Employers’ view on Portfolios:
The consensus of hiring managers is they usually value portfolios, but the way in which they are presented makes a big difference. Candidates who have a presentation strategy, who can read interpersonal cues and hone in on the content valued by the interviewer, are going to receive a much warmer reception. Smoothly presenting a portfolio takes as much skill and practice as responding well to interview questions.

Viewpoint from Daniel Porot’s portfolio workshop:
‘Behavioral Interviewing’: The most accurate predictor of future performance is past performance in a similar situation. It provides more objective facts on which to base employment decisions than other interviewing methods.
Behavioral interview questions are open-ended, designed to get the candidate talk about past situations. Typical questions are “tell me about a time you had to influence others” and “tell me about a time you had to deal with a disgruntled customer”. You would then show an example of a time when you did ............ and put it in their hands to review. At this point, you would remain quiet while they looked at the document.

Statistics show that the skills looked for in a candidate are first personality traits, second transferable skills, and third specific knowledge skills.

A portfolio can give the hiring professional a more personal look at:

• Who you are and what you have accomplished
• Can include: awards, certificates, special accomplishments
• Other items: pictures, reports, articles about you or that you have written, press releases, etc.

A few points on portfolios:

• Can be used by all students regardless of major.
• It makes students think critically about their skills, experiences, reminding them of their accomplishments in preparation for an interview even if it isn’t used in it.
• Different majors may have some content that is career specific
  1. lab reports for science majors
  2. accounting work for business majors
  3. art portfolio
  4. teaching portfolio
  5. Or focus on general skills needed in all areas of work: communication, writing, leadership, team work etc..
• Presentation and timing is key:
  Individual items should be used to enhance answers and the entire portfolio should only be given over if the employer asks. The idea is not to bombard the interviewer with everything that you have accomplished, but to have it ready to hand to him/her when it feels appropriate to do so.
• The applicant ascertains the purpose of the interview.
  1. Is it designed to evaluate the applicant’s qualifications based upon his/her responses to a set of structured questions?
  2. If it’s a second interview, a portfolio and any other information that would distinguish him/her from other candidates would be encouraged.
     If it's not a behavioral interview, portfolios can help reinforce/document articulated answers to questions like “did you do much programming in your last job?” or “how do you like managing people?”, etc.
  3. Ask the managers that are doing the hiring if (s)he would like applicants to bring their portfolios to the interview.
• To learn more about Daniel Porot and his techniques