Mailbag: What to wear to an business event & do I NEED a portfolio?

June 17 2014

Back to the mailbag! This time from an accounting student and new listener to The Bean Counter!

Hello Andrew,

I’m a new listener to your podcast and I have had the chance to only listen to a few of your episodes, but the ones I did listen to have really helped lead me in the right direction and have given me ideas about things I have not considered yet. Thank you for that. I am glad I found them it is very detailed and enjoyable and it’s great that is specifically tailored to the Accounting field.

I am writing to you today because I had a question in regards to Business type Boot Camps. Our school offered a week long Business Boot Camp which talks about the Insurance, Banking and Financial Services during the summer and I was wondering what you thought about them. Are they beneficial to attend? Do you have a chance to apply for jobs there or is it strictly listening to speakers? Do you need to dress up like you would to a job interview i.e. dress pants and blazer (I am a woman)? Should you bring some resumes with you?

I know you must be busy but it would be great if you could find some time to respond. Is there a good website I can use to do more research on this topic? Also, what is your though on portfolios, are they really necessary or it is just a bonus to have one?

Best Regards,

Loyal Listenerette

While I’ve redacted the name, she did tell us she’s a woman. Now if you haven’t checked out my comprehensive call with Fadwa Hilili on woman’s dress (as I’m obviously not an expert, check that our here.

While I don’t consider myself a female clothing expert, I do have some thoughts on these type of events! I would recommend going in a skirt or pant suit. If it’s skirt, make sure it’s classy, not short skirts and with either apparel, wear a conservative blouse.

I would talk with as many people as possible when you’re there and here are some questions to think about asking:

Where do you work?
How long have you been there?
Are you from (insert city you’re in)?
How did you get involved with this event?
Where did you go to university?

Then try and ask tons of other questions from there. Get as many business cards as possible, then do the following:

Connect with them on LinkedIn (make sure you’re profile looks good).
Send them a personalized professional email

And to end the women’s dress topic, I would always check out Corporette.com. Their advice is sure to trump mine any day of the week:-)!

In regards to the portfolio, it depends. If you are very confident in your ability to obtain a position, and you have lot’s of time (i.e. multiple semesters left), you may not need to create a portfolio.

However, for candidates like me, it’s a MUST. While my GPA increased every semester after my freshman year, it was still a 3.23 when I started recruiting. I was nervous.

I wanted to put the recruiters in a position where they couldn’t say no to what I wanted.

So I made a portfolio, which you will be able to see if you buy The Bean Counter Course. My portfolio included a graph of my ever increasing (even though it was low) GPA. Check it out!

Screen Shot 2014-06-16 at 3.49.00 PM

One the left page, you can see the hockey stick movement. While I may not have NEEDED it, I turned a weakness into a strength. Instead of having my GPA as an “issue”, it turned into a cool story of how I overcame it!

In conclusion, it’s up to you and it depends on whether this is your last shot, or you can take things easy!

Questions?

Email me at andrew@thebeancounter.com.