Last month, Wayne State alum and former WSU PRSSA member Eliot Dolgin visited our COM 4170 class as a guest speaker to give us some tips on improving our digital portfolio. A portfolio is essential when job–and even internship–hunting. It helps gives potential employers a feel of what you’ve done in the past and the type of content you can bring to the company you want to work for.
Since technology is a staple in our society, Dolgin recommended building a personal website for yourself to make yourself stand out. Many WSU students, including myself, have a WordPress website, since a handful of COM classes require you to create one.
Dolgin, on the other hand, used Wix.com to create his own, which inspired me to switch over to Wix myself. It’s taking a lot of time for me to finish my new website because there are so many ways to express your creativity. I’m having a blast!
Whichever website builder you choose to go with, Dolgin gave the same advice to all of us, which was to put up “anything you write that’s relivant to what you’re applying for or if it’s a passion of yours.” So don’t just showcase what is great for corporate PR–show it all. You have the space to do so on your website!
Dolgin also told us to focus on our strengths and even get certificated in various online programs like Hootsuite. He said it’s just another great way to “stick out” from the crowd. He also mentioned it’s “more effective” to list your accomplishments in short statements and in bullet points. Makes sense to me–it just makes the summary of you easier to read–a plus for our very busy potential employers!
But what if your work is more in social media managing, where writing pieces isn’t as easy to upload? Dolgin said it’s a good idea to screenshot your posts that were the most successful on social. Then on your website, you can upload these screenshots as pictures.
In closing, Dolgin switched gears and talked about staying motivated with building your website and as you climb up the career ladder. One thing he said that stuck out to me was to “remind yourself why you started this in the first place.” As us seniors are in the home strich from graduting, it’s easy to lose motivation and focus. But we have to remind ourselves why we even started this journey to get our degrees. Is it because of your own success or making your loved ones proud? Whatever your reasoning, let that be a great reminder to keep pushing on and finish the semester strong!
Wayne State University PRSSA 