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(background: I've been away from the field for about 10 years. have gone back to school to upgrade my skills and learn current best practices, am 1 term away from graduating, and am actively looking for a full time position)
A number of agents and job places want to see an electronic portfolio. I've scanned in some pages from some of my paper documents, and am going to put them, with commentary, in a PDF.
About 20 years ago, there was a strictly local attempt to get our primarily rural township declared a city. I worked with the opposing side (we won), and helped them produce tear sheets on the various issues, and designed some of the campaign. I've scanned in two of the tear sheets, to show both graphic layout ability and an ability to write clearly about issue-oriented (as opposed to technical) material.
question 1 - should I include those tear sheets at all? if so, one or both of them? (how much is too much of a good thing in an electronic portfolio?).
question 2 - the opposing side accused our side of hiring a high-priced PR firm to do this development for us, and had a letter printed in the local newspaper complaining about this (when it was just me and my then-Mac in my basement). Should I go down to the library and dig through the microfiche archives of the newspaper, and include that letter in my portfolio, to illustrate how professional my work comes across?
I'm not worried about accidentally running into someone from the opposing side with my portfolio. It was a strictly local issue, and I'm sure long-forgotten by all concerned. I only just remembered it myself when I was going through my paper documents to find things to include in the electronic portfolio and found my old copies.
-becca
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"Grant us, in our direst need, the smallest gifts: the nail of the horseshoe, the pin of the axle, the feather at the pivot point, the pebble at the mountain's peak, the kiss in despair, the one right word. In darkness, understanding."
Paladin of Souls (HB page 35), Lois McMaster Bujold
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