Few things are more intimidating for an ad student than a portfolio review. Even in an industry famous for “killing darlings,” you never really get used to the anguish of watching your favorite ideas expire beneath the lashings of a red sharpie.

Over my three years in the BYU Ad Program, I’ve had my portfolio roasted many times. Some of the best creative minds and recruiters in the country have variously scoffed, sneered, and sometimes cautiously smiled at my work. It’s been miserable, shocking, discouraging and ultimately incredibly valuable.

My book still isn’t perfect, and I realize that it probably never will be, but it wouldn’t be what it is today without the help and guidance of many people. Here are ten lessons I’ve derived from all that feedback, both positive and negative. I hope they can help answer for other students some of the questions I had while building my portfolio.

1. The ‘About Me’ Page Will Make or Break You

When recruiters open your site, they usually click immediately through to the “about me” page. It’s the quickest way to get a read on what they’re looking at. Ad agencies put a high value on personality. They wanted to see a well-rounded, capable and quirky personality behind all those ads. After all, agencies don’t hire books—they hire people.

Take the time to explain yourself carefully and in an engaging way, but don’t get wordy. Most “about me” paragraphs run from 50-150 words. If you’re a copywriter like me, these parameters give you an opportunity to prove that you can convey a lot of information without a lot of words.

Remember how we learned in ad school to sell benefits rather than features? This is where you can show that you were listening. Show how you can improve the culture of an agency. Show that you’re fun to be around. Make sure your page includes a memorable portrait – after all, it’s worth a thousand words.

(Image credit: 6dollarshirts)

2. Your Campaigns Might Not Be the Most Important Element

Very few recruiters will look at every piece in your book. In fact, you’ll be lucky if they click through more than the first two or three campaigns. I’m not saying that you should get lazy and let bad work slide by – I’m just saying that portfolios do not live by campaigns alone.

Recruiters are very interested in your creative projects outside of traditional work. Do you have a passion project? If not, now is a good time to get started.

A few years ago ad students famously created a successful charity campaign to put Ice Cube’s name on the Goodyear blimp. (Classic rap aficionados will know why). The project generated tremendous media coverage and virtually guaranteed the students jobs. Today they’re all successful industry leaders.

I love independent film, so I created The Lions Share Project—a multimedia initiative dedicated to promoting the best independent films and preparing audiences for upcoming festivals.

Highlight your personal projects. They may go farther toward getting you a job than your campaigns.

3. Have a Focal Point

Don’t make recruiters hunt for your best work. Put it on display. Make it impossible to miss. Many portfolio templates, (Squarespace, *cough*), are designed in such a way as to present work without any real hierarchy. Every campaign is given equal value in a honeycomb or keypad style layout.

The obvious problem with these layouts is that not every campaign in your book is equally relevant or well executed. You probably weren’t involved in every one to the same extent. For this reason I prefer scrolling layouts that run from top to bottom. Recruiters still see all your work, but you’re able to give it hierarchy.

Traditional wisdom says you should start with your strongest campaign and finish with your second strongest. I think that worked well when books were actual books, (you know, with paper), but for my website I arranged my campaigns top-to-bottom, from legendary to pretty good.

The bottom line is that you should give recruiters some help finding the good stuff. Do you want to be extra subversive? Highlight your “about me” section or your personal projects.

4. Tie It All Together

Human beings love themes. Nothing is more satisfying to us than realizing that seemingly random events or items eventually come together in a logical way to create something meaningful. This is why 10,000 piece puzzles exist. We’re addicted to creating, (or imagining), order out of chaos.

If you’re able to create a powerful overarching theme for your portfolio, it will begin to straddle the line between a solid book and a work of genius. Obviously, your campaigns will be diverse, but in your design and layout you should pursue thematic unity. Have a story to tell.

Is there some creative way you can arrange your work? Could every campaign tell your audience something about your skills or personality, until at last they’re left with a complete picture? You don’t need to go overboard, but portfolios with strong visual and narrative themes are easier to get engrossed in.

If you weave a common thread through every one of its elements, your portfolio can become a wonderful magic rug, perhaps powerful enough to carry you all the way to an intern’s cubicle at Weiden.

(Photo Credit: 20th Century Fox)

5. You are Not a Beautiful or Unique Snowflake*

It takes hundreds of hours for a student to build a portfolio, but only a few seconds for a recruiter to dismiss one. It’s important to realize that some recruiters see hundreds of books every week. Most of them look very similar. Your mission is to be different enough to keep the recruiter’s mouse off that red button – but don’t expect any special treatment.

