Career portfolio

Career portfolios are used to plan, organize and document education, work samples and skills. People use career portfolios to apply to jobs, apply to college or training programs, get a higher salary, show transferable skills, and to track personal development. They are more in-depth than a resume, which is used to summarize the above in one or two pages. Career portfolios serve as proof of one's skills, abilities, and potential in the future. Career portfolios are becoming common in high schools, college, and workforce development. Many school programs will have students create, update, and use a career portfolio before moving on to the next level in life.

Career portfolios help with a job or acceptance into higher education institutes. A career portfolio should be personal and contain critical information. Items that should be included include (but are not limited to) personal information, evaluations, sample work, and awards and acknowledgments. Career portfolios are often kept in a simple three-ring binder or online as an electronic portfolio and updated often. A career portfolio is used as a marketing tool in selling oneself for personal advancement. In some industries, employers or admission offices commonly request a career portfolio, so it is a wise idea to have an updated one on hand.

In the 21st century web technology has filtered its way into portfolios especially in the digital work place job market. While traditional C.V. style portfolios still dominate the portfolio world it is common to back it up with a website containing personal statements, contact details and experience.

More and more job seekers are building personally branded websites to validate and distinguish their skills, accomplishments, and experiences. Social web sites such as LinkedIn have become popular, as have services from websites which offer to host portfolios for clients. These web services provide users the tools to include all forms of digital media in their websites, including documents, images, videos, and audio files.

Resume reels and demo tapes are a type of portfolio. They are used by many in the arts such as musicians, actors, artists and even journalists.

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Wikipedia