What Is a Portfolio & What Should a Great Portfolio Look Like?

Have you ever been told to submit a portfolio for your job application? 

Simply put, a professional portfolio is an excellent way to present your works to potential clients or employers while demonstrating your qualifications for a project or a role. It’s particularly essential to have an online portfolio for your job hunting if you’re working in creative industries like writing, art, design, photography, etc. A personal portfolio, on the other hand, focuses more on personal branding - but is still beneficial for your career. 

Let’s dive into the importance of portfolios in job applications, check out amazing career portfolio examples and learn how to build one.

A portfolio can go under various names such as: career portfolio, work portfolio, and professional portfolio, depending on which profession you’re doing. Think of it as a curated collection of the best works you want to show recruiters and potential employers. Other than that, you can also use your online professional portfolio to develop your personal branding and sell your products. 

Note that a portfolio is different from a resume even though both of them are important for a job application. 

There are many ways you can build a portfolio for your career and each format is structured differently.

Check out the most common formats of a personal portfolio: 

Digital portfolio file

A digital portfolio is a file in the format of PDF, .doc, .jpeg, or .mp4 file. It works well when attached as a file to an email sent to the employer.

Online portfolio

An online portfolio is created on platforms like Cake, Behance or Dribbble; and can serve as a tool to create a bigger online presence.

Website

A portfolio website is essentially a website that consists of your works and is usually created using platforms like Wix and WordPress. It works just like how any other website would.

Physical or paper portfolio

This portfolio type is compiled manually in a folder or printed out to show employers and clients during a job application.

Whether you're writing a professional portfolio or a personal portfolio, make sure to include the following elements. 

1. Cover page

Imagine hiring managers and clients open your job portfolio along with many others at the same time. It is the cover page that grabs their attention and makes the first impression. To ensure they won’t immediately close your online professional portfolio, you should put extra effort to design it carefully to serve its purpose and show your personal taste. 

2. Self-introduction and/or resume

The self introduction for a career portfolio is similar to a CV summary statement. You will need to showcase the key points about you, including: 

• Professional title 
• Years of experience
• Your passion and expertise 
• Key skills 
• Outstanding achievements 

You can also include your resume in your personal portfolio or career portfolio, if your goal is to showcase your career journey. Including your work history in your personal portfolio with a concise resume can be an effective tool to demonstrate your qualifications and capabilities. 

3. Work samples

These pieces of information are particularly important for a job portfolio. Without work samples, there's no need to include a portfolio in your job application. Based on your profession, you can present your works in different formats like images, videos, illustrations, etc. 

For example, a photography portfolio will need to showcase captivating pictures, whereas the highlights of a teacher portfolio for the interview will be impressive video lessons and digital lesson plans. If you shoot products or short time-lapse sequences for clients, it also helps to revisit practical product photography tips so your lighting, composition, and pacing stay consistent across the series.

4. Side projects

Have you worked on something that is unpaid or just for entertaining - but they are actually relevant to what potential employers and clients are looking for?

Go ahead and leave some room for them in your personal portfolio! By doing so, you can easily point to the work you have done in the past, and thus get a leg up on the competition.

5. Licenses or Certifications

These supporting documents are high quality evidence of how you acquired a high level of knowledge and mastered your skills in your field. Thus, including licenses, certificates, or professional development seminars you have attended will enhance your credibility and highlight your qualifications for the position.

6. Awards or other proofs of accomplishments

Have more to bring to the table to demonstrate a higher level of your competence? Then it’s never a bad idea to include these proofs in your portfolio.

7. References

It's highly recommended that you put together a list of references or testimonials to your career portfolio. That way, you can attract more potential clients in the future. 

However, take this into consideration if you decide to include your portfolio in a job application. Some employers may doubt the veracity of the claims unless they really hope to learn more about your job performance and work attitude in the past.

Step 1: Choose a suitable format for your portfolio.

As mentioned earlier, the choice of portfolio format varies between industries and the type of content you want to include. For instance, videographers or film-makers would find digital or online portfolios more convenient because it’s more convenient to access video works in a digital format, whereas artists or models might want to have a physical portfolio prepared when they attend an audition or interview. 

It's important to follow the instructions from the hiring managers. You may create an online professional portfolio that you can view from anywhere, but you can prepare several hard copies for the interview as well. 

Step 2: Arrange the materials with a consistent layout & design.

Keep in mind to categorize your works for convenient viewing. That will make it easy for site visitors or your portfolio readers to navigate and it also helps showcase your professionalism. 

Let's say you're making a design portfolio for your job application, your works can be sorted out chronologically or by different styles and the tools you used. 

For physical or paper portfolios, you can use a binder, folder, or portfolio case to make the pages easy to flip through. Other ways to help employers find information easily are using section dividers, tabs, and color-coding.  

Step 3: Opt for a simple color palette & clear font style.

It's a great idea to make your personal portfolio visually appealing, especially for any candidate in the arts or design fields. That being said, make sure you select a simple color palette and easy-to-read fonts. The final goal is to retain visitors on your web page.

Step 4: Proofread your portfolio.

Don't rush to publish any data without running a thorough check. An online professional portfolio may encounter some bugs or there might be typos sometimes. 

Step 5: Frequently update your portfolio.

This might take you a lot of time and energy but it's totally worth it! Make sure you pay attention to both the content and design of your job portfolio and haven’t missed anything essential. 

Get inspired by the following portfolio example that can help you create a portfolio in your job application.

The graphic designer portfolio example shown above serves as a dual-purpose showcase, highlighting the candidate's formal experience while providing a gallery of their most successful works. This approach ensures that a potential employer can immediately verify the candidate's skills while understanding the professional context of the project.

For more portfolio examples, you can check the following pages:

• Cake
• Behance
• Adobe Portfolio
• Pinterest

..or you can also check out our articles on portfolio examples!

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--- Originally written by May Luong ---