If your Master Portfolio does not have different files and headings, you
can simply leave the “Master Portfolio Category”area blank.
Your next step is to create in the left-hand column a list of all the
items that are filed in the category under consideration, using short,
clear descriptions. Let’s say, for example, that you have a computer
printout that gives sales figures documenting your success in leading a
team that doubled the amount of advertising for your school newspa-
per. You might list this as “Printout figures: doubled advertising for
school newspaper,”as we have done in the example.
After writing a short description of the document, record the
P.E.A.K.S. ratings you would assign to it. These ratings are listed in the
same row that the description is in, which for the “doubled advertising”
example would be the first row. See the accompanying summary sheet
illustrating how the ratings for these P.E.A.K.S. are recorded. (These
ratings are the same as the P.E.A.K.S. ratings you assigned to this doc-
ument on the corresponding Career P.E.A.K.S. Measurement Form if
you used one.)
Your second item on the “Task Accomplishments” part of the
Career P.E.A.K.S. Master Summary Sheet might be a letter from your
boss congratulating you on the marketing plan you put together for a
major account. Here you put “Boss’s letter praising marketing plan”
and record the P.E.A.K.S. ratings associated with this item.
In the accompanying example, we have also recorded a third item,
“Annual Performance Evaluation: 15% boost in productivity.”This is
the document we analyzed earlier in this chapter, using a Career
P.E.A.K.S. Measurement Form. As you can see, the same P.E.A.K.S. rat-
ings would be recorded in the Master Portfolio Summary Sheet that
were listed in the Career P.E.A.K.S. Measurement Form for this docu-
ment.
For those of you who would like to have a go at using the above sys-
tem for listing the items in your Master Portfolio, we have included a
blank Career P.E.A.K.S. Master Summary Sheet in the appendix of this
book.Keeping a List of What You Have, Even If the P.E.A.K.S.
Have Not Been Analyzed
Regardless of whether or not you use the above form, it is important
that you keep a list of all the items in your Master Portfolio. This prac-
tice will enable you to see at a glance everything you’ve got so that
when it comes time to actually select items from your Master Portfolio
to take to an interview, you can feel confident that you haven’t over-
looked any important items.
This list will be most useful if it also includes a summary of how
you have rated the P.E.A.K.S. featured in each document. But do not let
the fact that you have not yet rated the P.EA.K.S associated with a par-
ticular document prevent you from at least adding this document to
your list.Chapter 2: Assembling Your Master Portfolio 27