You, On Paper (and Online)

Constructing a public relations portfolio

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What is a portfolio?

• It’s a compendium of materials that demonstrate your expertise in public relations

• It’s used to show potential employers that you know what you’re doing

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What should it look like?

Clean and crisp is more important than new or expensive

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Let your career goals guide you

• A portfolio for someone working in the arts should look quite different from on for a person in banking• Both exterior and interior• Color choice• Font• Elements included

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What does the employer expect?

• Review basic skills required in job postings to see what employers are looking for

• Emphasize basic PR tools that you will actually use in your first job

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What goes in the portfolio?

• Resume (CV) • Generic reference letters from employers,

teachers, volunteer supervisors, etc.• Writing and design samples

• It’s okay to include items created in class• “We know they’re students.”

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Documentation of work

• Anything can be documented • Club newsletter showing your activities• Special event on paper:

• Checklists

• Event planning materials

• Fliers or invitations

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But most importantly…

• RESULTS: Not just that you wrote or designed PR materials, but what happened because they were distributed• Pictures of a special event to document

attendance• News stories resulting from media relations• Evaluation materials (survey results, etc.)• Web copy (links from blogs or Web sites, etc.)

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Selecting items

• Try to include a variety of materials, preferably in their original form• Print, Internet and broadcast• Research, strategic thinking/planning• Variety of publics targeted, positions held

• Choose only your best• One great news release is better than one great

one plus two okay ones

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How should I organize it?

• Room for creativity• By job/position held• By item type (i.e., PSAs in one section,

events in another)• You can also customize it for each interview

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Organization is vital

• Organize it so someone could figure it out if you weren’t there to explain

• Most employers just skim, so you should highlight what’s most important• Tabs/section breaks, table of contents• First page of each section• Headlines, attention-getters

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Appearance is also vital

• Do:• Clean, crisp pages (use protectors)• Clean copy

• Don’t• Poor design• Anything that will detract from skimming• Crazy fonts, clip art, frills

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Electronic portfolios

• Show off your online skills• Convert writing/design samples to PDF files• Links to news coverage based on your media

relations activities• Remove personal information such as address

and telephone numbers (yours, references, etc.)• Social media resume

• Links to blog, Web site, Twitter account, podcasts or other online activities

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What do I do with it now?

• Take it with you on every interview• If you have an electronic portfolio, bring a

paper version to the interview

• Ask the interviewer if they would like to see it• They won’t necessarily ask you to see it• They assume you will bring one if you have

one

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Showing it off

• Don’t just shove it at them and sit silently• Use it as a chance to link your experience

with their needs• Narrate what they’re seeing• “You were asking about my experience with

newsletters. Here’s an example of an article I wrote for my club’s newsletter. I also took the pictures.”

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Takeaways

• Make photocopies of the very best items, put in a packet that you can leave behind

• Can include a page with link to your electronic portfolio or other links

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I got a job!

• Now what do you do with your portfolio?• Keep it• Keep adding to it• Reorganize as needed – the beauty of page

protectors• PRSA suggests using it for

• Negotiations (raise, promotion)

• Scholarship, grant, bonus applications