The One Club now has a free global online portfolio review program

It's got industry leaders to review the portfolios of students (from across the world) online, keeping in mind the Coronavirus pandemic and lockdown.

One of the most affected, yet overlooked, sections as a result of the Coronavirus is the student population, especially the class of 2020. Graduating students are entering a workforce, that’s facing, perhaps, its biggest challenge in decades.

For students looking to work in agencies, design studios, or in-house creative teams, the global lockdown has hampered their chances of gaining internships, or entry-level positions. Simply put, their portfolios aren't being reviewed.

So, the One Club for Creativity has now decided to transform its annual in-person Young Ones Student Portfolio Review program into a free global online one.

It will allow students from across the globe to upload their portfolios for free and receive inputs from the industry’s best creative minds.

The reviewers include FCB Global CCO Susan Credle (One Club chairperson), 72andSunny CCO Glenn Cole (vice-chair), McCann global creative chairman Rob Reilly, Goodby Silverstein & Partners CCO/partner Margaret Johnson, Design Army co-founder/CCO Pum Lefebure, Burger King global CMO Fernando Machado, Apple VP, marketing integration Nick Law, Google director of user experience Chloe Gottlieb and VP Robert Wong, Dentsu head of digital creative/ECD Yasuharu Sasaki, and AlmapBBDO CCO/partner Luiz Sanches.

Kevin Swanepoel, CEO, The One Club, said, "Graduating seniors have been dealt with an unimaginable situation that no one has ever experienced before. After years of hard work, their classes and graduations have been cancelled, they suddenly have no opportunity for one-on-one professional guidance and little prospect of a job or internship. The advertising and design community owes it to these young creatives to step up and help them.”

He added, “Young Ones has always been one of the highlights of Creative Week, where we get to support and celebrate amazing work from students around the world. We are committed to continuing that role in any way we can. This new online portfolio review, for the first time featuring dozens of the world’s top creative leaders as reviewers, is one small way to help young creative talent globally when they need it most.”

This isn’t the only time The One Club has stepped up to help people during the pandemic. Earlier this month, it announced the formation of a free global jobs board that will connect people looking for jobs with potential employers in the industry, regardless of experience, department, and job type.

The International Labour Organization (ILO), in a press release on March 18, said: “The economic and labour crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic could increase global unemployment by almost 25 million.”

As of April 7, there were over a million global Coronavirus cases and 79,000-plus deaths.