Portfolios

Prove yourself to an employer!

Today’s job market is very competitive and setting yourself apart from other job seekers can difficult. The portfolio is a great way for you to stand out from the crowd.

A portfolio is a collection of documents that are compiled and organized in a way to help you track your skills and accomplishments.

Portfolios can be used for:

• Proving yourself and your accomplishments to an employer in a job interview
• Applying to graduate schools or professional programs
• Tracking and recording your skill development and career growth
• Planning a career change (as it can be used as a self evaluation tool)
• Providing evidence of your work in a job performance evaluation

Quick tips for developing your portfolio:

• Clarify your purpose for creating a portfolio
• Collect information that is relevant to the field or job you want
• Organize your portfolio into a format that best highlights your skills and accomplishments
• Provide captions or descriptions to support documents that are not self explanatory
• Use a professional looking binder to display your information
• Have it proofread and review it for spelling/grammatical errors

I need help with my portfolio!

Creating your portfolio may take some time. There are many great resources and services to help you develop your portfolio.

To begin:

1. Go through the Basics of Portfolio Development online workshop. This will help you decide on a format for your portfolio, what you could include, and how to organize your information.
2. Collect and organize appropriate documents to include in your portfolio
3. Visit the Career Resource Centre in the Learning Commons and look through portfolio books such as:
   • Creating Your Career Portfolio: At-A-Glance Guide for Students, by Anna Graf Williams, Ph.D., & Karen J. Hall.
   • Proof of Performance: How to Build a Career Portfolio to Land a Great New Job, by Rick Nelles.
4. Request a Portfolio Production Workshop to further assist you with organizing your information into a format that works for you.
5. Have your portfolio reviewed by a Career Assistant in the Career Resource Centre and look at different portfolio samples.