Many industry fields may request or require a portfolio to demonstrate your work. Most creative positions will need a portfolio, such as art, film, music, graphic design, web design, writing and landscape design. Additional fields may benefit by providing a portfolio, such as, computer science and engineering fields.
A well-prepared portfolio provides a sample of your work and/or materials that demonstrate your accomplishments, skills and abilities.
A portfolio may be hosted on a personal website, DVD, demo reel or a website such as LinkedIn, Github, Tumblr or Wordpress.
A portfolio may include your resume, writing samples, digital images of your design, graphic and artwork. It may be video and audio.
You may choose to bring a hard copy to an interview. Print your work on premium paper and organize your work in a binder or folder. If you choose to bring your laptop to show your portfolio, be sure your battery is fully charged.
Creating your Portfolio
- It is not a chronology of your work.
- Select a sample of your best work.
- Your portfolio should be functional, user friendly and aesthetically pleasing.
- Keep it short and sweet. Remember they are reviewing several portfolios.
- Check to be sure everything works. Do not have broken links or images.
- If your work was a team project be sure to credit other’s work in your portfolio.
- You may need to give a breakdown of your work in your portfolio. For example: I wrote the story. I designed the graphic art for the website. I used this software to develop the website.
- You may need to show 3D images of your work or the stages of your production.
- Think about the audience or industry. For example: family oriented company would not want a violent non-family oriented portfolio.
A portfolio is a work in progress and needs to be updated and kept current.
Make sure name and contact information is on your portfolio.