In order to “sell yourself” you need to have professional marketing materials in a portfolio such as a resume, cover letter, a basic thank you letter, awards and other accomplishments you can document.

As you apply for positions, each of these will need to be tailored for the specific company and job, but having a starting point always makes your materials more impactful.

At a minimum, you will need to submit a resume, cover letter, and thank you letter for this assignment. Think creatively about other materials that you need to develop or collect in order to have a strong portfolio. Consider starting this assignment by asking yourself a few questions.

• Where do you want to be in fifteen years? What is your vision for your future?
• What should your profile look like when you graduate from Troy University?
• What is the real purpose of your education at Troy University?
• What are your goals for your college career at Troy University?
• What are you doing this semester that makes a contribution toward your goals and your vision?
• How are the classes you are taking now (and will take in the future) going to contribute to your goal achievement and to your vision achievement?

These are all questions that are asked by people who plan strategically, who begin with the end in mind, who think long term but recognize that many short-term steps must be taken and many short-term goals must be achieved in order to successfully reach longer term goals. This is the essence of strategic planning.

It begins with the ends (your vision) in mind - your fifteen-year goal, your education goals. Stated more elegantly, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

It requires that you ask how your classes will contribute to your education and your vision. It requires that you take classes for their educational value and not for the grade. It requires that you examine your extracurricular activities (incl. campus organizations, community service, work experiences) and ask questions like:

• How is this activity, job, etc. contributing to my goals? What am I learning? What skills am I developing?
• How can I do the things that I want to do at Troy University but increase my learning potential, my educational value, and, therefore, the contribution that these activities make to my overall vision?