[JvankirkParticipant]

Personally, I’ve never been a big fan of portfolios. Don’t get me wrong—I think they look great when they’re finished. I just don’t enjoy the putting them together part.

Our portfolios for this class are a little different than what was discussed in the readings since one of the main points was how to create a professional portfolio. However, that doesn’t mean that our portfolios can’t end up doubling as a professional one after the class is over. But, if a person would choose to do that, their work would probably need to go through a few more rounds of edits just to make sure the writing is polished enough and actually fits the needs of future employers. That’s probably where the readings would help us the most. And since most of us (I figure) would like to get some kind of job in the future that involves writing, learning how to create an effective professional portfolio is a skill that would come in handy and set us apart from other applicants.

For my portfolio, I’ve been trying to think of what argument I want it to make. That’s actually been the hardest part for me because I already have all of my documents picked out. You’d think that would be the hard part, but I’ve always found that I have the most problems identifying a unifying theme for projects like this. Originally, I was going to go with chronological order, but I haven’t thought of a decent argument for that yet. How about everyone else? Have you guys figured out how you’re arranging your portfolios? What are your reasons for doing so?

[JvankirkParticipant]

Normal
0

false
false
false

EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:”";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:”Calibri”,”sans-serif”;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}

I think performance reviews are incredibly important. As interns, any kind of feedback from employers is important. However, not all internships do have performance reviews. Since we’re doing this for a class, our supervisors had to agree to evaluate us at certain times, so we should be thankful we get the opportunity to know how we’re doing. For my internship, sometimes the boss got a little too busy on a daily basis to give me feedback on every project. There were a few reports I wrote for her that I never ended up hearing back about, but that’s to be expected. My boss once said to me that even though they try to do their best to make sure interns learn as much as they can, a big reason the company hires interns is to help the assistant better manage her workload. As a result, sometimes feedback on projects falls to the wayside. So, these performance reviews (or our midterm assessment) are fantastic, especially if it’s been a busy couple of months in the office.
As it was mentioned it in an earlier post, these reviews are important for another reason, too—they factor into our grades for the class. Even if the internships aren’t at our dream companies, we still have to do a good job because our evaluations count for more than just one thing.  

[JvankirkParticipant]

Normal
0

false
false
false

EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:”";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:”Calibri”,”sans-serif”;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}

When I first started my internship, I was terrified. I felt like I’d be on such shaky ground that if I made one mistake, they would tell me to never come back. Of course, that was only my fear making me feel that way, not my boss (she’s actually very nice) or anything else that happened at the time.
As it was mentioned in the first post, when I’m feeling overwhelmed, taking a short break to the bathroom really helps clear my head. Sometimes, it’s important to just take a moment to gather yourself before you start a difficult task, rather than simply powering your way through it. It’s not a sign of weakness or inability to need a second to gather your thoughts. The same is true if you happen to get upset while at work. Like the readings said, it’s never a good thing to react in anger towards a coworker or boss. Reigning in emotions and choosing the correct time to display them can be the difference between getting fired and being offered a job after the internship is over. Also, many things can be cleared up by talking about the situation to another person. Poor communication is the cause of many misunderstandings.

[Author]

Posts