The College of Design held an architecture portfolio workshop on Wednesday and walked students through how to present their portfolios to potential employers. With free food provided, the presentation began discussing how to write about a portfolio project. Gabriella Saholt, a fifth-year student in architecture, and Sebastian Salamanca, a third-year architecture student, led the presentation, highlighting the importance of pulling the reader of a portfolio in.
The presentation showcased best practices for discussing a portfolio in preparation for the upcoming College of Design career fair to be held on Feb. Time was another focus of the presenters.
Salamanca stressed that one might have 10 minutes or less to show off their best work accumulated across multiple semesters, making organization and pacing essential to a successful employer interaction. By putting the best project first, Saholt and Salamanca described, one is able to set the scene in speaking about their work. Salamanca ended the presentation with some advice for his architecture peers. The pairs cycled each ring of the timer, providing the opportunity to hear feedback from multiple peers of varying years and experience levels in the architecture program.
It was good to get other perspectives about what they think is most important coming from outside of the project and what I should put more emphasis on. According to Saholt, in previous years, various design student organizations held their own portfolio reviews and workshops.
Abby Klostermann, a fifth-year architecture student, also helped plan the workshop series and stated that this collaboration of student groups streamlined the process of presenting information. Klostermann also noted career fair readiness as a catalyst for the programming. The next topics in the workshop series include resumes and cover letters, professional portfolio reviews and a mock career fair.
