Course Description

What do the most successful creative professionals do to get to the top of their field, achieve their career goals and secure their dream jobs or clients? A powerful, compelling portfolio built from a sound strategic approach using proven tools and techniques is the single most important ally you can have. Award-winning Creative Director and Trainer Dale Cody, pulls back the curtain and shares all the secrets he has learned from more than 16 years hiring and working with some of the most successful creatives and companies on the planet. In addition to more than 20 video modules outlining strategy and tactics, Dale will walk you through a step-by-step mini-course for building a complete WordPress portfolio site. You’ll hear first-hand from top recruiters what they’re looking for in successful candidates and their portfolios. You’ll learn what works and why.

Master Proven Strategies, Secrets and Techniques to Not Only Build a Killer Portfolio, but Totally Crush the Interview Process and Build Your Professional Brand

• Find out what Creative Directors and Hiring Managers are really looking for when they source and hire candidates. Learn all those behind the scenes secrets.
• · Master strategies for presenting your portfolio, establishing credibility and building a professional brand throughout your career
• Learn how the principles of narrative storytelling, brand-building and case studies can be applied in ways that powerfully connect with Hiring Managers, companies and clients 
• Understand how the skills and experience you already have can solve problems in ways that make you irresistible to Hiring Managers
• Begin the journey with strategies and techniques that you can apply immediately and throughout your career. Using these simple, effective methods, you’ll begin seeing results right away  

Master Key Skills That Pros Use to Secure the Best Jobs and Clients

If you’ve ever wondered how so many successful creative professionals just seem to have stratospheric career trajectories even though their work may not be any better than the competition, then this course is for you. Even if you’re experienced professional with strong samples, there are still loads of things you can do to strengthen your portfolio and improve presentation, gain competitive advantage and propel your career skyward like a rocket.

The hard truth for those just out of school is that your newly minted diploma and work samples are only the first step on the path to your dream job. To a Hiring Manager, they only act as an initial filter. In order to get their attention and distinguish yourself in a very competitive job market, you need a lot more. You need to understand how these people think, what they’re looking for and then convince them that you are the very best person to solve their problems. You need to convince them that you speak their language and are invaluable to their own success. This course will give you the skills to create a show-stopping killer portfolio and secure your dream job or clients.

Contents and Overview

We’ll begin by examining your target audience and by that, I mean those individuals who make real hiring decisions for the roles you want. I’ll pull back the curtain and share all the secrets, tips and techniques I’ve seen used over the years by the most successful creative professionals out there. Even if you’re not in a field where having a portfolio is common practice, you’ll find career gold here.

You’ll learn how techniques taught in Business School such as SWOT Analysis can help you excel in the competitive career marketplace. I’ll show you how to think of, and present yourself as a cohesive brand in order to differentiate yourself from everyone else and dominate your own career niche.  Through a powerful portfolio and market savvy approach, you’ll be able to craft a professional presence that top companies and Hiring Managers will practically trip over themselves to engage with. I’ll show you what content to include, what not to include, and how to display your work in the most effective ways and places possible.

You will know how to find the perfect intersection that combines the kind of work you’re most passionate about with the unique skills and gifts that make you a superstar, along with the lucrative market opportunities that will pay you best. You will learn how narrative storytelling structure can combine with proven business techniques such as SAR and Case Studies to shine the golden light of ability, accomplishment and proof all over you. I’ll introduce you to your new best friends and collaborators in finding and using that proof too. By the end of Section 5, you have a complete playbook for building your killer portfolio site including web hosting, site architecture, navigation and a precise script for which samples to include in what order.

Finally, you will learn how to build a complete WordPress portfolio website step-by-step and end-to-end. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a complete newbie or a seasoned veteran. This is basically a full course within a course and by the end; you’ll be able to confidently build your own site. You’ll get tons of additional bonus material for helping you understand and refine your brand as well as resource links and assignments to assist in cementing concepts.

Requirements

Anyone in a career where showing visual, written, audio, or multimedia samples of your work will help get you the job. Traditionally, these have been in well-known fields such as graphic design illustration and photography, but increasingly they have been extremely effective differentiators in other areas such as Landscape Architect, Interior Designer, Copywriter, Social Media Marketer, Furniture Designer, Web Developer and many others.

Access to a computer and the Internet are really all you’ll need, but some image editing (i.e. Photoshop, Gimp or Illustrator etc.) and front-end web coding skills would be a big benefit.

What Am I Going to Get From this Course?

• Over 40 lectures with hours of video content including examples, animations, explanations, diagrams and assignments
• You will learn how to create a professional portfolio that gets the attention of Hiring Managers at those companies or clients you most want to work with. I am going to help you get and keep your dream job!
• Understand and employ powerful techniques such as SAR, SWOT, Narrative Storytelling, Testimonials, Case Studies and many more
• Follow me step-by-step as I show you how to build a portfolio website using the industry standard platform WordPress and powerful plug-ins. I will totally deconstruct and demystify the process, so it doesn’t matter whether you’ve never even touched HTML, or are a code wizard. There’s something for everyone in this complete course within a course
• You will be able to employ the same brand strategies and techniques that have worked successfully for some of the most visible brands and successful professionals on the planet    
• Bonus video interview with top placement agency recruiters working in one of the hottest job markets in the country. They’ll share what works and why as well as those qualities that make for a standout portfolio