Do You Have an Online Portfolio?

Summary: Keeping an online portfolio that is current and organized will make an impression on potential employers that resumes and cover letters are not always able to do.

A recent Forbes article noted that 56 percent of hiring managers are more impressed with a candidate’s online portfolio than any other personal branding means. Sadly, most candidates do not take advantage of this opportunity, only 7 percent had an online portfolio.

A job search is about marketing. You are working to get your name known in the right places. Cover letters, resumes, networking are tools that most use to accomplish this goal and an online portfolio is just another tool that can greatly impress potential employers. To be a competitive job seeker, you need to have your information out there are easily accessible. Include a link to your portfolio on your resumes, business cards, cover letter, email signature, article biographies, social media accounts, and presentations. A portfolio will help you maintain what information about you is floating around so that you can keep it accurate, professional, and current.

A portfolio acts as an extension of your job qualifications beyond what you can cover in a cover letter and resume. There may be a project that you are especially proud of that you can elaborate more on in your portfolio. Everyone likes to see over be told something so a portfolio can also allow you to include videos, photos, links to some of your work, writing samples, presentation slides, and designs.

When the time comes to look for a new job, you may have been off the market for a number of years so remembering the projects you did four years ago can be difficult. Keeping a portfolio up-to-date will make it easy to stay organized and refresh yourself on all your big accomplishments. You can keep all your important documents in a single spot so that you never have to go searching through your boxes of stuff for a professional certificate. You can access your resume from any computer anywhere in the world.

The best part of a portfolio is when you are having a down day because the job search isn’t going like you had hoped, you can open up the portfolio and reminisce on how amazing you are. Looking back at your skills and growth can a real confidence booster and may give you the needed insight to market yourself better.

Photo: skillcrush.com