College of Design Portfolio Event

How to Prepare

Prepare your online portfolio/website. You may also want to prepare a PDF presentation just for the career fair to make presenting your materials easy compared to a website.

Practice presenting your design work. At first, students are often too slow and indirect when describing their projects and solutions. You should be able to communicate the essence of the design problem and your approach in 2-3 sentences. It is often easier to explain your design process if you have visuals; consider creating a few process slides or a process notebook for key projects in your portfolio.

Research employers that interest you by visiting their websites, social media, and do an online search to learn of any recent news, initiatives or products they have launched.

Collect contact info. At the end of the interaction, get the representative’s name and contact information so you can send a detailed thank you note and possibly follow-up on a potential job, internship or project you may have discussed.

Dress for success. We recommend you to dress in a way that represents your authentic self. The standard at most career events is business casual, but consider if your attire and grooming aligns with your personal brand. We encourage you to choose clothing that makes you feel comfortable, confident and prepared for the weather elements. For ideas on attire, check out our Dress the Part Pinterest page.

Make an appointment. Meet with Brian Green, your senior career consultant for CDes to go over preparing for a career event and ask any questions you may have.