How to create a career portfolio: a step-by-step guide

A career portfolio (also referred to as a professional or work portfolio) is a collection of your best work that you can use to show potential employers what you've accomplished. While a resume is usually only one to two pages and limited in scope, a portfolio can be a "showcase" of your projects, testimonials, education, skills, and experience. A career portfolio allows you to show, rather than tell, a hiring manager about your work experience, outcomes, and what sets you apart from other applicants. Therefore, it's important to learn how to create a career portfolio to shine a light on your work and your accomplishments and demonstrate that you're the best candidate for the job.

In this article, we’ll discuss:

• How do you decide on a format for a career portfolio?

• What should you include in a career portfolio?

• How do you create a personal career portfolio?

• Creating an online portfolio

• 6 Tips for creating a great career portfolio

How do you decide on a format for a career portfolio?

How you create the format of a career portfolio depends on your field and position. If you’re seeking a job in tech, you’ll include examples of projects you’ve worked on, or if you’re applying to be a copywriter, your portfolio will contain samples of your writing. The most important things to consider when deciding on a format are to determine what your portfolio will contain and how you can best showcase the contents. Depending on your field, you may want to include audio and/or video clips, a slideshow, or interactive aspects. If you’re in tech or media, you could also include a thumb drive with samples of your work to go along with a hard-copy portfolio.

Before deciding on a portfolio format, though, you need to consider who your audience is and design it accordingly. The "look" of your portfolio will vary based on who you are as a professional, your desired career path, and the industry in which you’re looking to work. It’s important to stay true to your professional identity while adhering to the parameters required by a potential employer or client. This means your portfolio could be formatted as a website, a PowerPoint slideshow, or a hard-copy version (like an artist’s portfolio that you carry to the interview with you). Your career portfolio should be well organized and easy to read and consider including a table of contents so that the hiring manager can find the desired information quickly.

What should you include in a career portfolio?

To create a top-notch career portfolio, start by collecting digital or physical copies of the work you’ve done in previous positions. (At this point, consider quantity over quality—you’ll be culling the list to your best work later). If you work in a tech or creative field, you most likely have everything you need right on your computer, such as articles, reports, PDFs, photographs, examples of code, websites, or software. If you don’t work in a field that generates digital samples of your work, such as education, you can include items such as your teaching philosophy, examples of student work, reflections, research, and assessments. You can also include testimonials from previous clients or managers attesting to the quality of your work, as well as a detailed biography including your education, career path, and goals.

No matter your field, your career portfolio should contain the following items:

• Name and contact information

• A “mission statement” that includes your professional values, beliefs, and goals 

• A career summary that provides an overview of your skills, accomplishments, and experience

• A short biography outlining your relevant work experience, education, and career path This is a great opportunity to “show off” a bit of your personality by using a bit of humor or talking about things you’ve had to overcome to get to where you are today

• A copy of your resume

• Hard and soft skills that are relevant to the position you’re applying for

• Your achievements, awards, and accomplishments

• Certifications, degrees, or licenses you possess

• Samples of your work

After you’ve put together your work samples and other relevant documents, it’s time to start “thinning the herd.” Take a thoughtful look at each one of your samples and select the ones that show off your work in the best light and are most relevant to the position or career you’re pursuing. For example, if you’re planning to apply for a management position, make sure to include samples that demonstrate your talents for crafting proposals and how you put them into action. Also, eliminate any work that is more than 10 years old; unless it’s award-winning material, you’ll want to stick to more recent projects.

How do you create a personal career portfolio?

It all starts with your resume. Your portfolio should always include several copies of your resume, even if the potential employer already has a copy (you never know; things get lost). You should also compile a detailed list of both hard and soft skills, broken down into separate categories, if necessary. 

Your degrees or certifications should be scanned or copied and included towards the front of the portfolio. Letters of recommendation are important and should be placed in a separate section. And don’t forget any awards or achievements, which should be placed either with your work samples or education information. For both a hard copy and online portfolio, include photos of your work, especially if you’re in a visual arts field. If you’re new to the working world, school projects are fine to include. Also attach any positive feedback you received from supervisors or managers, or tangible results from the project.

For compiling a physical copy of a career portfolio, use a three-ring binder, using tabs to keep your sections organized and easy to find. If you’re including a CD of your visual materials, use a special pocket or holder with a three-ring attachment so that it stays secure in the binder. Each section should be labeled with a tab, starting with your contact information and resume at the front, with other tabs for education, work experience, accomplishments, and samples of your work. Create several copies of this portfolio, since you might have to leave it with an interviewer so that they can reference it later. 

