Building a Better Business Portfolio
This weekend, the graduate students from the Long Beach State Sports Management Program will be presenting to me, their semester end wrap up. Before they graduate, and as part of this internship program, I have added a component that requires them to hand in a business portfolio of everything they have accomplished in the past 18 months.
Why demand this from students who are in the midst of finishing up their final classes and a major project, their Capstone presentation?
Well, without it, the internships they have worked at for the past 18 months otherwise might turn into a blur of a memory, except for a few small lines noted within their respective resumes. While the goal of the last internship is, of course, is to help set up the student for a job offer, at the very least the internship experience should provide students with valuable business lessons which they can apply to future positions.
In today’s digital world, many of us know one of the most important places to place your resume for visibility is LinkedIn. That said, i would ask, how many of you have a business portfolio that is up to date? What would you show a prospective employer in terms of your recent or most applicable business accomplishments?
What I have asked for in this portfolio is for students to provide visual examples of what they have accomplished during their 18 months — a resume listing of where they have worked, but how have they added value to their workplace. What made them more valuable? What did they create, develop, sell, and improve in their respective workplaces?
We should all be asking ourselves the same questions. As I recently learned, two senior level sports executives and long time friends of mine recently lost their jobs for different reasons. It may have nothing to do with how productive they were or were not. The question I would ask is, beyond updating their resume, have they built a better business portfolio to show their next employer?
Staying up to date on your accomplishments throughout your career will pay off in the long run.
