The contest is open to all IU East School of Business and Economics undergraduate students enrolled in Spring 2025 courses. Students under 18 years of age must obtain signed approval from a parent/guardian to participate. See the parent/guardian approval form 

For each level of undergraduate students (i.e., Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior), winners will receive a cash prize: $200 for the 1st Place, $150 for the 2nd Place, and $100 for the 3rd Place. Each winner will also be given an award certificate. All cash prizes will be paid into students’ bursar accounts.

A career portfolio will typically contain an individual’s career summary, mission statement, brief biography, list of skills and certifications, resume, and supporting samples. Thus, it is highly recommended that you include these elements in your ePortfolio and/or LinkedIn profile, which are briefly elaborated below.

• Career Summary: You briefly describe your relevant work experience, skills, and professional accomplishments. It aims to attract potential employers to keep reading what you included in your career portfolio.
• Mission Statement: You explain your professional beliefs and express what you want to be, do, and have in your careers.
• Brief Biography: You showcase your personality and connect personally with potential employers.
• Marketable Skills: You include a combination of your hard and soft skills or those related to a position if you seek one for your career. Your skills can be reflected in your transcripts, degrees, licenses, and certifications.
• Awards or Certificates: You include but are not limited to your scholarships, certificates, and job-related awards. Your school leadership positions, secured in the past, could also indicate to potential employers their expected level of work performance from you. In addition, potential employers will also want to know if you maintain your currency in your industry with the trends and best practices by receiving the related training and continued education.
• Resume: It gives potential employers easy access to your work experience and skills.
• Work samples: You may include presentations, articles, brochures, reports, or projects that will highlight your best work and demonstrate your talents. You can also include volunteer experience demonstrating your commitment to your profession and compassion for helping others.

The required materials for your submission and the corresponding judgment criteria vary across your level of study in your academic program, as below. Thus, the judges will evaluate your participation based on the specific requirements tailored to your educational level, ensuring a fair and meaningful assessment of your efforts and skills in preparing your submission. Your submitted artifacts will be judged by the key criteria that highlight your ability to create professional and compelling career materials.

^ζ Students explain why they built their ePortfolio on Google Site/LinkedIn profile in the way they submitted with its URL.

^δ Supplemental materials include (i) a cover letter template, (ii) a recommendation letter request template, (iii) an after-interview thank-you email template, and (iv) a job offer acceptance letter template.

Judgment Criterion Definition

• Organization of Information: How well the participants organize their ePortfolio and/or LinkedIn profile for clarity and ease of navigation.
• Use of Appropriate Language: The professionalism and relevance of the language used in the artifacts.
• Application of Portal Features: Effective utilization of the tools and features available on the platforms (Google Sites and/or LinkedIn).
• Student Thought Process from Reflection: Freshmen and sophomores are also evaluated on the depth of their thought processes, as demonstrated in the submission of their reflections.
• Appeal to Key Audiences: Juniors and seniors are also assessed on how appealing their ePortfolio and LinkedIn profile are to their peers for connections and potential employers for job opportunities.
• Inclusion of Key Elements: Seniors are further judged on the comprehensiveness of their submissions of the required supplemental materials.

Complete the entry form in full (will open on Friday, February 14, 2025; see the Eligibility section above), then upload your .doc, .docx, and/or .pdf files and any other needed information no later than Tuesday, April 15, 2025. No other file formats are supported. Submissions will only be accepted through the online submission platform. Contest organizers are not responsible for incomplete entries or damaged, missing, or lost files. Each participant is limited to one submission only.

[Disclaimer: Since it is at your discretion on what contents to include in your ePortfolio and/or LinkedIn profile, IU East, its School of Business and Economics and Business and Economic Research Center, as well as the contest organizers and judges, will not be held liable in any way for any content included in your ePortfolio and/or LinkedIn profile and the release and distribution of those contents to anyone or anywhere at any time by anybody.]

IU East Internal Judges

• April Evans, Director of Human Resources and Payroll
• Dr. Yan Liu, Assistant Professor of Management, School of Business and Economics
• Dr. Kelly Wilkinson, Dean of the School of Business and Economics

External Judges

• Andrea Stuckey, Human Resources Manager, Johns Manville
• Melissa Vance, President/CEO Wayne County Area Chamber of Commerce

Contest participants need to look up the information of their judges from the "Empowering Your Career Readiness" Canvas site. See below for how to access the Canvas site.