The Career Portfolio Workbook

sought in a candidate. And you will want to keep focusing on the future,

or the interviewer might think you are too good to lose in your present

position.

You might wish to leave a full copy of your portfolio behind, so that

the people who are evaluating you can be reminded that your abilities

are far more extensive than they might have initially thought.

To see an example of how a portfolio might be targeted for a pro-

motion, you can refer to the Amanda Ferraro case in Part 2.

Use 4: To Make Lateral Moves within Your Organization

A portfolio can be very helpful if your goal is to make a lateral movein

your present organization. Here we are talking about moving sideways

without necessarily moving up in the chain of command. Getting a sub-

stantially different work assignment or a new kind of job in a different

department are examples of lateral moves. Reasons for pursuing such

a change may include wanting to gain broader experience within an or-

ganization, wanting to work with different colleagues, or wanting to

work on a specific assignment.

To assemble a useful portfolio, you should do many of the things

that we suggest you do if you are seeking a promotion. However, you

should also remember that the further the lateral move would take you

from your present setting, the more likely you are to be misinformed

about the key P.E.A.K.S. and responsibilities associated with the new

job. Therefore, it is particularly important that you learn as much as

you can about the new opportunity from people in the organization who

can give you reliable information about both the job and the person to

whom you will be reporting. Here are two other things to consider as

well.

Try to include evidence in your portfolio that you are a quick and

dedicated learner. You want to be able to make the statement “I can

learn new things quickly”and be able to back it up—particularly if the

new job is perceived as a real stretch for you. Documents that refer to

successful projects you have done in the past that required a lot of on-

the-spot learning demonstrate that you are a “quick study.”Evidence

that you have continually engaged in professional development activi-

ties, like attending workshops, could demonstrate that you are orient-

ed toward continually learning new things.

Feature P.E.A.K.S. from your present job that would be useful in the

new job. Rarely are two jobs entirely different. Any of the P.E.A.K.S.

that are important in your present job that would be considered very

useful in the new job should be demonstrated in your portfolio—espe-

cially if these P.E.A.K.S. are particular strengths of yours.

Use 5: To Change Careers

Changing careers means making a radical shift in the work you do. Ex-

amples of a career change include taking on a totally different kind of

job in the same field, like transitioning from being a stage actor to be-

coming a marketing person for a theatrical company. Or, even more

106 Part I: Building, Using, and Maintaining Your Career Portfolio