Case Incident 1

Too Much of a Good Thing

Have you created an e-portfolio for job applications? If you attend the University of Massachusetts,
the University of South Florida, Stanford, Marquette, or Westminster College, where e-portfolios
are expected, you probably have developed one. E-portfolios—digitized dossiers of presentations,
projects, writing samples, and other work—are used by over 50 percent of students looking for
jobs or internships. Putting together an e-portfolio is “a learning experience, linked to a career
opportunity,” said Associate Professor Tim Shea, who oversees a business school’s mandatory e-
portfolio program. Proponents contend that e-portfolios don’t replace résumés, they enhance them.
“You can write on a résumé that you did an internship somewhere, but if I can see the projects that
you worked on, it gives me a more rounded view of the candidate,” said Greg Haller, president of
the western U.S. region for Verizon Wireless. Student Inga Zakradze agrees, saying the e-portfolio
gives “a better feel for me as a well-rounded student.” And in a recent Association of American
Colleges and Universities survey, 83 percent of respondents believed an e-portfolio would be
useful. With all this affirmation, you might think an e-portfolio is critical to obtaining a job, but
that would be a misperception. Other than Haller, opinions seem divided: schools like students to
make e-portfolios, but employers don’t want them. One of the reasons is technological—HR
screening software doesn’t allow for links to websites where e-portfolios would be stored.
Portfolio hubs Pathbrite and the Portfolium have tried to get around this problem, but they have
yet to obtain a single corporate contract. Another reason is information overload—managers don’t
have time to read through, say, your travel log from a semester at sea.
Third, many companies don’t believe e-portfolios are value-added. “They are typically not a factor
in our screening process,” said Enterprise talent acquisition VP Marie Artim. Stuart Silverman, a
university dean, acknowledged the possibility. “Whether or not the prospective employer looked
at it, or weighed it, who knows.” Proponents of e-portfolios, primarily from the education sector,
believe there is value in them beyond job seeking. Kerri Shaffer Carter, a university director of e-
portfolios, says, “We don’t draw a sharp distinction between the portfolio as a learning process
and the portfolio as an employment tool, since the self-awareness that comes out of that process
ultimately prepares the student for the workplace.” Just don’t expect all that hard work to land you
a job.

Questions
1. How might the misperception about the importance of having an e-portfolio have begun?
2. What are the reasons you would decide to use an e-portfolio?
3. What do you think would be the best way to deliver an e-portfolio to a prospective employer?