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&lt;p&gt;Bruce Wayne never went on an interview in his life.  An international playboy and the inheritor of a family business worth obscene amounts of money, Wayne didn&#39;t even have to graduate from Princeton; he was already a made man.  But imagine what might have happened had Bruce Wayne started off today.  The stock market crash would have reduced Wayne Enterprises to a ghost of its former glory, and Bruce&#39;s only hope for maintaining his expensive brand of superhero do-goodery would have been to apply for an actual, real-life job.  And in that case, he might have wanted to use an interview portfolio.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.vault.com/VCM/blogs/Batman.png&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;Batman&quot; width=&quot;236&quot; height=&quot;286&quot; align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;Many career advisors would suggest an interview portfolio for older (read: more experienced) candidates, yet there is no reason why new job-seekers couldn&#39;t also benefit from having one.  The premise is relatively simple: assemble any and all materials that would be useful for a potential boss, then bring those materials along to the interview.  Having an interview portfolio will set you apart from other applicants, spark conversation if there is a lull, and generally make you seem like a prepared and outstanding individual.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The contents of your interview portfolio are entirely up to you, and simply serve to highlight why you would be a good employee.  Below is a brief set of guidelines--by no means hard and fast rules.  For instance, because Batman&#39;s interview portfolio would have had its high points--evidence of heroism and feats of strength &amp;ndash; and its low points; a half-complete undergraduate transcript and a resume devoid of any internship experience--he might have amended the list below to showcase his strengths.  An interview portfolio should also not remain exactly the same for every job; rather, add and subtract materials to best suit the position to which you are applying.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h3&gt;&lt;strong&gt;An Interview Portfolio for New Job Seekers&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Your resume:&lt;/strong&gt; Obvious, right?&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A transcript:&lt;/strong&gt; Companies hiring recent graduates will be especially keen to see your grades and verify that you&#39;re up to snuff.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Letters of recommendation:&lt;/strong&gt; If you&#39;ve been employed in any way (including internships or part-time work), it&#39;s always good to solicit a written recommendation.  A professor with whom you&amp;rsquo;ve worked closely can also be an excellent source.   Interviewers will want to see verification of the accomplishments you claimed on your resume, along with information about how a potential hire interacts with his or her superiors.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Samples of your work:&lt;/strong&gt; This category can include anything from that paper you wrote for your Shakespeare class, screen shots of a website you designed, or a brief your boss asked you to write up a few summers ago.  The point here is to show off what you can do when it comes down to actually producing something.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Evidence of awards or certifications:&lt;/strong&gt; If you&#39;re certified as an Emergency Medical Responder or recently received a grant to fly to China and study Maoist-era architecture, you may want your portfolio to reflect that.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The choose-your-own-adventure category:&lt;/strong&gt; The contents of an interview portfolio will also vary depending on the industry in which you are applying.  For instance, a hopeful teacher with tutoring experience might want to include a sample of his or her student&#39;s work or a parent testimonial.  Batman might have added a video of him outsmarting the Penguin.  In short, be creative.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;Finally, there are a couple of ways of showing off your interview portfolio.  You can either wait until an appropriate question is asked and then open to the relevant page with a cool panache that would awe any potential employer, or you can mention it up front to show how fantastically prepared you are.  Many job-seekers will even mention it when they are setting up the interview, in case the interviewer would like to review it beforehand.  Writing a short caption for each document is a good idea if you choose the latter, so that your portfolio can stand alone and make the points you want it to make.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In sum, an interview portfolio is an easy way to show yourself off as the excellent applicant that you are.  It would be nice to inherit a multi-billion-dollar corporation and build your very own cave instead, but life isn&#39;t always perfect.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;p&gt;--Posted by Madison Priest&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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