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By Phyllis B. Shabad, MS, NCRW, JCTC

Brace yourself: expect the competition in the job marketplace for professionals and senior-level managers to heat up considerably this year. With a rising number of mergers and acquisitions predicted for 2005, the anticipated cycle of layoffs will be on the upswing. Combine that with the pent-up energy of job seekers who didn't enter the market since bubble-bursting 2000, now finally ready to experiment with a career transition-as well as the rising number of college educated who have been unemployed for a longer period of time, according to a March 11th article in the Los Angeles Times - and you have a set of conditions that demand smarter strategies from job searchers.

How do you answer this challenge?

While growing numbers of senior-level managers and professionals in the talent pool know about executive portfolios, not enough use them for a clear advantage in achieving satisfying results. Job-search and overall career success may well depend on the development of a portfolio.

What is a portfolio and why do you need one?

As a potent job-search tool, the executive career portfolio stands as a memorable depiction and authentication of your business dynamic and process thinking. Using visuals and text, a portfolio is a more comprehensive showcase of your performance, accomplishments, expertise and market worth. In other words, it is the logical must-have piece of a winning job-search campaign that you can adopt to communicate a strong, personal brand. Common sense dictates that-minus the pronoun "I" in your résumé-typical career marketing materials are written from the perspective of the writer only. The portfolio serves as the bridge that links and substantiates other points of view.

Traction and control: Useful for capturing initial attention, you can't expect your résumé to sustain momentum for your entire job search. During the interview stage you can use the portfolio as a directional device to tell your big stories, while the "show and tell" aspect helps the interviewers to assimilate your functional value quickly and easily.

Portfolio planning and development: getting started

Prep: Develop an overall marketing plan that starts with the creation of a top-line résumé rich in content, front-loaded with achievement stories of your strategic and commercial successes. Make the commitment that your résumé will not stand alone in your marketing collateral, and that you will incorporate it into the design of an executive portfolio. Leave room for one line at the end of your résumé or cover that says "Complete Career Portfolio Available." The trend in executive job-search is the addition of stand-alone components to a multiple-page résumé, e.g., leadership profile, biography, executive summary, mission or branding statement that will sharpen your message and form the textual foundation of the portfolio.

Work a parallel track: With the understanding that the résumé development process is an amalgam of data collection, self-assessment and resource information gathering, go on a dig at the same time for tangible evidence of your achievements. Select from a wide range of "career artifacts" that will carry the narrative thread of your résumé forward. First thoughts might be awards, certificates, articles published internally or in outside media, presentations at conferences, photographs, press coverage, audio or video clips, manuals, graphs and charts, testimonials, samples of specialized projects or even business case studies. Place a high value on the creativity of this process.

Just this once, think inside the box: Stick-to-itiveness counts, especially in the beginning to shorten the development timeline. You don't have to organize assets in the early stages. Instead, just get an empty box and brainstorm boldly, filling it with your tangibles on a regular basis. Review the materials gathered and assess which pieces will complement the critical stories in your résumé and offer proof of your performance. Winnow the choices down now so you don't wind up with a scrapbook effect. Get permission where necessary for use of items if they are proprietary to a company. Then, decide on your format.

Online or offline brand with full-throttle marketing power

Limited budget options: You can prepare a paper-driven portfolio and house it in a leather-look, three-ring binder for a less costly offline version. With no more than 20 to 30 pages of documentation and text, it should be organized into component sections that are logical and can be reorganized for specific company interviews-a major advantage for this portfolio type. While you might focus on chronology, function and experience, a better system would include examples of leadership and successful business strategies you used to bring in results for the organization. Critical to your plan is the development of one-page inserts that mirror a few of your portfolio components and can be used as leave-behinds after the interview. The direction, however, is away from the low-tech platform and toward web portfolios.

Make a strategic investment to embed your profile: Maintaining the content from offline, online versions should include an inspired fusion of design, color, hyperlinked text and multiple media formats that are there for compelling reasons: to differentiate you, niche your value and invite interaction and dialogue between you and the hiring managers. Available 24x7, the portfolio should be an "experience" for the reader. Don't be fooled, however, by the many services who mistakenly think of a career web portfolio as a résumé that has undergone an extreme makeover. They are not one-dimensional presentations that found their way onto what looks like cheesy desktop publishing stationery from the local office supply store, with work history blemishes airbrushed to seeming perfection. Kirsten Dixson of Brandego.com has stunning examples on her site of how web portfolios communicate and extend your brand to the market. If you are challenged by a lack of material, she advocates that you "start with what you have today and catch the portfolio mentality."

Target your opportunities: In what I call the "pitched portfolio" you can sharpen the focus of your materials and align them with industries or companies in which you would be an excellent fit. Electronic résumé expert Pat Criscito, author of Barron's E-Resumes, offers well-researched examples of what you might want to include in your portfolio in the third edition of her book, broken down by industry vertical and professional or management function. But she also alerts job seekers to a startling trend.

They're watching you: It has become increasingly common for human resource managers and recruiters to get out there and "Google your brand," as Pat says. Before the interview, they want to ensure that they are fully prepared to ask the right questions and make the best hiring decisions. As they do a Google search, you can use your superb content and branding on the web advantageously.

In other words, not only must you have an online identity, you must also control it to be of serious interest to the hiring managers and decision-makers.

Multidimensional functionality

More than a job-search tool, you can use the portfolio as a complete career management system. Imagine using it during a performance review or salary increase discussion. If you decide to leave the corporate environment and become a solopreneur, the portfolio can help you build your marketing strategy with potential clients. With current and emerging technologies, the possibilities are endless.

Truly, anyone can do this-even those in the most conservative industries and non-creative functions. Whether you are making a career transition, seeking to leverage your background into a more senior management role or highlighting your potential value following a gap or jump in your employment experience, the portfolio process will help you to better articulate your strengths, break away from the competition and attract success.

Phyllis Shabad is the founder and head of CareerMasters and CareerIQ.com. She offers comprehensive executive résumé writing, career and business coaching as well as outplacement services to a diverse executive clientele. Over the last six years, she has spoken to national audiences on how to develop executive portfolios. You can find her on the web at www.CareerIQ.com.

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