Make sure your portfolio is tailored for each job you’re interviewing for. For example, if you’re applying for a job as a copywriter, the employer most likely won’t be interested in any coding projects you worked on. And, finally, ensure that all of your documents are saved digitally, which will ensure you always have them handy and nothing gets lost. 

How do you create an online career portfolio?

While the basic information in your career portfolio should be consistent no matter the format, if you’re looking to create a website version of your portfolio, you should investigate different website hosting services, such as GoDaddy or WordPress, and take some time to learn the basics of website design. Your background and "theme" (colors, font, designs, etc) should be aesthetically pleasing but not distract the reader from the important information—your work. 

Every section of your portfolio should be accessible from the menu bar at (or near) the top of the page, and a short biography should be on the landing page. You can incorporate material like embedded audio or visual clips, but shouldn’t take precedence over the website’s overall organization, accessibility, and design. 

Your website’s content should also include SEO (Search Engine Optimization) keywords that are often used by hiring managers when using search engines, such as Google, to find candidates for open positions. While you can use specialized software such as Google Analytics to help you with this, if that's not doable for you, visit the websites of companies for whom you’d like to work and pick out keywords that come up frequently on their pages.

6 Tips for creating a great career portfolio

A career portfolio is a great way to showcase your skills and accomplishments and help you stand out in a competitive workforce. But you can't just throw it together and "see what sticks." Here are 6 tips on how to make your career portfolio the best it can be.

1. Your career portfolio should support your professional brand

Your professional brand highlights who you are as a professional and what sets you apart. While your resume should be clean and streamlined, your career portfolio is a great opportunity to show a prospective employer what makes you unique through the judicious use of color, graphics, and imagery. However, you'll still want to keep your portfolio uncluttered and easy to read, and make sure it draws attention to the important information, such as your work and relevant documents. Remember, this isn't your personal blog; it's a professional visual representation of your work and accomplishments.

2. Include the link to your portfolio on your resume

A portfolio won’t be of much use if recruiters don’t know it exists. While you should ideally have both a hard copy of your portfolio as well as a professional website, make sure you include the link to your portfolio on your documents and in any application materials. 

3. Be selective in what you include in your career portfolio

You have more "space" in your portfolio than you do in your resume, but that doesn't mean you should include everything you've ever done in your career. Think about what it is that makes you special, as well as what a prospective employer might be looking for, and choose your content carefully. Also, keep in mind your "end game." Are you looking for a new job? Gunning for a promotion? Trying to land new clients? Your career portfolio should include things that support your goals, without any irrelevant information or clutter.

4. If you don’t have any work samples, create some

Let’s say you’re switching careers into graphic design, and you don’t have any professional samples to show. That’s okay—make your own “mock” examples! Create a logo, infographic, or ad layout for an imaginary client to show off your skills. Just make sure that they’re labeled as such, and don’t try to pass them off as work for an actual company or client.

5. Keep it clean and uncluttered

We’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating—don’t make the viewer hunt for the information they need. For example, on the website page that showcases your work, keep the text to a minimum and let the photos of the work do the talking. The reader should be able to click on an image they’re interested in and find out more context and details of that particular piece of work. This paints a more unified, cohesive message about your work (and your portfolio) that provides the needed information in a way that is easy for the reader to absorb and utilize without getting overwhelmed with “clutter.”

6. Don’t let your portfolio stagnate

Keep in mind that your portfolio is an ever-changing document that must be continually updated throughout your career with new work samples, skills you’ve acquired, and up-to-date testimonials, referrals, and career summaries. Even if you have no immediate plans to leave your current position, make sure you prune old work from the portfolio in favor of new ones that best highlight your skills, goals, and accomplishments, as this portfolio can also be used to demonstrate your qualifications if you’re looking to move up the company ladder.

Need help mapping your career? Check out Career.io’s Career Pathways tool, which will help you explore interests, bridge skill gaps, plan for your future, and more!

Key takeaways

1. A career portfolio is a collection of your best work that you can use to show potential employers what you’ve accomplished. 

2. Your career portfolio can be a physical copy or a website.

3. Items that should be included in your career portfolio include samples of your best work, contact information, testimonials/recommendations, professional anecdotes, and awards and achievements.

4. Your career portfolio should represent your brand. So, include only your best work and be updated regularly.