Standing Out from the Crowd

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but an e-portfolio can be worth an entire interview.

In today’s AI-fueled hiring market, highly desirable internships and jobs are flooded with resumes and cover letters generated in a matter of seconds and tailored specifically to the opening’s posted language. To stand out in that crowd, many engineering students are turning to websites thoughtfully built over time specifically tailored to an individual’s talents and experiences.

“E-portfolios are essentially an extension to a resume, and engineers love them because a website can showcase all of their best projects,” said Becky Simmons, professor of the practice in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Duke. “They are a proven asset in nailing an interview and getting a great job.”

The tools to build e-portfolios and their style vary widely between students, but they all generally have a few major themes in common. An “about” page delivers the highlights of a resume while turning the information into an actual person rather than simple words on a page. Specialty pages range from details of completed certificates to passion projects that help students further stand out from the crowd.

But the main attraction is the “Projects” page where students can lay out all the various devices, inventions, websites, digital apps and other deliverables that they have created throughout their time at Duke. Details about the steps taken to achieve the desired result, skills used and developed through the process, and critical thinking applied from conception to final product showcase a student’s full range of abilities.

“Recruiters like seeing unique e-portfolios,” said Richard Kim, who recently graduated from Duke’s mechanical engineering program and is soon starting a job with Gecko Robotics. “All they do is ask the same questions to students over and over. Whenever I asked if they wanted to talk through my e-portfolio instead, they almost always said yes.”

Over the past few years, the number of Duke undergraduates building e-portfolios has grown quickly. Part of that growth is due to word of mouth. Part of it is due to Simmons being a very vocal proponent of the exercise. But perhaps the biggest reason for their building trend is the technology behind the platforms that host them.

Similarly, Minha Kim started her e-portfolio site as little more than photos with captions on a website built with Wix. But by the time she graduated, she had moved to Squarespace, which allowed her to display her materials in a more professional and organized manner.

“Building my e-portfolio was a great exercise for me for interviews,” said Minha, who also recently graduated with a mechanical engineering degree and is entering a global rotational engineering program with IMI. “Even if we didn’t actually look through it during an interview, building it helped me organize my thoughts and figure out how to talk about projects and the skills I built in each of them.”

Both Richard and Minha emphasize that it’s never too early to start an e-portfolio. Even if a sophomore’s experience is no match for a graduating senior with a ton of projects to feature, building early and adding on over the years is easier than starting from scratch later on. And starting early will also ensure students remember to take photos and videos to document their projects in a highly visual way from the start.

“It can be intimidating to start at first, but starting is half the battle, and consistency is really important,” Minha added. “I also think it’s important to curate the projects you include to give a sense of what you’re passionate about and what skills you want to highlight. Not having to put absolutely everything you’ve ever done onto the site can take away some of the intimidation factor.”

It’s likely good advice, given that both Richard and Minha also won MEMS-based awards for their e-portfolios this past spring; Richard won “Audience’s Favorite” while Minha took home “Content Organization.”

“The showcase contest is really just a way to encourage students to put the effort into building an e-portfolio,” said Simmons, who spearheaded the effort along with Karen Weber, executive director of Duke’s Office of University Scholars and Fellows. “The winners do take home prizes, but the real prizes are all of the job offers I’ve heard about them getting.”