Introduction
What are portfolios?
When you’re going to find clothes to buy at the store, you’re probably gonna pick the ones that appeal to you the most. You might be intrigued by a particular brand that stands out to you out of others. Does it really matter what clothes you buy? After all, they all serve the same purpose of covering your person.
That just about applies for your future employers too. When employers are out looking for possible candidates to hire, they’re going to pick whoever catches their eye, or what intrigues them. Employers are aware that just like how all clothes are meant for covering one’s person, all workers are trying to get a job in order to work. However, it’s how the workers grab the attention of the employers’ the most that get them picked, just like the clothes.
If you want to stand out in front of future employers, it’s crucial that you have a strong portfolio that shows off your work, and information about yourself that grabs the attention of employers. In this blog, we’ll be going over what a portfolio is, why it’s important to have a good one, and tips on how to improve your very own portfolio.
What is a portfolio?
A portfolio is like a digital profile that you can use to introduce yourself, showcase your skills in your profession, your qualifications, and tell about your career experience to future employers/clients.
In your portfolio, you can use it as an opportunity to showcase your flair, demonstrate your creativity, and give a little bit about your personality.
Why is it important to have a strong portfolio?
If your portfolio hooks employers and grabs their attention, they’ll have a much better chance of choosing you over other candidates. After all, appealing to employers is all just a game of first impression. Chances are, those employers don’t know you personally, or they’ve never even heard of you at all before. If you want to establish a strong first impression to your future employers, it’s important to have an eye-catching and strong portfolio.
Things to build upon in a portfolio
Your skills:
This is the base of your entire portfolio. Employers are looking at your portfolio to see how well you can work and how you work. They can get a good picture of your work ethic and style if you can effectively demonstrate and display your skills/work onto your portfolio.
Your past works/projects:
Showing off what you’ve done up until now is a great way to show what you can do, building on top of your skills. If your past projects prove to be consistent, employers can get a good idea on how skilled you are and your creativity in your work.
Applications/Languages/Programs that you’re experienced with:
Portfolios are all about showing your experience. If you have any good experience using tools that could market you as a more efficient worker, it’s a great idea to include so. For example, If you’re in a software development job for Python but you also know a good amount of javascript, it’s great to include that. When you showcase that you’re a versatile worker that has experience in many different skills, it makes you available for many different tasks—deeming you more valuable in the employee market.
Information about you:
It’s very important that you showcase your professional skills and your experience in the workfield, but telling a little about yourself in your portfolio is also a good way to add personality to your portfolio. After all, employers also take into consideration a little bit about your background as a person.
You could include your hobbies that you do in your spare time, or your favorite sports team, things of that sort. For example, let’s say you play golf in your free time. After telling about your work experience, you could include, “Beyond my work life, I play golf regularly in my free time, etc…”. Just a little touch to include in your portfolio.
Previous work/career experiences:
Including your work experiences or experiences in your career field is a good way to add depth to your portfolio. Depending on how long you’ve been working and your accumulated experience, it could deem you a more credible employee to employers.
Levels of education:
Adding to your work and career experiences, telling about your levels of education also tells more about yourself as a worker. If you’ve had certified education experiences that demonstrate that you are knowledgeable in your field, it will add to your credibility and appeal as an employee and worker.
Keep it short and simple:
Last but not least, do not give a wall of information to your employers to look through. If you’ve read my last blog, you’d know that humans barely have the attention span of a goldfish. If they see too many things in front of them, they’re not going to pay much attention to every single one of them, and they may miss some crucial information about you.
Instead of bombarding them with too much information, just include what you want them to see most. Include only your highlights. For example, if you have a lot of projects to showcase that you’ve done in the past, try to only include the best ones. Not only will it save the employers time, but it will also narrow down your portfolio to your best works and highlights.
Conclusion
To create a strong first impression of the business scene, having a good portfolio is crucial. Employers can use someone’s portfolio to evaluate how well of an employee they can prove to be after they’ve been employed. Now that you’ve read and learned about how to create a portfolio, do you think you have what it takes to create a strong portfolio?
How to make a portfolio: top 10 tips
4 Secrets to Building a Portfolio That’ll Make Everyone Want to Hire You
5 Tips for Your Professional Design Portfolio
Sources used to study portfolios and figure out strategies on how to improve one’s portfolio.