On Jan. 18, Career Services hosted a Portfolio Palooza event for students in graphic design, communication, public relations and photography. The virtual event consisted of presentation from Career Services on tips for making portfolios, a series of portfolio presentations by students, alumni and faculty and examples of helpful resources.

Career Services collaborated with multiple student organizations, the Association for Women in Communications (AWC), the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), Graphix OU and the Oakland Post. 

AWC encourages students to advance leadership skills and PRSSA is an organization for students interested in public relations and communication. Graphix OU is the university’s graphic design club that talks about all of the visual arts. 

Students from all four organizations discussed their opportunities for students. Kelly Dorner from the Career Services team gave a slideshow presentation on portfolio tips. 

“A good portfolio can even serve as an extension of your work and creative identity, allowing you to shape the story you tell from start to finish,” Dorner said.

Some tips were about getting organized in terms of students’ resume, work samples, contact information, social media links and events. There were links on the slideshow that sent students resources for guides and templates for their resumes, and also how to schedule appointments with consultants on Handshake. 

Students were asked to consider their options for what they want to include in their portfolio:  a single landing page showcasing their designs or multiple pages that each highlight different skills; their name, their business or both; contact information or a full contract page complete with contact form; a full “About Me” page with their design philosophy or a simple photo and bio.

Tips to assemble your portfolio were: “include the kind of work you want more of,” “showcase your personality, focus on the process and not just the finished work,” “think about formats, check your spelling, ask for critiques and practice talking through your portfolio,” and “it doesn’t have to just be client work.” 

Dorner said, “Who is your intended audience with your portfolio? Always keep in mind your intended audience.”

According to Dorner, there are all sorts of resources that are on the Handshake site to help with building portfolios. Some people add unique shading and pops of color or icons to their resumes. 

Many students showcased their portfolios for students to see the variety of portfolios and how the possibilities are endless when it comes to creating them. 

Maggie Willard took students through her photography website. She uses a page to talk about herself — her contact page — emphasizing how personality is a huge part of one’s business. 

Graphix OU President Kariann DeGhetto told students about the website behance. Behance is a site for sharing art, and she showed some of her projects — she posts her projects from her time at OU that she wants employers to see. 

Graphic Design junior Larissa Neely presented her website on Squarespace. She told students about the importance of including your work on your first page, making it direct and intuitive for employers. Additionally, Neely said internship experience is vital. 

Oakland alumnus Bria Brown presented her own website that she created. She creates digital essentials for all platforms. Brown introduced students to EPKs — electric press kits — and how she markets to entrepreneurs.