clients are increasingly wanting multi-discipline candidates so think about including a breadth of work across digital, creative and tech if your experience allows
Project detailing along with your involvement plus the brief and concept to give the reader context
Up to 20 pages of work, but remember, prospective employers won’t always get to the end so keep it concise with your main work at the front
A statement of originality, confirming your work and confidentiality
How do I choose which work to include?
You should include work in which you’ve played a key role as this will demonstrate your abilities – I would also think about the type of client you’re wanting to appeal to. You need to consider what your work will demonstrate – what skills, competencies and achievements? Which skills are the organisation looking for? You should choose samples which show the most skills.
How should I present my portfolio?
Your main portfolio should be well laid out with good typography, along with your name, job title and descriptions of your projects you’ve been involved in. Within these descriptions you should include what they were for, who the brand or agency was, along with your input – make sure that you put the best known and most interesting brands at the top.
One of the best ways of presenting your portfolio is online using the likes of Squarespace or Wix.com, perfect for creating highly visual, easy to use digital portfolios.
How can I use my portfolio to help my job prospects?
Making sure your portfolio is always up to date is a great way of attracting interest from clients and although it can be time consuming, it will be more beneficial in the long run. Digital portfolios can be easily shared and displayed on social platforms, this will make you more likely to get noticed by clients and also your wider network.
Finally, remember, while you’re your past work is a critical aspect when someone’s thinking about hiring you, they also want to see your personality coming through.
If you’d like to discuss your portfolio with one of our Creative, Design & Studio team then get in touch with us here.
