Portfolio Development

• A portfolio is a collection of documents, letters, certificates, photographs, references, and many other things that tell the story of your work and life experience.
• portfolio is usually contained in a three ring binder with page protector sheets to hold the documents you have collected.

What this means for the Older Worker

• Many Older Workers are not aware of how their life and work experience translates into marketable skills.
• The clearer you are about the skills you have the better able you will be to present yourself effectively to prospective employers.
• A portfolio can show your skills and what you have learned (in life, work, hobbies, community activities, and education).
• A portfolio shows the prospective employer what the résumé tells them.

A Portfolio: Your Marketing Tool

Some people may recognize the term portfolio as something that artists or professional designers use to show their work. Portfolios are now used by people in any career to illustrate the knowledge and skills they have acquired. For an Older Worker, this means that you can use a portfolio to highlight your skills and experiences, such as community involvement, volunteer activities, hobbies, and interests. Your portfolio can be a tool you use for yourself or you can present it to employers during an interview. A well organized portfolio can show a potential employer a wider range of skills and experience than a two page résumé is able to show.

Developing a career/life portfolio will reconnect you to skills and interests you may have forgotten. It will help you remember to give yourself credit for learning and skills that you might take for granted. Knowing you skills leads to more confidence and increased confidence can turn into a more effective presentation of yourself in job interviews. After all, if you know who you are and are proud of what you can do, it is much easier to tell someone else why you would make a great employee.

The career/life portfolio is usually presented in a binder. Documents are organized with dividers, labels and tabs. Plastic sheet protectors are useful for holding documents and work samples, and allow you to include these in your portfolio without having to damage originals. Placing original documents in your portfolio is not advisable in case it is lost; instead use color photocopies of originals. Making copies also has the added advantage of enabling you to scale the size the documents you include in the portfolio to the size of your binder.

Things to think about

• A career/life portfolio gets attention. ("Show and tell" is more powerful than just telling).
• A portfolio links what you can do and what the other person is looking for.
• A portfolio turns important attributes, skills and knowledge into tangible items.
• A career/life portfolio lends credibility. ("Seeing is believing.")
• A career portfolio helps you prepare for an interview, you can use it remind yourself of all your skills. If it is presented during the interview it can help to create the impression that you are well organized and properly focused.
• As an Older Worker who is changing careers, you can use the portfolio as a tool to present your transferable skills to an employer in a field that is new to you.
• A properly targeted portfolio can provide you with documentation and proof of 'prior learning' and skills when you are applying for further training. The portfolio helps to make credible the things you say about yourself in your written application. It can also covey the message that you are highly motivated and well organized in your efforts to go back to school.

Things to do

• Begin to collect all the documents you have that are connected with the work you have done, hobbies, volunteer and community activities. Documents or evidence can be items that would fit into categories such as: personal attributes, learning skills, specific task skills, people skills, self-management skills, major accomplishments, and community/volunteer service.
• Examples of Portfolio Documents
  • Résumé
  • Personal history
  • Business cards (past and present)
  • Attendance record commending you for excellent attendance
  • Letters of recommendation from past employers
  • Thank you letters
  • Photographs of items you are not able to put in portfolio (ie: items you have built, created, repaired, restored, etc.)
  • Sports affiliations/awards
  • Letter from police showing clean record if applying for a high-security position
  • List of references
  • Copy of degree, school transcripts, etc.
  • GPA (Grade Point Average)
  • Certificates
  • Licenses you hold
  • Samples of self-directed learning
  • Professional development activities (seminars, workshops, conferences, professional networking, professional organizations, etc.)
  • Examples of academic work
  • Letters from faculty/teachers
  • Writing samples
  • Project or work samples that illustrate a skill
  • Evidence of computer and other technical skills
  • Leadership activities (school, work or community)
  • Evidence you are an effective team player
  • Letters or articles announcing a promotion or new assignment
  • Proof of foreign travel/study
  • Personal mission statement
  • Results of career/personal self-assessments
  • Promotional materials you created, including designs or logos
  • Newspaper articles about you or something you were involved in
  • Volunteer affiliations
  • Performance reports
• As you collect these documents place colour photocopies of them in page protectors in your portfolio binder.
• Join a portfolio development program to help create a career/life portfolio that will effectively represent your skills to prospective employers. Contact your local Job or Career Resource Centre to find out about portfolio programs in your area.
• Remember that a portfolio is an ongoing process. Add things to it on a regular basis.
• Think portfolio-ask for a letter or document to show what you have accomplished.

Current Initiatives

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