should notbe the central feature of the interview. You will want the em-
phasis to be on you, not on your portfolio.
You do not have to have a perfect portfolio that you would show
from cover to cover. What you do want to have is a collection of items
that you can strategically draw on to support claims you wish to make
about yourself.
If you have not done so yet, you might want to take a look at “How
Do You Actually Use a Career Portfolio—and When?”in Chapter 1, to
get an idea of how a portfolio can be used strategically.
If you are intending to use your portfolio for something other than
getting a new job outside your current organization, you can consult
Chapter 7 to learn more about the specific strategy your portfolio
should support.
To assess the strategic value of the items in your draft portfolio, we
recommend that you keep the list of desired P.E.A.K.S. that you devel-
oped in Step 5 readily visible and ask yourself which of the items in
your draft will enable you to achieve one or more of the following four
strategic objectives:- Covering the high-priority P.E.A.K.S.If there is a particular person-
al characteristic or a specific kind of experience, accomplishment,
knowledge, or skill that is likely to be considered highlydesirable in
a candidate, you should try to include several different documents
that give evidence that you have this special something. - Demonstrating key personal characteristics.You may not be able to
include entries in all of the P.E.A.K.S. categories, but you should give
a high priority to identifying documents that indicate that you have
the particular personal characteristics that the interviewer is likely
to consider desirable. Remember, your portfolio gives you the oppor-
tunity to make these intangibles tangible. - Leading from strength.Any of the desired P.E.A.K.S. that are par-
ticular strengths of yours should be documented, if possible. - Addressing important concerns.Is there something about your can-
didacy that makes you vulnerable? An example of a vulnerability
that can be effectively addressed with a good portfolio item is the
gender issue that the male OB/GYN physician featured in Part 2
faced. Roughly 80 percent of the doctors he would be competing
against for a position in the women’s health field are female physi-
cians. The burden was on him to overcome the presumption that fe-
male patients find female doctors far more sensitive to their needs
and concerns than he, as a male, could ever be. For this reason he in-
cluded in his portfolio a letter from a female patient that thanked
him for his caring manner and sensitivity to her concerns and needs.
Items that allay any concerns that might arise about your qualifi-
cations are strong candidates for inclusion in your final draft.To completeStep 8,pick the eight to twelve itemsthat you believe
will best help you achieve the above strategic objectives. (Okay, you can
go higher, but, please, no more than twenty!)148 Part I: Building, Using, and Maintaining Your Career Portfolio