Everything Your Professional Portfolio Needs
“Market yourself. Brand yourself. Promote yourself. Invest in yourself.” — Jai Nice.
We work really hard. We work really hard in elementary school to get a solid academic foundation. We take that academic foundation with us into middle school and work really hard to add complexity and sophistication to it. We take that complexity and sophistication into high school and work really hard to get into a good college. While in a good college, we work really hard to develop our skills and determine our place in the world. And once we’re done with all that schooling, we take absolutely all of it, and work really hard to make a living, contribute to society, and achieve self-fulfillment.
So, after all that work (literally, decades of it), why wouldn’t we keep track of it? Why wouldn’t we share it with others? Why wouldn’t we use it to achieve even better work? That’s literally all a portfolio does. It keeps track of our biggest professional accomplishments so that we can assess our performance, build upon it, and visually communicate our value to others.
I know. You’re not an artist. For some reason or another, we’ve come to associate portfolios with creatives. But let me tell you, portfolios are for everyone. Because their contents are applicable to everyone. Here. I’ll show you.
Start your professional portfolio with your personal information.
A sample of my portfolio’s introduction.
Just like any of your professional or branding materials (think cover letters and Instagram profiles), you want to start off with a brief introduction of who you are. This means listing:
Name and title: this does not need to be in complete sentences.
What you do, why you do it, and how you do it: detail this in 2-3 sentences, using bullet points and keywords where appropriate.
Contact information: email address is best, but you can even include social media handles.
This shouldn’t be lengthy. It is just to provide the context for your work and open the door to further communication should the reader like what they read. Don’t be afraid to infuse a bit of your personality! But don’t get carried away and include too much slang, acronyms, song lyrics, or anything else unprofessional lol.
The body of your professional portfolio should focus on your biggest and best projects or pieces of work.
For creatives, this will be primarily visual — displaying photos and/or videos of significant pieces of content. For the rest of us, this will be primarily written — detailing significant projects and/or accomplishments. When detailing these things, include the following:
A sample of my portfolio’s projects listing.
An identifying descriptor: your reader may not be familiar with your job title, responsibilities, or industry. So use descriptive words that provide relevant context for the type of work you’re about to detail.
Your finished product/result: lead with the impressive part — what did you end up accomplishing? And don’t be afraid to use numbers (i.e., you raised $10,500 in just three weeks; you sold a product to 30+ merchants in 10 states; you reached 6,475 users with just one post, etc.).
How you accomplished it: what role did you play in getting to that finished product or result? Brag on yourself a bit!
A photo: it can be a relevant photo of you at work (i.e., at your desk, in the field, at a conference, etc.) and not a selfie at the beach lol. It can be a photo of the product or service being discussed. It can also be a stock photo of your industry — computers, social media, etc. But you need something visual.
Links: where appropriate and helpful, include links. Typically, you want to keep people on your website or portfolio, and not refer them out. So links are only needed when they’ll really drive home your accomplishment.
Round out your portfolio with a listing of your education and any relevant training.
A sample of my portfolio’s education listing.
After your readers read all about how badass you are, they may want to know how you came to be so amazing! Or… for those negative nancies, they may want to confirm that you’re credible. The way you demonstrate your credibility and expertise is by listing your education and training. This can be where you went to college — for any and all degrees; any relevant licenses or certifications you’ve earned; and even any professional awards you’ve received. Don’t make the list too long because then they won’t read it. But make the list comprehensive.
You can even include client, customer, colleague, and supervisor testimonials!
A sample of my portfolio’s testimonials listing.
It never hurts to add testimonials about you and your work to your portfolio. In the marketing world, they call testimonials “social proof,” and that’s because they’re often the form of proof people are looking for to show that you do what you say you can do. When you have clients and customers, these testimonials are easy to solicit and include. When you don’t, it can get a little tricky. But the next time you have a performance review, take note of some of the positive comments provided by your supervisor. Next time you have a colleague respond to an initiative of yours with praise, take note. These can all be added to your portfolio… But don’t add them all. Try to stick with 4-8.
In sum, start that portfolio… like now :).
Feeling convinced? Ready to get started? Well good! You can build this portfolio on your LinkedIn, your social media profiles, on a PDF (via Canva), or even on your website. Do it over a week or two, in sections. Pour love and intention into it. Let it represent all that you’ve worked hard for. If you have questions, let me know! If you need help, let me know! If you want to show me your finished product, I’d love it!
