As a Communication and Media student, you are preparing for a future that, to be effective, requires the ability to communicate with diverse audiences in many contexts--personal, social, civic, and professional—using appropriate channels and media. Because you have an applied education steeped in a liberal arts tradition, however, you have also learned broadly about many topics, ideas, events, ways of thinking and being, and how to think critically and creatively in order to express your ideas, to make social change, and to excel in the workforce.
Although required of those completing Communication and Media internships, we recommend all of our majors to maintain a portfolio of their educational, extracurricular, and professional achievements while they participate in the program.
Common Questions
Whether or not you plan to participate in the internship program, you should develop and maintain a portfolio throughout your study at USI. Since the portfolio serves as a documented record of what you have accomplished, it also foretells what you can do; therefore, a portfolio may prove to be every bit as valuable an asset to you during your initial job search and as your career progresses. Moreover, the Communication and Media faculty at USI are ready to advise and help you assemble these portfolios. You can help guarantee future success by starting immediately on this project and by updating it every semester.
Resumes are excellent tools. They briefly introduce job candidates, and they provide an excellent screening device for human resource managers as they review job applicants. But their brevity prevents them from showcasing what you have achieved and how your abilities can benefit potential employers. More and more personnel officers expect to see portfolios either immediately before or during important job interviews, because a portfolio can "certify" your qualifications in a way that a simple resume may not. Graduates seeking to enter the work force need every possible advantage they can gain during the interview process, and a well developed and presented portfolio can be the extra evidence to secure the position you seek to gain.
You actually have a lot of things you can include if you consider the work you are doing in your classes and as part of your membership in student organizations. Documentation includes assignments you submitted (brochures, press release, design projects, audio and video productions, campaigns); papers you completed; creative print, digital, electronic projects; service learning assignments; group and team projects completed through your courses or through student organizations; professional development opportunities, such as conference presentations and workshops; awards and recognition—pretty much the portfolio is evidence that what you say you can do is actually what you can offer employers.
Consider organizing these items by skill, so you can create sections for writing, speaking, digital communication, audience adaptation, technical skills, leadership, and teamwork, and then use your all of these things as evidence to showcase those abilities.
Because Communication and Media is comprised of numerous fields, portfolios will vary from student to student. The Internship Portfolio will ask for some items that you may choose to delete from the portfolio you display to a potential employer. However, even these may prove useful in another section of the portfolio.. But variety is good. The most important steps you take in your career are the ones that set you apart from the crowd. A good portfolio will knock down lots of door between you and what you seek.
The internship portfolio should include:
- Copy of the Internship Learning Goals that outlines what you plan to learn;
- Copy of the Internship Works Agreement that explains what kinds of tasks you will do on site
- Updated resume
- Internship documentation. Your internship faculty advisor to determine the documentation based on your specific internship. This may include, but is not limited to stories you wrote, ads you created, social media posts you curated, documentation of events you planned, or targeted reflection essays.
- Reflection paper that serves as the final report.
Yes, and this is the really important part. This paper serves as your opportunity to communicate what you did, what you learned and why it was significant. The paper also asks you to connect what you did on site with what you did (or did not do) in your academic program. This is your opportunity to make a case for you what accomplished while completing your internship, what you wished you had accomplished, and how all of this learning was valuable. Your final report should”
- Be 5-8 double-spaced pages in length.
- Include a section that overviews the organization and internship duties (approx. 1-2 pages) . In this section, discuss the general work of the organization where the internship was conducted along with a description of your job responsibilities.
- Include a 3-4 page section that connects the experiential learning of the internship to concepts, theories, or practices learned in other courses within their COMM major. In this section, reflect on work experiences within the internship and how these experiences aligned with conceptual or practical knowledge learned throughout the major curriculum. This should be the longest section of the paper.
- Include a 1-2 page section that discusses the applicability of the internship to your future career endeavors. In this section, discuss the applicability of the internship as it relates to career goals, as well as any transferrable skills acquired through the internship.
The Communication and Media faculty are available to help you when you meet with them to discuss classes in preparation for registration. Your faculty internships advisor can also answer questions. In addition, COMM 497: Career Planning and Professional Development is a 1-hour class that can help you assemble the portfolio and design your resume. CMST 204: Business and Professional Communication is a 3-hour course that can also assist you with professional development with more extensive focus on interviewing, resume development, and professional presentation skills.