Portfolio:What is a portfolio? A portfolio is a record of goals, growth, achievement, and attributes developed over time and in collaboration with others. Your portfolio is a record of your learning process; what you have learned and how you have gone about learning; how you think question, analyze, produce, create; and how you interact, intellectually, emotionally, and socially, with others.

What should be included in a portfolio?

*

Goals and Values Work

*
Certificates, Diplomas, and Degrees
*
Work Samples / Resume
*
Community Service
*
Letters of Recommendation
*
Professional Memberships
*
Works in Progress
*
Academic Plan of Study
*
Transcripts- if Received
*
References

Why do you need a portfolio?

A portfolio is a tool you can use to sell yourself in your search of employment. Take the portfolio to your interview and show a potential employer manager what you have. Show them why they need you on their team. Use the portfolio to stress your strengths in different areas. Competition is tough in the job market. A personalized portfolio can help you when competing with other good candidates. It will help you improve your confidence because you will have information to back up what you tell employers. By putting together your portfolio, you will not only learn to recognize your strengths, but also where your weaknesses are and how to compensate for them; or improve upon them.

Guidelines for Organizing a Portfolio

The following guidelines are intended as tips for ease of assembly and  effective organization.

1.   Use a good quality three-ring binder. Choose a color that does not soil easily.

2.  Begin with an identification page that includes names, address, and telephone number. Pictures are optional.

3.   Place multiple - page or otherwise irregularly shaped entries in plastic sleeves or pockets.  Do not damage any artifact in order to include it. For example, do not hole punch a certificate, rather put it in a plastic sleeve.

4.  Remember that portfolios are representative, not comprehensive.  For example, choose one or two representative notes from the staff when you left; not all thirty of them, or one or two or your best English papers, not your entire semester’s work.

5.    Include a table of contents that identifies the overall organization of the portfolio.  Indicate and label the sections clearly.  Color coding and/or oversize dividers may be helpful.

6.    In general, arrange your portfolio in a way that makes it easy for you and reviewers to identify goals you set and your subsequent progress or achievement.

7.   Remember that portfolios are dynamic.  To facilitate easy changes, set-up word processing files for your statement or rationale, reflections, and table of contents etc.
Page 60
Page 61