Non-Academic Portfolio
To succeed in industries and careers outside of academia, you must be able to present your most relevant qualifications, including transferable skills, through a NON-ACADEMIC PORTFOLIO. Creating your portfolio—your resume, cover letter, and online brand—will take time and effort to be considered competitive. Your career documents should receive the same level of attention as your dissertation or thesis. Most graduate students go through several iterations of each document or online profile before deciding that their portfolio sets them apart from their competition. Don't try to do everything on your own! Graduate Career Services has specialized knowledge and experience to help you prepare for the job market.
Documents & Online Presence
- Resume (dependent on position)
- CV (dependent on position)
- Cover Letter
- References
- Online Presence/Reputation
Additional Resources
- Using A Career Portfolio, Association for Talent Development
- 14 Career Documents to Boost Any Job Search, Career Professionals of Canada
- Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) - When applying to jobs outside of academia, you may come across an ATS process that is used to help human resources departments quickly filter through applications based on keywords and other criteria. If a company uses an ATS system, this may change your strategy on formatting and content for your documents (ATS friendly resumes from Jobscan). You can often see what ATS system an employer is using by looking at the URL for the job posting (ex. Nike career page takes you to nikeats.avature.net).