A portfolio allows you a visual and tangible way to represent your credentials, skills and achievements. Port means that a person’s credentials are portable, transportable,
convenient, and manageable. They provide an image or picture of one’s experience, interests, achievements, goals and capabilities. Folio means a packaging of one’s credentials through photographs, reproduced evidence, work samples, videos, audio, and other formats.

A career portfolio is organized evidence of your work background, readiness for the job and specific job skills that make you qualified for the job for which you are applying. Remember this is supporting evidence of why you are the best candidate for the job, so be sure to show the skills employers are seeking.

Why create and use a portfolio?

• The portfolio allows you a visual tool to highlight the skills employers are seeking.

• Candidates with portfolios gain a 10% advantage over other candidates because they demonstrate a serious commitment to the job interview process. It allows you to sell yourself in the best way possible.

• The portfolio allows you to integrate college education with work-based learning and illustrates how one supports the other.

• Assembling a portfolio gives you a sense of direction and accomplishment through personal reflection. Thus, it provides a view of the big picture.

• It will offer you the opportunity to develop and commit to a specific action plan.

• It will assist you with exploring career options.

• It will help you to identify and evaluate your competencies and self-knowledge both in and out of your current work.

• It is impressive to the prospective employer that thought and work, over a period of time, have gone into the decision to apply for a specific job.