I found that I was much more successful when I took nothing for granted in my meetings with recruiters and creative directors. They weren’t meeting me because they needed me – they were doing it because they were kind people and they wanted to help. It’s best to approach these opportunities with a dose of pragmatism and humility.

I include an asterisk on this header because the statement is only conditionally true. You can absolutely be a unique snowflake, (sorry, Tyler), but it will take a lot of work and a lot of subversive thinking. The good news is that if you can create an attention-grabbing portfolio, you can probably create attention-grabbing campaigns in the real world too.

6. A Portfolio Is No Substitute For A Personality

The best way to receive feedback on your portfolio is face-to-face. Whether you’re looking for feedback on your book or for an actual job, do everything you can to get face-time.

I was lucky enough to get into a school program with strong ties to many of America’s top agencies. BYU’s network of professors and alumni got me opportunities I never would have been able to arrange on my own. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t go it alone. If you call a few days ahead and ask politely, many agencies are accommodating.

The best possible scenario is to line up a portfolio review and an office tour in the same visit. Bring a thank-you gift and be very careful not to waste anyone’s time. A negative impression in this scenario has farther-reaching consequences than a positive one.

By interacting face-to-face with recruiters, you’ll hopefully be able to find some common interests and click as people. Those personal connections go a long way toward future employment and job success. Do everything you can to build friendships and bonds of trust wherever you go.

If you can prove that you’re an employable person, your odds of finding employment improve dramatically.

7. Know Whom You’re Trying to Impress

Who do you want to like your book? This is a legitimate question that should be answered sooner rather than later. In work and school we spend a lot of time trying to satisfy clients and professors. They usually want practical, thrifty work that meets very specific parameters.

When it comes to your student portfolio, it’s ok to think a little bit bigger. Odds are that none of your portfolio work will go on to be produced, so you aren’t really constrained by budget or even practicality to some degree. Don’t go crazy, but it’s ok to think big. Your audience is probably a creative recruiter somewhere, and he or she wants to know that you can concept big ideas.

Some people go a step further and create custom portfolios for each agency they apply to. This is a good idea—it virtually guarantees that you’ll make a lasting first impression—but it’s a ton of work. Whatever you do, make sure your book feels relevant and topical to your specific audience.

8. Not all Feedback is Created Equal

Advertising is inherently subjective. My favorite ad is probably not your favorite – but that doesn’t mean either of us have bad taste. One of the reasons why it’s so important to show your work to multiple people is so that you can hear lots of perspectives.

Some people may love your worst work – or hate your best. When you receive contradictory feedback, your best option is to keep refining your idea and keep showing it to new people. Eventually a consensus opinion will begin to form and you’ll be able to gain a better understanding of what you need to do.

Don’t be upset when recruiters tell you that you’re not ready, or that your book sucks. They’re right. You probably aren’t and it probably does. But don’t be discouraged either. Everyone in advertising starts with a sucky book. The way to make it better is to never stop working on it and never stop seeking feedback.

9. Introduce Your Work

While creativity is undeniably important in advertising, strategy and planning are what make the difference between a campaign that will drive sales and a "cool idea." Recruiters want to know why you chose the ideas and executions you did. They want to know whether they’re based on any research or meaningful insights. Will they lead to results for the client? Don’t make them guess about these things.

In my book I chose to begin each campaign presentation by briefly explaining the problem I was attempting to solve for the brand. Then I outlined the big idea and any other important information before getting into the actual executions. This template of problem>solution>work has served me well so far.

Just remember that recruiters are busy and you don’t want to lose their interest before they even get to your executions. Don’t write an introductory novel – just touch on key points so that they have some context and can appreciate your campaigns more fully.

10. Build Something Surprising

If your book looks like what you think a good book should look like, change it. When I first started building a website, I scoured the Internet looking for the best portfolios I could find. I then did everything I could to perfectly replicate the best ones. In hindsight, I think this was a mistake.

Advertising is an incredibly competitive industry – if agencies don’t have something unique to offer, they lose contracts and go out of business. For this reason, they don’t want to hire solid, reliable, cookie-cutter creatives. They want books and students that are unique, and can offer a new perspective or leg-up on the competition.

It’s absolutely valuable to look to other creatives’ portfolios for inspiration, but feel free to branch out and do your own thing. More than perhaps any other industry, advertising seems to value people for their quirks, foibles and unique personalities.

(This post was originally published to my Linkedin page)