Lesson 18 — Activity 3:

Creating a Career Portfolio

You may remember from English 20-4 that a career portfolio is a collection of documents that shows your accomplishments both in and out of school. A portfolio contains samples of your work that showcase your learning, your accomplishments, your skills, and your experiences.

Portfolios are very flexible tools that can be used for many purposes. For this lesson, you will review how you can use a portfolio to keep track of various materials. This will be helpful when you are looking for employment.

If you have already started your portfolio, then this lesson will be a review for you. If, however, you have not yet begun this task, you will learn about the different things that should be included in your portfolio that will be shown to potential employers.

Courtesy of Pixabay

What items can be included in your career portfolio?

• report cards
• certificates of participation (e.g., clubs, events, etc.)
• a record of your community involvement and volunteer activities
• your updated résumé
• your updated cover letter

• any letters of reference or recommendations from employers that show you are a great employee

• other things that you are proud of (e.g., certificates, awards, etc.)

Courtesy of Pixabay

A portfolio helps you to organize your thinking and plan for your future. It can help you set goals and showcase your skills, employment history, education, and other accomplishments for possible employers. A portfolio will emphasize your positive qualities and present these qualities in a favourable light to help make you successful when looking for work.

These are the steps to developing your career portfolio:

1. Gather all of your documents — collect all of the information that you want to include in your portfolio that show your interests, involvements, and achievements.

2. Organize your portfolio — arrange your documents into sections such as:

Basic skills — this section might include:

• an official copy of your school marks
• your résumé
• your cover letter
  
• certificates or awards
• samples of your writing
• letters of appreciation
• letters from organizations that you participate in
• courses that you have completed in areas of technology
• science fair projects
• work experience projects

Thinking skills — this section might include:

• websites created
• program of an event you helped plan
• samples of artwork or newsletters that you have worked on
• a description of a class project or special project you completed

Personal and social qualities — this section might include:

• completion of a project done within a time deadline
• participation in a new organization
• recommendations from previous employers
• recommendations from teachers and other school staff
• documents about your extracurricular activities (e.g., swimming, sports, etc.)

3. Assemble your portfolio — put everything together so it is easy for someone else to read and understand. Some options for organizing your portfolio including the following:

• a binder
  
• a scrapbook
  
• a folder
• a portfolio box
  
• an electronic file

Remember to have a cover page for your portfolio. This page should include your name, a title for your portfolio, and a photo (if you choose).

4. A Final Check — Check to see that all of your information is updated and that your portfolio shows your work in the best possible light!

Digging Deeper!

Click on the Play button below to watch a video on how to improve your career and work portfolio.