Employment Portfolios are folders with supplemental
information about you and your skills and abilities, which are offered to an employer
during an interview. When the employer begins to ask questions about your résumé,
you can use your portfolio to support your responses.
For example, the employer might say, "I see that
you have worked at your school newspaper. What were your favorite writing assignments?"
You might reply, "My favorite assignments included this health article (show article in
portfolio) that required a lot of research and this creative writing piece (show article)
that I wrote for a special edition."
You would not leave the portfolio with the
employer, but offer copies of documents or files if the employer wants them.
A well-prepared portfolio:
shows your achievements,
documents the scope and quality of your experience and training, and
shows your skills and abilities.
Organizing Your Portfolio
Determine the skills necessary for the job you will be interviewing for.
Choose items that will document how you have used those skills for the employer.
A black or blue 3-ring binder or folder works well for a portfolio.
Use plastic page covers to protect your materials and to make rearranging your portfolio easy.
Arrange your portfolio to show how your abilities relate to the employer's needs.
Label the different sections for ease of finding information in the portfolio.
What to Include
A copy of your résumé
An official copy of your college transcript
A fact sheet, in list form, that displays your skills and what you like to do
A list of experiences that do not fit into your résumé
Certificates of awards and honors, or special training
A program from an event you planned or in which you participated as part of a class project or campus organization
A list of conferences and workshops you have attended and a description of each
Samples of your writing
Documentation of technical or computer skills
Letters of commendation or thanks
Letters of nomination to honors and academic organizations
Newspaper articles that address some achievement
Co-operative education or internship summary reports
If teaching or training are in your future, add:
Student teaching evaluation materials
Sample lesson plans
A videotape of your teaching
Sample syllabi
Pictures of bulletin boards you designed
Teaching tools you have created
Information about a field trip or other event you organized
Pictures of yourself working with students
Electronic Portfolios
In addition to your traditional portfolio, you
may want to create an electronic portfolio which you can leave with the employer. It can
be on a Web site, a CD-ROM, floppy disk, or zip disk. You can set it up as a PowerPoint
presentation or include a PowerPoint slideshow as part of your electronic portfolio.
Electronic portfolios are easy for employers to
access and use, especially if they're on the Web. By including a "mail to" link in your
portfolio, employers can contact you easily simply by clicking on the link and typing in
a message for you. Another benefit of having an electronic portfolio is that it shows
employers that you are familiar with various types of computer technology and programs.
Before creating your electronic portfolio, create
your traditional version. Include electronic versions of items from your traditional
portfolio. For example, include the word processing files for your writing samples and
your résumé, scans of appropriate photos and certificates, and Adobe Acrobat
(pdf) files of graphics such as brochures that you have designed.
In addition to the kinds of materials in your
traditional portfolio, you might include an expanded version of your résumé,
audio and video clips, an e-mail link, a link to Lakeland's Web site as well as
one to your major department's pages, a link to the curriculum for your major, and other
appropriate links. Avoid personal information and inappropriate links anywhere on your
web site.
