Portfolio Help

Portfolios are not reserved solely for the creative industry. Regardless of your field, a well-crafted portfolio can show off your talent and highlight your key accomplishments. Material for a strong portfolio can include (but is not limited to) business plans, marketing strategies, press releases, successful projects, impressive speeches, notable facts and figures and even thank you cards. Employers are looking for experience and a physical or online portfolio can demonstrate your skill in practical ways. Here are some reasons why you should have one:

• Showing a future employer what you are capable of is better than simply telling them what you can do
• Updating your work is simple and can always include your newest projects
• Designing job-specific portfolios can be creative and directed toward individual employers, making you stand out to a company

The Internet has revolutionized the way professionals display their work and successes. The benefits of an online portfolio include the ability to easily update material, instantly share your projects, manage your professional image and market your work to a much larger audience. An online presence can create networking opportunities never considered. 

“In the high pace of what we do in school and in business, there’s very little chance that someone is going to achieve mastery on the job if they didn’t get there before coming to your workplace. So you’ve got to have it in the can; not just ‘I want to’ or ‘I wish I’ or ‘maybe I could’, but ‘I’ve done that’. It’s one of the great things about the proof of a portfolio versus the promise of a resume.” – Randy Nelson of Pixar