We all have been there and felt our words are not enough. Don’t know what to say, how to explain. How to showcase your expertise in a JOB INTERVIEW to get that position. We all have also experienced the difficulty of explaining our expertise or work to our grandparents or our friends (who might or might not gone to higher education). And typically, we end up generalizing our story explaining what this discipline examines or what our company does.

THAT DOES NOT HELP YOU IN JOB INTERVIEW.

Imagine an anthropology student in a job interview for a global mobile phone manufacturer company. (And yes, mobile phone industry employs lots of anthropologists). Student explains that their discipline examines human behavior and different cultures. “So what” asks the HR manager.

The headline of the article could have been also “What generalists could learn from graphic designers?” The answer is not Photoshop. It is PORTFOLIO. The portfolio, that shows to recruiters and others what you have done and what you can do. Portfolio might be more natural way of showcasing your expertise in graphic design or arts in general. However, building personal expertise portfolio throughout the study years might be The Best Career Advice for all students.

Put your skills in practice

I hope you don’t plan just to sit in lectures and read for exams throughout the whole academic study period of your life. Nowadays there are countless opportunities for university students to put their skills in practice: project works, hackathons, idea competitions, student club positions, internships, NGO-work, organizing events, entrepreneurial activities etc. Activities where you are active doer producing something and those outcomes are the evidence of your skills and should be highlighted in your portfolio.

What to have in my portfolio?

Expertise portfolio shows what you have done and gives insights on what you might be able to do. If CV tells the title and time you have worked in a company, portfolio should show what you have done, what has been your role, how you have worked and your reflections and interpretations of the work.

Take a look at one example of our alumnus Ila Sharma and her portfolio post of Demola
project experience:

https://www.behance.net/gallery/103141495/Demola-Crowd-tracker-and-Mobile-application

Companies do not hire just labor; they are looking for people with skills. Recruitment
for companies is a complex and expensive process. Recruiters want to be sure, what they get, if they recruit you. Help them to understand you and your expertise. Portfolio is a brilliant tool to demonstrate your expertise.

Just do it

Don’t judge yourself and demand to have a perfect portfolio with lots of fancy business content. Just do it based on what experience you have so far and update it as new experiences enriches your expertise. I bet others don’t have portfolios and in that case your probability to continue in fiercely competitive recruitment process increases.

Now summer is knocking students’ doors in Northern Hemisphere and many find summertime important period to grow as an expert. In whatever activities you engage yourself during the summer, internships, summer jobs, innovation camps or so my advice for you is that start building your expertise portfolio. Reflect the outcomes, reflect the process, and write it down: What did I do? What were the outcomes I produced? What were the opportunities I enabled? How this experience helped me to grow as an expert. And visualize it.

Demola projects are also great way to get content to your portfolio. You will own the
rights to the results and can utilize those as you wish. Check out the open projects and apply portal.demola.net 

Writer is our Creative Director Jere Wessman