Customized portfolios for job applications

My current portfolio site is a Wix site and I’m looking into switching to Squarespace. In the past when I needed to create a custom portfolio for a potential employer using my Wix site this is how I went about it…

-I removed the header from all of my site’s pages.
-Then I recreated a “header” from scratch using Wix’s basic widgets and copied this header into each of the site’s pages.
-I created a duplicate of my homepage (with the url set to something like myname.c∅m/companyname) and duplicates of the project pages that I wanted to include in the custom portfolio. I made sure that any links to the “homepage” navigated to the duplicate and not my true, original homepage.

Even if the above isn’t totally clear, the point is, this was a very time consuming way of going about doing this. Squarespace doesn’t allow the header to be removed, so I couldn’t replicate this method even if I wanted to. I feel like there is a correct way to do this that I’m missing. What’s the simplest way to go about doing this with a builder like Squarespace? Thank you for your help!!!

Re-posting this for kalmia as it had no replies. If anyone can help that would be great :wink:

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The heart of my question is: how do you go about sharing a custom portfolio for job openings (or do you)? Custom, as in, you’re choosing to include projects that specifically relate to that job opening, rather than using the same set of projects for every job that you’re applying to. I know, if you’re sharing a pdf rather than a website, you can add whatever project you want easily to the pdf. But a lot of job descriptions specifically ask for a website portfolio – plus, a website does feel more versatile for showcasing a project. So, I’m wondering if there’s a way to make a custom web portfolio with a service like squarespace.

I’ve never used Wix or Squarespace, so I can’t advise you on how to do what you described. I’ve always hand-coded my site or used a CMS, such as Joomla, making customization easier. Even so, I probably wouldn’t do what you’ve described.

In addition to what you want to do being a whole lot of work, I think it’s more important that your portfolio reflects your best work. There’s room for swapping out or adding a few images here and there if you want to emphasize something, but I wouldn’t go too far.

Assuming you’ve put your best work in your standard default portfolio, but that work doesn’t quite match up with the job you’ve applied to, I don’t think it will help much to remove some of your best work to make room for something that isn’t as good, even when it’s more targeted to the job.

For example, let’s say you’ve spent the last five years primarily designing greeting cards and wedding invitations, but you want to apply for a job in a bank’s marketing department. You don’t want the marketing director at the bank to think, “Her greeting cards are great, but those two banking promotions in her portfolio are weak in comparison.”

In previous jobs, I reviewed hundreds of portfolios. What I found impressive was when the applicant brought a few physical pieces to the interview that weren’t in the online portfolio or printed samples that were more impressive in person than online.

Of course, you want the initial online portfolio to help get that interview. Still, don’t underestimate the importance of a job-specific cover letter and resume, which are much easier to customize than a website.

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