This document provides instructions and resources for students to complete a job application portfolio assignment. It directs students to choose a job advertisement, update their CV and cover letter to closely match the job requirements, and attach these along with a creative poster or vision board. It includes links to online articles on creating outstanding, creative CVs and cover letters, and vision boards. The document outlines the components to include in the portfolio and describes follow-up class activities on benchmarking and personal branding or business model canvases.

1. University of East Anglia
Norwich Business School
Management Skills and
Personal Development
NBS-7114A
SEMINAR 4
2 November 2021
Dr. Fahri Karakas
F.Karakas@uea.ac.uk

2. Job Application Portfolio
Please complete your job application
portfolio

3. Slide 1.3
 Choose your job advertisement and copy-paste it at
the top of your portfolio
 Update and customize your CV
 Update and customize your Cover Letter
◦ Both your CV and Cover Letter should demonstrate a very
good match for the job requirements.
 Remember to complete and attach the following:
1) Job Advertisement
2) CV
3) Cover Letter
4) Poster – Creative CV or Vision Board

4. Slide 1.4
https://medium.com/journal-of-curiosity-imagination-and-inspiration/make-your-cv-
outstanding-7d480db2a09b?sk=acb878a7bdedbbce4098bed94a07727d

5. Slide 1.5
https://medium.com/journal-of-curiosity-imagination-and-inspiration/a-complete-guide-to-
creating-a-creative-cv-3e0dbb678f3d?sk=2e7901ac36683a7bb022720704c6b61c

6. Slide 1.6
https://medium.com/journal-of-curiosity-imagination-and-inspiration/create-your-
own-vision-board-84b6d5e965f8?sk=2b2a65433a4e7ec9054695c631b9f103

7. Slide 1.7
https://medium.com/journal-of-curiosity-imagination-and-inspiration/how-to-write-an-
effective-cover-letter-a4ac36d0c682?sk=e5912ce764ef091c5b4744c0277bd9ef

8. Slide 1.8
https://medium.com/the-innovation/inspiring-articles-and-resources-for-students-who-are-
entering-the-job-market-b13a38f73acc?sk=92965528c1f33172148627a14b631770

9. Slide 1.9
https://medium.datadriveninvestor.com/you-face-a-very-tough-job-market-now-but-
you-can-still-thrive-2277bbc99660?sk=13fdd31c3d14a3f485d025abd53f36dd

10.  1) Job Advertisement
 2) Updated CV
 4) Cover letter (statement of interest, explaining your skills,
knowledge and fit for the job)
 4) Poster: On one A4 page, design a poster that will reflect your
personal brand.

11. Slide 1.11
 Seminar 5 Activity:
 Benchmarking
◦ Exercise
 Seminar 6 Activity:
 Business Model Canvas or
 Personal Branding Canvas
◦ Exercise

12. Slide 1.12

13. Slide 1.13
Week Self-Directed
Learning Activity
(i.e. what you did)
Learning/Inspiration/Lesson drawn
1 Listened to
Desert Island
Discs episode
of Dame Zaha
Hadid
I reflected on the critical importance of courage to shake up
traditional practices and concepts of architecture through fluid and
futuristic thinking. Zaha Hadid was one of the most celebrated
architects in the world in a field dominated by men. Her triumph
was to turn the beautiful graphic visions of her sculptural approach
into reality. This is due to her rare courage, conviction, tenacity and
a free creative spirit – all qualities that I find extremely valuable in
my future career. I am inspired to learn more about the unique life
and career of this remarkable woman.
2 Listened to
Desert Island
Discs episode
of Cath Kidston
Known for her floral designs combining the vintage and the
modern, Cath Kidston achieved amazing business success with her
business and brand worth £50 million and 100 shops worldwide.
Japanese are crazy about the brand calling it ‘kawaii’ (cute), a
celebration of cheerfulness. I find it a remarkable success story
based on finding this universal appeal of ‘cheering people up’
through practical design. Listening to her story, including the
obstacles and her vulnerable feelings during growing up her
business, was refreshing and gave me hope. Like her, perhaps I can
nourish my entrepreneurial side one day – all it requires is the
courage and readiness to experiment/fail along with a niche
business idea/solution that makes cheers up people.

