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Elements of a Career Portfolio

Presented at ENG on October 5, 2006

by Bob Podgorski

Summarized by Jim Todd

A career portfolio helped Bob move from Operations to HR and from a high tech company to education. A career portfolio is an organized collection of all your essential careering information in a central location. It might be done on a flash drive, disk, hard drive, or CD. It might be in a file drawer, box, or group of folders. It probably will be a combination of these methods.

A career portfolio may contain:

• Biography - A journal of events in your life and your thoughts and opinions. It is important to write down your thoughts and reflections, so it can help you understand who you are and what you’re all about. It can be private. It will help you move from one job to another or one field to another. It can be written, typed, dictated, or scanned.
• Education – transcripts, course descriptions, diplomas, certificates, seminar programs…
• Military – DD214, training, assignments, specialty, locations, civilian equivalents, ribbons, citations…
• Articles published
  
• Patents / copyrights
  
• Job History – titles, dates, supervisors, peers, assignments, department description, environment, confidants, mentors, references, training, recognition, work in /work out, addresses
  
• Past job descriptions
  
• Salary history
  
• Awards, performance evaluations
  
• International experience and language skills – someday we may be looking for jobs overseas.
  
• Company information - Information on the company, not you. Company history before, during, and after your employment there, because companies change. Products and services provided, customers, sales figures, literature, watersheds. What changed the company history while you were there? What was your role?
  
• Consulting work and entrepreneurial experience
  
• Volunteer work and community service - that can show skills employed
  
• Organizational affiliations
  
• Hobbies / interests
  
• Competencies and skills - competencies apply to every position e.g. strategic thinking or communication. Skills apply specifically to your job, e.g. project management.
  
• Knowledge and abilities - breadth and depth, including interests that you can carry on after the job ends
  
• Assessments and aptitudes – Myers-Briggs, Strong Interest Inventory…
  
• Desired occupation description - “This is what I want in a job” – environment, duties, peers, etc.
  
• Alternate occupations
  
• Resumes, cover letters, handbills
  
• Elevator speech - 30-second and 2-minute versions
  
• Networking contacts – group according to close, associated, and distant. Group according to relevance to your target function, industry, or company. Note how desirable or influential the person is.
  
• Expected interview questions and answers, and questions to ask interviewers – study these until they are smooth. Be prepared for behavioral interviews.
  
• References – current contact information, duration worked together, relationship, key interfaces, personal reflections of that person, accomplishments he can vouch for
  
• Work samples, examples, evidence, presentations - nothing confidentia

Keep your career portfolio all in one place, current, active and ready. “The door to Paradise (the new job) is a revolving door.” It will refresh your (and your references’) memory. It will save time, for example to customize your resume. It will build your confidence. It will be a useful tool during career changes.

Q: Can I title this “What I want to be when I grow up”? We might realize at some point we want to do what we love rather than what we’ve been doing.
A: Yes

Q: This will help if previous companies or references are gone.
A: Right

Q: How do we do this for long-past events?
A: First, write out what you want to do, i.e. “This is what I want in a job.” Then recreate as many references as you can.

Q: What should we take with us on job interviews?
A: Bring your list of references (name, contact information, relationship) and examples of your work, if appropriate.

Robert Podgorski
Manager, Extension Services, Harper College
1375 South Wolf Road, Prospect Heights, IL 60070
847-925-6005
rpodgors@harpercollege.edu