How to Make a Good Career Portfolio

Documents for Career Portfolios

Knowing how to present yourself to prospective employers has become an essential skill due to massive job losses that characterize the current economic downturn. How should you prepare to seek new employment? You can start by building a marketable career portfolio.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Examples that document job skills, experience and accomplishments
• Secondary folder
• Binder
• Tabbed dividers
• Plastic page protectors
• Computer
• Internet access
• Account with online portfolio hosting website
• Photocopier

1. Collect examples that document your skills and experience. Include your resume, performance appraisals, awards, publications, reports, transcripts, letters of recommendation, licenses, testimonials and actual work products whenever possible. Add brochures from conferences and workshops you have attended. Think of this stage as a search for evidence that will prove your value as an employee.

2. Analyze your collection. Determine what categories your documents represent. Do you want to showcase different skills you have developed? If you are a looking for a teaching position, for example, you could group your documents by subjects you have taught. Continue adding to your portfolio by locating more items for categories that appear less documented.

3. Select the most significant items for each category. Even though this step requires removing material, throw nothing away. Keep any items you decide to remove from your portfolio in a separate secondary folder. If you change your career objective in the future, you might need to consult this secondary folder.

4. Design your portfolio's overall appearance. Include a table of contents and index. Provide captions for photos and any other items that are not self-explanatory. Place your material in an attractive binder. A dark three ring notebook with plastic page protectors provides a convenient format. Use tabbed dividers to separate your sections.

5. Photocopy material in your portfolio, such as resumes that you want to leave with a potential employer. Create color photocopies of color originals. Consider also creating an electronic portfolio to provide easily accessible information about you that exceeds what you have placed in your resume. To host your online portfolio, choose a web site used by others in your profession.

6. Evaluate your finished portfolio. Does the portfolio contain a representative sampling of the best of your accomplishments? Is the portfolio itself a well designed example of your work? Remember that potential employers will be judging you based upon its appearance. Get a second opinion about the quality of your career portfolio from someone who works in your field.

7. Add to your portfolio throughout your career. You should consider your career portfolio as a work in progress rather than as a finished product. Provide immediate documentation for every new job accomplishment.

8. Take your career portfolio with you to each job interview. Be prepared to support statements about your past performance with specific examples from the portfolio.

Tips & Warnings

• Review the contents of your career portfolio before each job interview. Be sure its contents fit the job you are applying for. If you are looking for a writing position, for instance, add more documents illustrating past publications and remove items that support your managerial skills.

• Never throw away any document that illustrates a particular skill or achievement even if you do not immediately need it for your career portfolio.

Resources

• Tutorial: Career Portfolio
• Portfolio Basics