Using Your Portfolio

It is becoming more common for job seekers to put together and use a portfolio at interviews. Portfolios allow you to prove the claims you make about your skills and experience. (For more on assembling a portfolio, see the George Brown Career Services website.) I have noticed that many job seekers do not know how to use it effectively during an interview - you don't just give your portfolio to your interviewer(s) and say, "Here, look at this." Here are a few scenarios where the effective use of a portfolio can help to land the job:

USING A REFERENCE LETTER

A reference letter is a great way to prove a wide variety of things: skills, experience, achievements/accomplishments, reputation, interpersonal manner... anything that the letter talks about!

Imagine the interviewer gives you the fabulous opening, "Tell me about your last job." Ta-da! While you're talking about your last job, open up your portfolio to the reference letter from your last supervisor and point out the part where s/he talks about the major project you completed, ahead of time and on budget. Proof! Make sure you have a photocopy for the interviewer to keep (never give an original - you'll never get it back.)

USING A CERTIFICATE

Say you have a certificate in conflict resolution. If the interviewer asks you, "How do you handle conflict?" that's a perfect opening to show your portfolio. Tell the interview about a real-life work scenario where you handled a conflict, and show the certificate and explain that you felt strongly enough about wanting to handle conflict effectively that you went and got trained on it (or, if you got the training before the example you gave, explain how the training helped you to handle it). Proof!

USING A SAMPLE OF YOUR WORK

If the interview is kind enough to ask you something like, "What kind of work did you produce for your last employer?", be glad! Open up your portfolio and show them the example of a document you created for a particular event at work, explaining key items on it and why you made it look (or read) the way that it does.

As I said before, make sure you have a photocopy for the interviewer to keep (never give an original - you'll never get it back.) It shows organization and leaves them with proof that you can do the job.


As you can see, it isn't that hard to make great use of a portfolio. Proof sells! Use your proof to promote yourself and land that job.