The Career Portfolio Workbook

Again, the above list is not meant to be all-inclusive. We provide it only

to get you thinking about things you might have that could prove use-

ful in your portfolio. Don’t worry if you don’t have many of the above

items, or even any of them. The important thing is that the documents

that you do eventually find give evidence of important P.E.A.K.S.

For further inspiration you might want to take a moment to thumb

through some of the portfolio items in Part 2.

STRATEGIES FOR CREATING NEW DOCUMENTS FOR YOUR COLLECTION

When assembling your Master Portfolio, in addition to looking for doc-

uments you already have, you should be looking for opportunities to ask

people for new documents and you should be on the lookout for oppor-

tunities to create some of these items yourself.

Ask people to create useful documents for you. Do not just wait for

documents to come to you. If someone, for example a friend, colleague,

professor, customer, or client, praises you or thanks you for something

you recently did, you might ask this person:“Would you write me a

short note restating that so I can include it in my portfolio?”

The chances are they will be happy to do so and may even be in-

trigued by the idea of a portfolio. If they reply that they’d like to write

you a note but are very busy right now, you can offer to do a draft of the

note, which they can edit, put on their stationery, and sign. (You may

have observed that many, if not most, letters of recommendation get

done this way!)

If the person is your current boss, you obviously don’t want to cre-

ate the impression that you are looking for a job unless he or she knows

that you are and is supportive. However, you can tactfully say some-

thing like,“You know, Mary [insert your boss’s name], I’m sure that

someday, possibly quite soon, you are going to be moving on to a bigger

position. When that happens, I want to make sure that I have a good

portfolio ready so that I can get a good position, too.”

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

6. Task Accomplishments (cont.)

• Printouts from Web sites created for
  clients/employers


• Training manuals and programs you cre-
  ated


• Performance appraisals received, if highly
  favorable


• Evidence of a favorable 360-degree perfor-
  mance evaluation*


• Evidence of achievements in clubs, sports,
  hobbies, or other recreational achievements


• Tax return information (e.g., proof of past
  commissions/earnings; proof of profitable
  business)
  7. Community Service
  
  
  • Volunteer organizational affiliations, posi-
    tions held
  
  
  • Activities specified and illustrated: hours,
    photos
  
  
  • Awards
  
  
  • Thank-you letters for community service
    time or accomplishments
  
  
  • Peace Corps service
  
  
  • Pins/medallions awarded
  
  
  • News articles about you or something you
    were significantly involved in
  
  
  
  

*Evaluations from a sample of all the people you work with and for.

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Team-Fly®