Career Portfolio

Introduction to Career Portfolio

Materials Needed

1. A 3-ring binder. Choose a binder that holds up to 20 pages. Use a professional looking binder.
   
   
2. 20 clear, plastic sheet protectors. Non-glare plastic is best.
   
   
3. 3-5 Dividers
   
   
4. A box or file to hold your collection of items.
   
   
5. Your items
   
   

• Introduction

  • Short introductory letter or Cover letter
    
    
  • One page Resume
    
    
  • Completed sample job Application
    
    

  The Collection

  • Work Experience and Community Service Projects
    
    
  • Special Skills and Training
    
    
  • Academic Information
    
    
  • Work Ethics, Teamwork, and Leadership
    
    
  • Personal Information
    
    

Introductory Letter or Cover Letter

The introductory letter tells a little about you and introduces your portfolio.

A cover letter is used to briefly introduce yourself and to state your job objective. It is focused on a certain job that you are applying for. Your educational background and the skills you have that apply to the job you are interested in, may be included.
Additionally, the letter may be included when you mail or present a resume or job application. In the letter, request an appointment for an interview.
Templates for both of these letters are underlined links above.

A resume should be included in your portfolio. There are several kinds of resumes: a chronological resume, a functional resume, and a combo resume.

A chronological resume organizes your work and volunteer experience by dates. The most recent experiences are listed first. Experiences from the past, for example last year, are listed last. When you have alot of work experience or volunteer work the chronological resume is best.

The functional resume focuses on your skills and work ethics. You would list special abilities, education, and work ethics. Work ethics could include good attendance, hard worker, positive attitude, etc. When you have little or no work experience the functional resume is best.

A combo resume combines both the functional and chronological resumes.

The application gives information not included on your resume. An application provides an easy to find place for your important dates . If you are asked to fill out an application everything you need is right there.

The Collection section of the career portfolio lists the items that may be collected. There are 5 main areas to collect:

• Work Experiences and Community Service, whether paid or volunteer, show an employer that you have worked somewhere. You have been responsible for going to a job.
  
  
• The Special Skills and Training section gives an employer, vocational training programs or college information about a your competencies.
  
  
• The Academic section provides colleges and universities information about course work and grades.
  
  
• The Work Ethics section shows a student's background in these areas and can be used for an employer, college and university, or a vocational training program.
  
  
• The Personal Information section provides agencies such as DVR or a DDD vendor with eligibility information.

Each section has a list of items or examples that may be collected and used.

• STRIVE certificate of participation
  
  
• Job descriptions -- formal
  • photos
  
  
• Community Service Projects
  • use photos, articles, summaries
  
  
  
• Internships or Apprenticeships
  • Letter of recommendation from supervisor
  • Summary of experience
  • Photos
  
  
  
• Volunteer activities
  • awards
  • certificates
  • Job description

• List of competencies mastered. An example is the Spokane Skill Center Competency list.
  
  
• Certificate for completion of a training program
  
  
• Licenses
  
  
• Brochures, agendas, or programs for workshops, seminars, and conferences attended
  
  
• Photos, newsletter articles, membership cards, and materials about an honor society or other organization you belong to
  
  
• Copies of certificates and awards for special skills
  
  
• Job descriptions
  
  
• Examples and photos of what was learned in independent learning or self-taught situations
  
  
• For special accomplishments
  • describe how and what you did
  • photograph of activity
  • graph or chart showing the improvements made
  
  
  
• For major projects:
  • describe the project
  • photograph of the project
  • brochures or flyers made for the project

• Copy of your High School Diploma. Use only copies. Keep your original diploma in a safe place, like a safe deposit box.
  
  
• Transcripts
  
  
• Examples and photos of what was learned in independent learning or self-taught situations. These need to be related to the job or program you are applying for.

• Letters of recommendation
  
  
• Performance reports and evaluations
  
  
• Attendance records
  
  
• Officer or committee member in a club, organization or group
  
  
• Customer surveys
  
  
• Use photos, school or other news articles, and certificates to show you are a leader in the group
  
  
• Awards for teamwork or participation in team sports activities
  
  
• Awards for participation or photographs for activities involving teamwork

* IEP

Include the most current plan

* Summary Analysis

Include the most current

* Learning Styles

Summary that tells an employer or vendor agency, who will be training you, how you learn best. What works, what doesn't.

* Vocational Aptitude Tests

* Vocational Interest Surveys

Provides a vendor agency information about your career likes and dislikes.

When items have been collected that show your abilities and background in each of the 5 areas above, you may put together your portfolio.

Your portfolio is not a book that will look the same day after day. Your portfolio should change as your needs change.

If you are presenting yourself to a person who will decide whether you may enter a certain university, college, or vocational training program, you will choose sections and pages to match your abilities and background to the school's requirements. For example, if you are applying to a university, you will show the:

• Introduction section
  
  
• Personal Information
  (with information on your disability to be eligible for special services at the school)
  
  
• Academic Information section
  
  
• Items from the other sections if they match or show proof of meeting the requirements.

If you are applying for a certain job, you would match your portfolio pages to the job requirements. You would choose the pages that show your capability to do the job. **In this case, you would not usually include the Personal Information section or the Academic section, (unless a high school diploma is required).
Items to include are:

• Work experiences
  
  
• Work ethics (attendance, recommendations, etc.)
  
  
• Skills and training that show you can do the job.

Match your portfolio to the situation. Prepare your portfolio to match each situation, adding sections and items or removing them to fit the job. Place any sections and pages you are not using at that time in a safe place.

To keep your portfolio professional looking, follow these guidelines:

• Show only 3 to 20 pages.
  
  
• Your items should be placed carefully in sheet protectors.
  
  
• The items should all be facing the same direction. Do not use the back side of the sheet protector. The portfolio will look neater and more professional.
  
  
• Photographs need a short description. The description should be carefully printed or typed, with no spelling errors.
  
  
• Place dividers between pages to organize and find items quickly.
  
  
• Do not let your portfolio look like a scrapbook. Keep it neat and orderly.

Back up your portfolio. Make a copy of each of your items so if an item is somehow lost you will have an extra.

Keep adding items to your portfolio collections. Update your resume. Remove items, but hold on to them for safekeeping, when they are outdated.