P1: Digital Portfolios

How do you convince a potential employer that you are technologically adaptable? You provide a technology-rich portfolio with examples that you can discuss.

Portfolios come in two flavors: a hardcopy portfolio and a digital portfolio. Hard-copy portfolios are slowly falling out of favor but are still used at times. You may want to have both, but digital portfolios are more useful in today’s business climate.

High school and college students should have most, if not all, of the projects you have completed. The technology should function well. The navigation should be streamlined and easy to follow. You should create subcategories – skills and/or areas – for ease of organization and navigation. Which skills you highlight will depend upon your desired job. Think about how you want to present yourself both in the portfolio and in the documents you choose. Both are important; the container, the portfolio itself, is as important as the content.

A digital portfolio is an electronic argument for your abilities that includes examples and samples of your previous work. You may want to include the following:

• An intro page introducing you (one to two sentences) and containing a Table of Contents (TOC). To stand out, you may want to create a TOC that does not look like a traditional TOC. The TOC items should be linked to other content areas.
• Resume-type information: schooling, job experience, awards, etc.—no private information like address or telephone number. You may want to include an email address or contact widget.
• Content areas containing projects exemplifying your skills. Projects might be accessed from more than one area. For example, a technical writer might have multiple areas: writing, editing, design, technology, teamwork, and user experience. A software programmer might organize projects by language. If you are focused on tech skills, you may want to organize your site by language. You can just have a list of projects as well, though some organizations can look very professional.
• Annotations: For each file/project, provide a short explanation covering whom the project was created for (if stating a school course, use course titles, not numbers), the purpose of the project, any special circumstances or challenges, the skills highlighted by the project, and (for group or team projects) the part you played in the project. Place this information into the portfolio in a way that makes it complementary rather than distracting.
• Hyperlinks and easy navigation. Links to the TOC and/or home page on each relevant page are helpful.
• Easy portability. In other words, you should be able to provide a link or a single file (can be a zipped folder) to access the entire portfolio.

Digital portfolios are a terrific way to provide a great deal of information on your background and experience. You can easily provide this information to a potential employer, letting them see just how talented you are.

Your portfolio should reflect you as a professional. What technology you use and how you design it should show your personality, your knowledge, and your skills.

Content

I have provided a list of what is typically included in a portfolio above, but what should you put in your portfolio? You can use any school, work/internship, or volunteer project to complete the portfolio. You can even put in projects done for friends or family, though frame it as any other volunteer job: “created for the birthday of Mr. Smith” not “created for my dad’s birthday.” Academic papers can be used as writing samples. Work/internship examples are the best examples, with schoolwork next, then volunteer work.

This portfolio should showcase your skills. For instance, if you want to focus on graphic design, your portfolio’s design should be awesome.

If you are not sure what type of job you want, you may need multiple portfolios focusing on multiple skills, though only worry about one to start. Learn what your field requires and show some basic knowledge of the field’s major areas of focus. What you emphasize will depend on your target job.

You may want to create a section entitled “Technical Skills.” Somewhere within that section, explain that you have taken a course in technological adaptability. The exercises you have completed through this workbook would be acceptable examples in that section.

However you decide to set it up, a digital portfolio can set you ahead of the competition in a job search. If your portfolio is online, place a link to your portfolio at the bottom of your resume.