14. Slide 1.14

15. Slide 1.15
Six Options – choose one of them
1. Personal Logo Table
2. Ten Responses Table: Your Best Year Yet
3. Table of Role Models
4. Table of Potential Firms and Job Positions
5. SWOT Analysis of Yourself and Your Career
6. Create your own Netflix Show

16. Seminar 5 Activity
Benchmarking Table

17. Slide 1.17
 A benchmark is an organization recognized
for its exemplary operational performance.
 There are many benchmarks in the world
including:
http://www.bestglobalbrands.com/2014/ranking/
Toyota for
Pixar for
Apple for
IDEO for
Processes
Design thinking
Product design
Creative
animations

18. Slide 1.18
Value Chain
Firm Infrastructure
Human Resource Management
Technology Development
Procurement
S
U
P
P
O
R
T
A
C
T
I
V
I
T
I
E
S
Primary Activities
Benchmarking Organizations
Identifying Resources and Capabilities That Can Add Value

19. Slide 1.19
 You will create a large table of your resources for
inspiration (i.e. role models) for your career.
 You will include a minimum of 10 brands in your
table
 You may use a mix of the:
◦ Country Brands
◦ Organizational Brands (Top Global Brands)
◦ Individual Brands (Inspirational Careers)

20. Slide 1.20
 First, you will summarise the unique success and
contribution of this brand (using 10 key words or
phrases)
 Second, you will summarise what you learned from
this brand that will help you advance in your career
(in 2-3 sentences)
 Third, you will identify an action point to take (that
relates to this learning and reflection on this brand).
(1 sentence)

21. Slide 1.21
 Choose among
country brands in
this FutureBrand
report

22. Slide 1.22

23. Slide 1.23
 Choose among Best Global Brands by Interbrand
 http://interbrand.com/best-brands/best-global-brands/2014/ranking/

24. Slide 1.24

25. Slide 1.25
 You can also choose from Fast Company most
innovative companies
 https://www.fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies/2017

26. Slide 1.26

27. Slide 1.27
Organizational Brands

28. Slide 1.28
1. You can choose from Fast Company
most creative people in business
https://www.fastcompany.com/most-creative-
people/2020
2. You can choose from BBC 4 Desert
Island Discs episodes
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnm
r/episodes/player
3. You can choose from Time 100 lists
https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-
people-2020/

29. Slide 1.29

30. Slide 1.30

31. Slide 1.31
 Try to choose the brands that appeal to you
 If you want to live in a particular country, choose
that country brand.
 If you aim to find a job/work for particular
companies, choose them as organizational brands.
 If you are inspired by careers of certain
leaders/people/artists, choose them as individual
brands.

32. Business Model Canvas OR
Personal Branding Canvas
Seminar 8 Activity

33. Slide 1.33

34. Slide 1.34
 The Business Model Canvas was proposed
by Alexander Osterwalder (Business Model
Ontology).
 It enables both new and existing businesses to
focus on operational as well as strategic
management and marketing plan.
 The Business Model Canvas helps you reflect
systematically on your business model, and map
each of your business model elements

35. Slide 1.35

36. Slide 1.36

37. Slide 1.37

38. Slide 1.38

39. Slide 1.39

40. Slide 1.40

41. Slide 1.41

42. Slide 1.42

43. Slide 1.43

44. Slide 1.44
 Key Partners
◦ Who are your key partners/suppliers?
◦ What are the motivations for the partnerships?
 Key Activities
◦ What key activities does your value proposition
require?
◦ What activities are important the most in distribution
channels, customer relationships, revenue stream…?
 Value Proposition
◦ What core value do you deliver to the customer?
◦ Which customer needs are you satisfying?

45. Slide 1.45
 Customer Relationship
◦ What relationship that the target customer expects you
to establish?
◦ How can you integrate that into your business in terms
of cost and format?
 Customer Segment
◦ Which classes are you creating values for?
◦ Who is your most important customer?
 Key Resource
◦ What key resources does your value proposition
require?
◦ What resources are important the most in distribution
channels, customer relationships, revenue stream…?

46. Slide 1.46
 Distribution Channel
◦ Through which channels that your customers want to
be reached?
◦ Which channels work best? How much do they cost?
How can they be integrated into your and your
customers’ routines?
 Cost Structure
◦ What are the most cost in your business?
◦ Which key resources/ activities are most expensive?
 Revenue Stream
◦ For what value are your customers willing to pay?
◦ What and how do they recently pay? How would they
prefer to pay?
◦ How much does every revenue stream contribute to the
overall revenues?

47.  Your Task
You are going to create the Business
Model Canvas for your term project
(Entrepreneurial Business Proposal or Seven I Project)

48. Slide 1.48

49. Option 2
Personal Branding Canvas

50. Slide 1.50

51. Slide 1.51

52. Slide 1.52

53. Slide 1.53

54.  Looking at samples, prepare your own Personal
Branding Canvas
◦ Feel free to draw sketches or doodles
◦ Think about how you can best represent your personal
brand and your career

55. Slide 1.55

56. Slide 1.56
Thank you