It’s helpful to leaf through your portfolio as often as you can, mum-
bling to yourself the reasons why each document was included. It is
particularly important to do this the day of the interview, making sure
one last time that you know where each document is located.
Do role-playing with a friend, if possible.In addition to going over
your portfolio by yourself, it is particularly helpful if you can practice
presenting key items to a friend. Or lacking an available partner, do so
with a tape recorder.
Documents that give evidence of skills, knowledge, or experience
are typically pretty easy to explain. People often feel awkward, howev-
er, when talking about their desirable personal characteristics, so you
will want to practice doing so out loud to another person.
Although it may make you a bit self-conscious, you should also be
sure to practice talking about items that give evidence of your achieve-
ments. Many interviewers are likely to want to know if you have had
any significant accomplishments, believing, quite rightly, that past per-
formance is a good predictor of future performance.
An effective way to discuss your achievements is to use the
S.T.A.R. acronym that may be familiar to the interviewer. S.T.A.R.
stands for:situation (challenge, problem, or opportunity) faced,task to
be undertaken,action taken (what decisions you made and actions you
took in response to the problem), and results (the outcome of your ac-
tion).
Make copies of items you may wish to leave behind. You might
want to give a few items in your portfolio to your interviewer, if the op-
portunity arises. Before making copies of these documents, be sure to
remove any information that should not be distributed.
Make sure your portfolio is in good shape physically.Prior to show-
ing your portfolio, make sure that the carrying case looks good and that
the items and tabs have not become bent or torn.HOW TO USE YOUR PORTFOLIO DURING A JOB INTERVIEW
In order to make the very best use of your portfolio during a job inter-
view, it’s useful if you know how to use your portfolio effectively during
each of the stages that a job interview is likely to pass through.The Stages of a Job Interview
A job interview that goes well typically advances through six key
stages. To help you remember these stages and the order in which they
are likely to occur, we have created the acronym H.E.R.O.I.C., which
stands for:Helloing
Engaging
Responding
Opportunity finding
Involving84 Part I: Building, Using, and Maintaining Your Career Portfolio