My CollegeRecruiter.com | Employers & Advertisers
Question:
I've noticed that CollegeRecruiter.com and some other job boards allow job seekers to build on-line personal portfolios. Are they different from resumes? Why would you want to build an on-line personal portfolio rather than just posting a resume?
First Answer:
Resumes usually follow a very prescribed and formal style. An online portfolio is less formal and gives you a chance to add more and distinctive information about yourself that you might not necessarily find in a resume. Online portfolios usually allow you to add hot links to your work, so that prospective employers can see what you can do, immediately. Be careful what you write in an online portfolio. "Casual" doesn't mean sloppy! Be sure you check for typos, proper grammar and style, and limit the "sensitive" information about yourself to protect your privacy!
-- Alison Blackman Dunham, life & career expert, columnist, personal public relations consultant, half of THE ADVICE SISTERS®, and the author of the ASK ALISON career advice column
Second Answer:
This question could not be more timely for me because I have just attained the credential of Certified Electronic Career Coach after taking an intensive course that taught me how to create Web-based portfolios. Good examples of portfolios are at:
Yes, online portfolios are more than just a resume, although a resume is usually included as an element of the portfolio. In fact, it's wise to have your resume available to download and/or view in various formats. You can see that in my portfolio, I have versions of my resume each available in Web form (HTML), Word (Rich Text), ASCII text, and Portable Document Format (PDF).
Beyond the resume, however, the portfolio is, according to the Professional Resume Writing and Research Association, "a robust, Web-based presentation of a candidate's skills, experience, and accomplishments. Through its captivating visual marketing presence, it stands head and shoulders above the static, 2-D paper resume and the ugly ASCII text resume. While traditional job candidates are wondering if their e-mailed resume attachments were discarded by an employer during an Internet virus scare, e-mails with links to Web portfolios are being received with curiosity and interest -- precisely what is needed to reach the jaded employer."
Further a Web portfolio can help you stand out from the crowd and convey your qualifications more effectively. Let's picture a couple of scenarios:
An employer upon receiving your online application calls you for an initial screening interview. When the employer asks about your skills, experience, and accomplishments, you can refer the interviewer to specific examples in your Web-based portfolio that illustrate your qualifications.
Let's say you're in a networking situation -- the social hour of a meeting of a professional organization in your field. You're looking for a job and asking for advice from the colleagues you meet there. Some of them know of openings that would be great for you, so they would like to know more about you to determine if they can recommend you to their employers for these openings. Imagine if you could hand them a business card with the Web address of your online portfolio -- which would give them you a big-picture view of you -- and more.
A Web portfolio is obviously a great choice for those in visual professions -- graphic design, architecture, photography. But a Web portfolio can provide a visual presentation of anyone's problem-solving skills, writing skills, communication skills, project-management skills, and much more. Notice that Lee Haines, the college student whose portfolio I cited above, offers a PowerPoint presentation, a Web-page design, some work in Adobe PhotoShop and Illustrator, and articles she wrote. She also includes a transcript, which is an interesting touch. And she gives examples of her skills in communication, creativity, critical-thinking, leadership, life-management, research/project-development, social responsibility, teamwork, and technical/scientific.
Unlike a paper portfolio, a Web portfolio can have virtually endless pages (though you probably wouldn't want to be excessive). And you can easily add to and update the portfolio.
A Web portfolio, according to Rebecca Smith, instructor of the certification course I took, can also be used as an "ongoing systematic collection of selected work....[that can] form a framework for self-assessment and goal-setting."
Obviously, I could go on and on about the value of Web portfolios. But since a picture is worth 1,000 words, perhaps you can best see the value of them by reviewing the samples in this response.
-- Katharine Hansen, former speechwriter and college instructor who provides content for the Web site, Quintessential Careers, edits QuintZine, an electronic newsletter for jobseekers, and prepares job-search correspondence as chief writer for Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters
Third Answer:
Portfolios -- whether they're of the on-line or print variety -- are most definitely different from resumes because they give you the opportunity to present yourself to prospective employers in much more detail. As importantly, portfolios allow you to offer proof to back up the statements you make on your resume. It's one thing to, for example, say on your resume that you have strong communication skills; it's quite another to DEMONSTRATE that fact by featuring several communication-related awards in your portfolio.
An on-line portfolio also tells prospective employers that you have better-than-average technical skills (you must, or you wouldn't have an on-line portfolio!), and that you're able to develop and execute effective presentations.
One tricky thing about on-line portfolios is that it can be difficult, in some cases, to get employers to look at them. After all, there are some employers who simply don't have good technical skills themselves, and who thus may be uncomfortable trying to access your on-line portfolio. Fortunately, most on-line portfolio systems today make things very easy on both the people developing portfolios (job seekers) and the people who want to evaluate them (employers). You simply have to encourage the employers you approach to look at your on-line portfolio -- and then make it as easy as possible for those employers to do so.
Anytime you can back up the claims you make on your resume or in interviews, you'll stand out from other job candidates. A portfolio -- on-line or print -- can help you do just that.
-- Peter Vogt, college career counselor, President of Career Planning Resources, and a Personal Career Coach with College to Career
Fourth Answer:
A sample of an on-line portfolio is available to users of CollegeRecruiter.com at /pages/sampleresumesandcoverletters.php
-- Steven Rothberg, President and Founder of CollegeRecruiter.com
