Each CDF student needs to get started on a professional

Transcription

1 1 Portfolio Assignment Each CDF student needs to get started on a professional portfolio that highlights who you are both personally and professionally. You may choose the style and type of portfolio that best suits you. The expectation is that the portfolio will be a work in progress. Building a Career Portfolio Most people think of artists when they hear the word portfolio. Artists have always kept samples of their work to show to prospective customers or employers. Today, many professionals keep samples of their work projects to be able to demonstrate their skills and experience to employers. Importance of Portfolios over the course of a career this is a place to put everything in one spot such as training experiences and acknowledgements. You reflect on this information before going to an interview. Also, by having your own portfolio, you can show what one looks like for your clients: model the behavior that you expect. When to use a portfolio You never know when you ll want to pull out examples of your work to use. Some examples of times that you might want to share a portfolio include: When you want a promotion and you want to prove the value you ve brought to an organization. When a supervisor retires and you want to demonstrate your background and accomplishments to a new supervisor as you move forward together. When you ve applied for a new position and you want to show the skills and experience that you have.

2 There may be other times that a portfolio helps you. But if you ve never started a collection of your artifacts, or a collection of photographs, certificates, articles/publications, then you can t even begin to visually demonstrate what you can offer to an employer. To start a collection of artifacts you ll need: A 3-ring binder or other notebook. Since this also shows something about you, you may want to spend a little more money and buy something that represents your own style such as a leather binder or a padded cloth binder etc. A box of clear plastic sheet protectors from a store like Office Max or Staples. Put all artifacts inside a sheet protector. Topics to find artifacts for your portfolio include Your resume: professional summaries replace the old objectives. Be aware of the real estate on the resume and use the valuable top of the resume to highlight the main qualities you want to show. Some people include a personal statement that highlights things like career goals, values and strengths. Your job history such as descriptions of work projects, photographs, certificates of accomplishment, job evaluations. Your non-work experiences such as descriptions and photos of volunteer experiences, professional organizations you belong to with goals and activities of these organizations. Your accomplishments including program successes and special recognition. Evidence of skills and attributes such as well organized, good communicator, and efficient use of technology. Education and training such as transcripts, diplomas and certificates. Do not include transcripts if your grades are low. A person scanning these documents should see evidence of the courses you took, but also of a lot of As and Bs as opposed to Cs and occasional Ds. Testimonials and recommendations: You might have these in the sections under job history or accomplishments, but if you have a lot of them, you might want to put them together under a category of their own. These include letters of recommendation, s including thank-you notes and recognition of work well done, also include newsletter articles about your program etc. 2

3 3 Organizing Use tab dividers to organize your artifacts into categories dividers can indicate sections where you have a lot of similar items for example, photographs you ve taken, articles you ve written, training sessions from which you ve received certificates. Some people include quotes or visual elements to jazz up the dividers. Put all certificates in the same direction or orientation. An option would be to begin this section with a list of the trainings followed by the certificates. Labeling If you have a lot of artifacts, it might be good to include a Table of Contents at the beginning of the portfolio or even on the tab/divider pages. Remember, it s important to make it easier and faster for a person to review your portfolio and see what you want to prove about yourself. When someone is looking through your portfolio, it isn t always obvious what the artifacts prove about you. Use labels to identify what you are trying to show with each artifact. Some artifacts are obvious as to what they prove about you in this case a label is not necessary. There are several methods for labeling your artifacts. For example, some people start with inserting sticky notes inside the sheet protectors along with your artifact good handwriting is important for this method. Another choice is to create a caption in a Word document and then cut the caption to size. Place it inside the sheet protector with your artifact and secure it on the backside with a piece of scotch tape. You could also use photo editing software to scan the artifact, then place your label on the image electronically. See the sample below.

4 4 Strategic use of bold and color highlights will enhance your message about key skills and projects that you want to share. The labels make it easier for a person reviewing your portfolio to notice exactly what you are trying to prove with each artifact. It makes your portfolio possible to view at a glance. Each page will be turned by the reviewer about every 3-5 seconds, so make each second count by creating the look that will prove your skills and abilities.

5 5 Check out the following websites for more information on creating a portfolio. How to Build a Career Portfolio By Lily J. Tythan, ehow Contributor Using the porfolio After you ve gathered your artifacts, you may find that you have a large collection. Sometimes it s overwhelming for an employer or supervisor to understand what you want to show about yourself if there are too many items to look at. If this is the case, you might need to have a Master Portfolio that contains all your artifacts and then a smaller notebook that you add and take out items for a specific interview or meeting. This is when you realize the meaning of the axiom, Less is More! You should not as a general rule leave your portfolio with someone because you would not want to lose it! Instead, some people scan their artifacts and create an electronic portfolio. The benefit of this is that you can make multiple copies of the CD or DVD to leave with an employer so they can look at it later. In this case, create a PowerPoint file that includes images of your artifacts with labels. Other people might have a website that contains electronic copies of their artifacts. Using these approaches also shows that you are computer savvy. Whatever type of portfolio you choose, it should represent who you are and the skills, experience and personality that you offer to an employer. When you demonstrate your skills and abilities using a portfolio, turn the collection toward the person that you are presenting to,s and then show and tell about the pages in the book pointing out specific experiences that you want them to know about. Created by Kristen Garceau 2013

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