Supplemental Materials: Clips, portfolios and more

You may list your experience on your resume, but most employers will want to see tangible evidence of your professional abilities through clips, a portfolio, a resume tape or other sample of your work. Preparing these samples in a professional manner is just as important as the work you put into your resume and cover letter!

For a personal review of your clips or portfolio, you are welcome to make an appointment by calling (608) 263-4898.

• Clips
• Resume tapes – Radio or TV
• Strategic communication portfolios

Clips

If you are planning to pursue a career in print journalism, a solid range of clips will be an essential part of any job application. Keep these tips in mind as your package your clips:

Give them what they ask for. If they ask for 10 clips, send 10. If they ask for five, send five. Don’t send too many or too few – too many is inconvenient to the editors reviewing your application and too few puts you at a disadvantage. If a specific number isn't listed, you generally can’t go wrong with 5-10 clips.

Make sure it’s readable. Photocopy your clips on to 8.5”x11” bright white paper. Include the masthead on the page, showing the date and page number on which your article appeared. If that isn’t possible, then type that information on the page. If your article is large, you can try to shrink it as long as the point size does not go below 10. Printout of articles that appeared online are acceptable, as long as they include publication title and date.

Show your range. Include a variety of articles – hard news, feature, editorial, etc. If you are applying for a general assignment position, include a range of topics.

Provide context when possible. If there’s a good story behind your story – you were in the right place at the right time, you turned it around rapidly, you found a more interesting story behind a routine affair, etc, share that information.

Back to top

Resume tapes

For a great article on tips to compile your first resume tape, visit the Journalist’s Toolbox

Some general tips:

Label your tape and include your name, address, and telephone number on the front of the tape box.

Enclose a rundown of your tape’s contents on a separate piece of paper.

Use montages wisely. If you begin with a montage, it should include no more than 3 to 5 short examples of stand-ups and a live shot. Some of these stories should follow on your tape. A musical montage is not appropriate.

Lead strong. Your best work should be at the top of the tape – but attempt to be objective when choosing your material. Select stories that best represent your talents. Remember, just because you broke a story or feel strongly about a particular segment does not mean it is your best work!

Quality counts! Double-check your dub for audio quality.

Ensure a safe delivery. Tapes that are not protected by a professional tape case should be safeguarded by a padded envelope or box. Cracked tapes will not be viewed.

Back to top

Strategic communication portfolios

Portfolios vary depending on what type of work you are looking for – a client side PR portfolio will look very different from a creative’s “book.”

Some things to keep in mind when building your portfolio:

Look like a professional. You don’t need to spend a ton of money on a fancy leather binder, but a manila envelope doesn't quite cut it either.

Be organized. Make sure all the pieces in your portfolio are organized in an easy to explain fashion with tabs separating your different sections. Perhaps you will arrange your work by Client (the work you did while interning at the State Capitol first, followed by the work you did while volunteering at Special Olympics). Or you may organize by type of work (put all press releases together, followed by all the newsletters you have worked on). How you organize is up to you, but it must be clear to your potential employer that there is some rhyme and reason to the organization you have chosen.

Be prepared. Mark everything so it won’t get lost if someone takes it out of your portfolio. Also make sure your name, address and phone # is on it so you can leave it behind if asked. You may even want to have more than one portfolio so that they can be circulated.

Keep it real. If you have had an internship or have related job experience, the work you have done for these opportunities is a lot more powerful than class projects.

Give credit where credit is due. If the work in your book is collaborative, be sure to note this on the sample. For example, if you did the layout for a newsletter but didn't write the copy, it may still have a place in your book but the potential employer must know what potion of the work is yours.

Tailor your portfolio to the job requirements. If the job you are applying for is web based, you want to make sure your portfolio reflects all your skills in this area. But when next week’s interview is for a media contact, press releases should take center stage. You will probably want to reorganize your book for each interview.

Your book must speak for itself. You may not always be there to walk an employer through it. If an example needs a lot of explanation, you are better off leaving it at home.

Back to top