Employment Guide: Professional websites, profiles a matter of employer preference

Some students are bypassing job search sites like Monster.com and choosing instead to create… Some students are bypassing job search sites like Monster.com and choosing instead to create their own online portfolios.

Matthew Galmoff, an employment development specialist in Pitt’s Office of Student Employment and Placement Assistance, said creative industries such as public relations, advertising, marketing, and graphic design usually ask for samples of applicants’ work, but he has never worked with employers who require an online portfolio.

“It’s more something that a student typically creates on their own that they want to submit as extra material,” Galmoff said.

Galmoff said he has worked with students who created portfolios as supplements to their applications and applied for competitive internships at top public relations firms or advertising agencies.

Depending on the size of the applicant pool, an electronic portfolio can distinguish you from the rest of the crowd, he said.

Galmoff said companies looking for writing samples — those in the communications, journalism, fashion or retail — find electronic portfolios especially useful.

“It just depends on how much of that creativity will relate back to the job,” Galmoff said.

For certain fields, having an online portfolio can simplify the application process and make viewing your samples easier.

Pam O’Brien, associate director of public and professional writing in the University’s English department, said some applicants put a link to their work on their resumés, though it is not a substitute for bringing hard copy samples to an interview.

“With a hard copy, you’re forced to look at it and you can make an impression on the front cover. With an online source, all you see is a hyperlink,” Galmoff said.

O’Brien said that students don’t have to make their own websites from scratch. They can use programs such as Google Sites or WordPress to create an electronic portfolio.

Pitt alumnus Drew Snyder used Google Sites to make his portfolio when he applied for jobs and internships last year.

“It’s not the most impressive thing ever, but somebody who is 34 and doesn’t even know what Twitter is thinks it’s the greatest thing in the world,” Snyder said.

Snyder said it was easy to make a page that looked professional with the templates provided by Google Sites.

“Choose your colors wisely. Don’t make the whole thing black and red like a MySpace page,” Snyder suggested.

Snyder graduated from Pitt last year with a bachelor’s in English writing and a certificate in Public and Professional Writing. He is currently doing an internship at A. Brown-Olmstead & Associates, a public relations company in Atlanta, Georgia.

O’Brien said a strong web portfolio should include a resumé, contact information, examples of projects applicants have done and a gloss — or explanations of those projects. Students can also include work they’ve created at an internship or job, as long as they have permission to share them publicly. Some people choose to include letters of recommendation.

Snyder said he “wanted to show that I was tech savvy and that I was capable of fitting into the new use of mainstream media devices and tools.”

Snyder said he put the link to his portfolio at the end of every cover letter he wrote.“Since the state of the economy worsened, everyone has had to widen their job searches,” Snyder said.

Snyder began by applying mostly to law firms, but after limited success he moved on to public relations firms because he thought his skills could easily transfer there.

He said the advantage of a web portfolio depends on the job and the employer.

“A lot of them want a Word document. Some want a .pdf file. Some appreciate the link. The biggest variable is who is looking at your stuff,” Snyder said.

Examples of digital portfolios from students in the Public and Professional Writing Certificate program can be found at www.pitt.edu/~ppw/online.html.