After researching a little bit to find out helpful ideas for creating a portfolio, I came upon the tips of Apryl Duncan in Your Guide to Advertising, she mentions her ten tips to create a portfolio:
1. Buy a portfolio case ( be sure it is professional, and not too ‘loud’)
2. Purchase extra portfolio pages ( your portfolio will come with starter pages, but it’s a good idea to have extras on hand, because you never know when you may need them)
3. Add your resume ( your resume should be the first page of your portfolio, although you will be sending it to many employers, you still want a copy as your first page)
4. Decide on your best writing samples ( even though you may not have many pieces, pick out your best work, even if it is just text on paper. That is how some professionals best work starts out.)
5. Create divider sections ( a helpful creative hint is to make your divider pages like collages for example take cut outs from magazines and make a collage for your ‘Print’ page divider.)
6. Dress up those text ads ( text ads are not as visually appealing as other ads but, you should still include them)
7. Arrange ads for easy access( dont glue or paste any of your work to the portfolio page, instead make it accessible to anyone who many want to take it out and look at it.)
8. Change your portfolio ( never be afraid to update or change your portfolio, especially if you want to show off things that will appeal to a certain employer, you can always change it back)
9. Take extra resumes ( this is just common sense, you should always have extras on hand)
10. Never leave your portfolio ( don’t ever leave your portfolio at an employers office for them to look at later, instead offer to come back at another time. Once your portfolio is out of your hands there is no telling what may happen)
For more helpful hints and ideas visit http://advertising.about.com/od/careersource/ss/perfectptf_10.htm
