Career
Portfolio Tips & Tricks
Bright
ideas to make your career portfolio assembly go smoothly!
Tips and tricks for collecting, and displaying your materials.
Tips
and Tricks
Quick
Picks
Features

Get
a Career Portfolio Bundle Pack for only $69!
Includes:
- Standard
Portfolio Kit
- Creating
Your Career Career Portfolio Practical Exercises Workbook
- Creating
Your Career Portfolio: At-A-Glance Guide for Students
More>>
Learn
how to create your own portfolio with
the professional or student version of Creating your Career Portfolio:
At a Glance Guide.

Learn
how to make the most of all your transferable skills in the Career Smarts
audio tape.
Career
Portfolio Tips and Tricks
Here are some
great tips for working through the career portfolio process:
- Don't
be too humble! — Many
people are too humble to explain their accomplishments. The career
portfolio helps individuals talk about themselves in a job seeking
or career advancement situation.
- COLLECT
now — SORT later.
- Use
your PDA or calendar to generate a list of your accomplishments
from your appointments or meetings.
Graphics
and Pictures
- Use
a photograph when a large 3D project does not fit into your
career portfolio.
- Scan
all documents you will be printing at 300 dpi resolution or higher.
- You should include
yourself in all action shots — this gives great talking
points in your career portfolios for interviews and performance review
meetings.
-
Clean
before copying! — Clean copying machines, scanning beds
and any electronic equipment with flat glass screens using glass cleaner
prior to any copying to assure quality when copying or scanning.
-
Use
color! — color sources are always better
than black and white.
Assembling
the Portfolio
NEVER – put
your original in your career portfolio — always
use a quality copy.
About
Work Samples
- Use newspaper
clippings and thank you notes only if it demonstrates specific skills
clearly and specifically. Note the paragraph and skill location on the
exhibit card for quick location.
- Transferable
Skills — Even when you have been employed in a job outside
your chosen career, take a look at how aspects of it can help you in
your chosen field. You should always consider how a job or experience
might be transferable to a new position or career change.
Identifying
Skills and Needs
- Look
at job postings to identify skills to target lateral or upward
career moves within the company or competition.
- Keep current
on trends in professional certifications
- How
many clock hours required
- How
many class hours required
- Certification
requirements
- Many employers
are looking for leadership skills—what entrepreneur
skills do you have and how will you document them? These will be helpful
to advance your leadership movement up in the organization.