Alumni Guide

Portfolio Center and Career Initiatives Policy for Alumni

Short Term

The policy for the use of our resource intensive programs mirrors the academic departments policies for graduated students. It is, "alumni have access to all of our services for 6 months after graduation."  We encourage you to get the help you need in that time period, which is most relevant to your job search.

Long Term

We have a ton of programming, information, and services that are always available to you regardless of your graduation date.

Industry Trend Sessions:  We invite a variety of Creative Industry Professionals to come in and talk about portfolios, the work they do, and how they work with creatives in other media. Simply register for the event as an alum and join us.

Freelance Toolkit Series: We bring in seasoned professionals to talk about the many challenges involved in working part-time or full-time as an independent worker. Check the schedule, register for the events you’re interested in, and join us.  

Web Tools: There are many systems available to you that can be of great assistance in creating an essential web presence and finding work.

Job Board: ColumbiaWorks lists hundreds of job opportunities of all sorts. And though a job board isn’t the end all, be all resource for creative job seekers, ColumbiaWorks always has a handful of top-notch creative jobs and a bunch of survival jobs. You should use it.

Online Portfolios:

• Our WebAgent web publishing system is available (plus training) to you. Check workshop schedules here.
• New this year is a 20% discount with Virb.com. (Read through the procedure to sign up for a Virb account through the Portfolio Center.) Virb offers a state of the art, full-featured portfolio web system.
• Talent Pool! In the summer of 2012, Talent Pool, a database of creative talent at and from Columbia will be available to alumni.
• Online Resources. We have deep reserves of career and portfolio guides to inform you about everything from using social media in your job search to an overview of copyright law. And tutorials to help you complete the materials you need for your job search. Check 'em out.