The candidate would then present two letters of commendation from
his or her portfolio. (For an example of a letter of commendation, please
turn to Part 2.)
Obviously, the letters of commendation will not cover everything
that was involved in these projects. But they do lend credibility to the
candidate’s claim that he has a strong work ethic, is creative, and can
get results while working on more than one project at a time.
The letters of commendation may not, in fact, refer explicitly to the
candidate’s “organizational skills,” but the candidate will have the
opportunity to discuss the organizational skills used on these two pro-
jects. And, because of the evidence presented, the interviewer is likely
to be a willing listener.
Documents in a portfolio are not meant to tell the whole story. A
document that is properly selected and presented will pique the inter-
viewer’s interest and lend credibility to the statements that the job can-
didate makes in explaining the context for the document. In the above
example, even though the letters of commendation may not refer to
these specific traits, the job candidate can talk about how he or she had
to set priorities and get the right people going on the right tasks in
order to get things done successfully and on time.
One important thing to remember:You can show portfolio docu-
ments from non-work situations.In the previous example, the job can-
didate showed documents that came from the world of work. But if this
person were a student, he might show documents associated with sev-
eral projects accomplished at the same time while in school. A person
who has taken time off from a work career to raise a family might show
documents associated with volunteer projects, such as fund-raising for
the PTA or organizing a neighborhood block association party. A picture
of the latter event would enable the job candidate to discuss the many
activities that had to be organized to have a successful turnout. The
point: Use the best stuff you have, which will vary according to your
background.
Another key point to know about using a portfolio is that you
should never leave your portfolio behind at the conclusion of an inter-
view. In fact, it’s not even a good idea to hand your portfolio to the per-
son with whom you are meeting. Once you let go of your portfolio, you
lose control of how you present the information in it. We will discuss the
particular do’s and don’ts for showing your portfolio in future chapters.
The example in this section of how a portfolio might be used occurs
in the context of a job interview. There are, of course, many alternative
uses for portfolios, including asking for a raise and going through a per-
formance evaluation. We will discuss how you can use a portfolio in
these and other situations in greater depth in Chapters 6 and 7.
Before ending this chapter, we will give you a brief overview of the
P.E.A.K.S. process of assembling and targeting a career portfolio for ef-
fective use.Chapter 1: Introduction: What Is a Career Portfolio? 13