Build Your Career Portfolio

Build Your "Career" Portfolio - - Start Yesterday!
Remember all those drawings and paintings from first grade your parents stuck to the refrigerator? It's a good idea for you to save your own examples of your good work. Start today! You could be able to use them as a springboard to the start of your career.

The photos, programs, reports, etc, can become the elements of a career portfolio that can go farther than a resume or cover letter when you want to show a prospective employer what you have done; its better than just talking about it.

Don't think you have anything worth saving and showing off? Think again:

• The "A" papers you write show that you have good written communication skills, that you can organize your thoughts and meet the demands placed on you.
• A videotape of a competition or event where you were an active participant can show that you know how to speak or demonstrate your skills under pressure and in front of others.
• A letter you wrote to the school newspaper or your college admissions office shows an employer that you are willing to state your opinion about a situation, others, and yourself.
• The photos you have of your volunteer work demonstrate your real commitment to causes you believe in, and that you are interested in helping other people.

How do you start? Look at everything you do with your future career in mind. Save things starting today! By the time you graduate from high school, you'll have a good collection of things. Its easy; just get a big box and put in it anything you feel like "showing off" to someone else. You can always decide later what materials to include in your portfolio and how to organize it.

You may feel silly saving everything, but you'll be better off to have evidence of your activities and skills than to wish you did when you go in for your first interview for college or a job with only your memories.