What is a Portfolio?

A portfolio is a structural collection of a person's progress, achievements, contributions and efforts that demonstrates accomplishments over time.

Portfolios vary by career field, experience, personal taste and scope. Your portfolio can be a simple companion page for your resume, a notebook or a folder full of original materials illustrating your abilities, or anything in between.

Traditionally portfolios have been used in fields like art, education and writing. Portfolios are now a growing trend in many other career fields as well. There are no strict rules about what to include or how to structure your portfolio. The purpose and content of your portfolio will be determined by your career goal. If you are looking for a job in more than one career field you may need to vary the contents. Just remember that you have the freedom to create a portfolio that reflects you and your abilities.

• Show your achievements
  
• Document the scope and quality of your experience and training
  
• Demonstrate your skills and abilities

Why Should I Have a Portfolio?

Students from all majors can adapt and utilize portfolios as a tool to help market themselves to prospective employers. In today's competitive job market, a creative and informative portfolio could be the key to setting you apart from other candidates.

Remember, though, that a portfolio cannot work magic by itself. Don't rely on your portfolio to sell your skills to an interviewer. A good portfolio can help, but ultimately you have to prove your skills and abilities in person.

How Do I Start Creating a Portfolio?

Creating a portfolio that shows who you are and what you are capable of doing is difficult. You need to decide what types of skills potential employers are looking for, and determine how your work can prove that you have what it takes to get the job done.

Here are some steps that can help you get started on creating your portfolio.

Step One - Self-Assessment. You have to look at your skills, abilities and past experiences to determine what you have to offer an employer. How do your skills relate to a possible employer's needs?

Step Two - Decide What to Include. Once you know what skills and abilities you need to show prospective employers, you are ready to find samples that will illustrate your capabilities. Look through your work carefully. Find pieces of work, evidence of involvement, or letters of commendation to include in your portfolio as examples of your past success.

Step Three - Design and Arrange. Choose an organizational method that best illustrates your accomplishments. One idea might be to prioritize your portfolio according to the skills and experiences that are most directly related to your career field.

The key to your organizational format is easy access. Think about using tab pages and/or headers to categorize the materials in your portfolio.

At times you might be asked to leave your portfolio with an interviewer--so it is also important that your portfolio be self-explanatory and simple enough for a stranger to figure out.

Step Four - Review Your Portfolio. Know your portfolio inside and out. When you go to an interview you want to be able to use your portfolio to illustrate your skills and abilities. You need to be able to find items you are looking for quickly.

What Do I Include In My Portfolio?

What you include in your portfolio is up to you. Different items will be included, depending on your field and the job for which you are applying. The Career Discovery Center has information on how to develop a portfolio specifically geared for your career field. Make an appointment with a member of the Career Services staff or your academic advisor to find out more about portfolios in your field.

To get started, here is a list of things you might want to include in your portfolio:

• Table of Contents
  
Academic/Personal Information

• resume
  
• official transcript
  
• fact sheet that details your hobbies and
  
interests

• testing results (NTE, PPST, FE, GRE, etc.)
  
• list of references
  
Skills and Technical Abilities

• writing samples
  
• documentation of technical/computer skills
  
• evidence of senior design or capstone project
  
Professional Information

• state certification or licensure documents
  
• list of conferences and workshops attended
  
• letters of commendation/thanks for service
  
• internship or co-op summary report
  
• list of professional organization
  involvement
  
Honors/Award Information

• certificates of awards/honors
  
• nomination to honors/academic
  
• organizations
  
• newspaper articles about your achievements

Have your portfolio critiqued by a member of the Career Services staff, your academic advisor and professionals from your field if possible. Keep working on and adding to your portfolio - even after you get a job. You never know when you might need to showcase your work!

You may also want to include a reference to your portfolio in your resume, cover letter, or application. Finally, make it a habit to bring your portfolio to all of your interviews. You never know when the opportunity may arise to use this valuable tool.

Teacher Portfolios

Teachers have relied heavily on portfolios for years to show their teaching philosophy, instruction abilities and creativity. While typical teacher portfolios include much of the same information as the more general portfolios, other information is also important to include. A good portfolio for teachers should start with these basics:

• sample lesson plans
  
• a videotape of you teaching your best lesson
  
• special projects (a learning activity packet, learning center or teaching tools you created)
  teaching units or tests you prepared
  
• statement of teaching philosophy
  
• pictures of bulletin boards you designed
  
• information about extra-curricular activities you were involved in (organizing field trips, advising a student group, coaching a team, etc.)
  
• notes from students, co-operating teachers, and/or administrators that comment positively about your work
  
• photos of you working with students

Teachers can demonstrate their creativity by personally designing the content and layout of the portfolio to showcase all of their teaching skills.

Academic Portfolios

According to the University Senate Action of May 8, 2001, "Students in capstone courses and alternative capstone experiences in the majors will be required to participate in some part of assessment of the baccalaureate such as exit interviews, focus groups, surveys, or portfolios." These portfolios will contain pieces of academic work from the student's educational career and can be easily adapted into professional ones tailored to match the student's career field. By duplicating and revising your academic portfolio to highlight the most significant work you have done, you can turn your academic portfolio into a great job search tool.