What Type of Portfolio Can I Create During My Business Management Degree Online

When your grandfather was looking for a job it was probably a smile, maybe a cigar and a handshake that landed him the job that would become his life long career. For your father and mother, a simple college degree may have helped them write a ticket to a good paying job and financially secure life. Similarly, when you started school, you thought a business management degree was all that you needed to get a good job. However, there are literally thousands of others just like you - millions maybe - who are earning their bachelor's or master's business management degree online and through traditional education.

 A degree is a requirement, to be sure, but it alone will not land you your dream job. What you need is to showcase what you learned in that program and to stand out above the rest of the applicants, particularly when vying for entry level jobs. When it comes to getting a job with an online degree, you can do this by turning the experience of your business management degree into an impressive portfolio.

What is a Portfolio?

A portfolio is a neatly compiled presentation of the world that you have done. Think of an artist's portfolio, but filled with things that are pertinent to your business management degree online and your field. You can have three types of portfolios: a brief portfolio (perhaps 5 to 10 pages) that you actually give a potential employer to keep, with copies of your best work; a comprehensive, attractively presented portfolio that you take with you to interviews, with high quality copies of your work (never drag originals around if you can help it) in a very professional, high quality presentation binder; or an e-portfolio (electronic portfolio) which would be best as a single .pdf file that includes copies of your best work, which you can email out with your application or with your thank you letter after an interview.

What Goes in Your Portfolio?

You can put anything into your portfolio that showcases the skills that you learned in your business management degree online. For example, if you created a SWAT analysis for a fictional business project, enclose that. You might also add marketing brochures and press releases that you wrote, or a cost analysis plan - anything. However, ensure that everything you put in either stands on its own or has a brief introduction to give it context. Do not include examinations or discussion questions, just actual projects that replicate things you might do on the job or in the business world.

What Do You Do with this Portfolio when it is Done?

When your business management degree online portfolio is completed take it with you to every interview you go on. Also, if you chose an e-portfolio, you can email it out with your resume or with thank you letters after the interview, as suggested above. The same is true of a paper copy of a brief portfolio.