Job search: Back up your resume with a portfolio

By on September 28, 2009 in Uncategorized

Job searching

Most employers will doubt that you can back up claims you make of your skills and achievements, they will have probably looked through thousands of portfolios when recruiting for jobs and have been let down more than once. When your resume lands on the employer’s desk they aren’t likely to give you the benefit of the doubt no matter how good your claims are so the best way to go is by producing a portfolio which can back up any claims you make in your resume.

What does a portfolio consist of?

A portfolio is simply a collection of your achievements and work which includes classroom, volunteer and internship all neatly put together and presented in a three ring binder which you can then bring with you to interviews that you attend. During interviews you can then present your portfolio to the interviewer to back up what you said in your resume about any experience, skills and education that you have.

For example if you said in your resume that you have excellent communication skills then in your portfolio you can support that statement with examples of work you accomplished that needed excellent communication skills. A portfolio can have other benefits; it can draw the focus from you by presenting it thus relieving stress.

What can I put in my portfolio?

Any papers or essays that you have written should be included, these will highlight your written communication skills as well as show off your organisational skills.
Any thank you notes or commendations that you received from any previous jobs should be included as these will back up claims of you being hard working and willing to succeed.
Any videos of speeches that you have made in previous work, this will highlight how well you can deliver information and show off your people skills.
Any posters, brochures or advertising material that you made during previous employment, this will show off your design skills and show you have knowledge of the software used to produce the material.

Basically your portfolio is only limited by your imagination and the time you want to spend investing in it but it is a worthwhile investment that very few people bother to do, while it can’t guarantee that it will get you the job it does show that you are willing to put in that little bit of extra effort and time which says something.

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