The Writer's Portfolio: Presenting the Professional You

Selecting a cover

Your portfolio of writing must be collected in something; it has to be more than a stack of papers. The minimal portfolio is a manila envelope or folder, but neither of those make a very professional presentation. Probably the best vehicle is a simple three-ring binder.

Choose a binder that reflects your sense of yourself. It might be blue canvas: traditional, informal, and classroom-like. It might be brown suede: more formal, less classroom-like. Or it might be somewhere in between. Don't spend a lot of time on this choice. If you plan to interview in blue jeans, don't pick an overly formal binder. If, as is more likely, you will interview in clothing that is more formal than what you wear to class, pick a more formal binder.

The three-ring binder allows you to adapt the contents of the portfolio to suit the differing needs of your audience. Each potential employer is a different audience. Buy pocket-dividers. Dividers allow you to classify your writing and to include or exclude particular documents for particular job interviews. Choose a binder that has pockets in the front and in the back. Those pockets will come in handy.