Hello friends!

Today, I want to share with you the importance of creating a work portfolio for your career and provide you with actionable steps to create a great one.

Showcasing your work portfolio is a unique way to make a lasting impression on recruiters and hiring managers. We noticed that candidates typically do not create and send work portfolios when applying for roles. This creates an opportunity for anyone willing to do a bit of extra work to stand out.

Creating and showcasing a good one can leave a lasting impression on the recruiter and lead you to get interviews even if your resume is not strong.

A short presentation helps you show (rather than tell) your interviewers how effective you are in your field. It is a systematic way to showcase past projects you have completed and problems you worked on while showcasing your creative and communication skills. It also shows your care and interest in your work.

What is a Work Portfolio?

A work portfolio is a collection of work samples and projects that effectively showcase a person's skills, accomplishments, and experience relevant to their field or the position they are applying for.

It is presented as a strategic tool to make a lasting impression on recruiters and hiring managers, going beyond the traditional resume and cover letter to visually demonstrate the candidate's capabilities and successes.

Essentially, there are two ways you can use portfolios to gain attention from recruiters and hiring managers:

• Attaching it as a supplementary document during the application process (In addition to the resume and cover letter)
• Presenting it during your interview (ask and show your slide deck)

You don’t need to build your work portfolio on a website. Google Slides is more than enough to create a great work portfolio. It's simple and easy to use, and you can quickly export the slides as a PowerPoint or PDF file.

Here are the steps associated with work portfolio setup:

• Step 1: Gather 3-4 examples of your past work
• Step 2: Write a short description of the project
• Step 3: Create a slide deck with images and descriptions
• Step 4: Showcase your work portfolio in an interview, resume, and LinkedIn

Let’s look deeper into building your work portfolio on Google Slides.

Step 1: Gather 3-4 examples of your past work

Creating a work portfolio begins with collecting examples of projects or problems you worked on.

These examples may include reports, evaluations, published work, spreadsheets, presentations, articles, plans, workflows, graphs, books, products, services, or programs you help create, maintain, or complete.

Take time to brainstorm first. Go through emails and past files and check what you can use as past work. If you use Google Drive for work, check in there as well.

Once you have collected your portfolio, select pieces for your presentation and take screenshots.

Here are some examples:

• If you are a teacher or trainer, you can take pictures of your curriculum and materials you created for the class.
• If you are a programmer or developer, you can screenshot a specific feature in an application (only if it is publicly available).
• Product managers or business analysts can take pictures or screenshots of the roadmap or products they worked on
• Project managers, consultants, and analysts can take screenshots of plans, schedules, diagrams, and guides they put together to showcase their work.

Find 3-4 pieces to add to your work portfolio. Start with projects or problems most relevant to your ideal role or that you enjoyed the most.

Please make sure that you take screenshots of images of publicly available information. This is very important. Do not take screenshots of any information that could give away the trade secrets of any companies you worked for.

If you have difficulty finding images related to your project, you can take a screenshot of the company's website or the webpage of the service or product you worked on. In the next section, we will discuss how to write a great description that will help explain the project or problems you worked on.

Step 2: Write a short description of the project

Once you have selected 3-4 portfolio pieces, write a short description explaining critical details about the project.

There are three items to think about when writing the description. Write a short description based on the following:

Step 1: Name the project and why the project existed.

Provide a name and reason for the project’s existence

Example: Project HighGPA.com: Worked with my team to develop a tutoring program that helps students study for exams easier.

Step 2: Actions you took pushed the project forward.

Write 3-4 actions you took to move the project forward.

Mention any tools and software applications you used in the project.

Example: Developed video courses and books; Created product features list; specified and delegated tasks for over 10 projects through Jira Application; negotiated contracts with tutors; gathered customer feedback, etc.

Step 3: Results you had for each project.

Outline 1-2 critical results of the project.

For example, I completed the project ahead of schedule and on budget and signed up 100 students in three months for the service.

If the project is ongoing, you say, “The project is still ongoing and successfully moving forward”.

Step 3: Create a slide deck with images and descriptions

Once you have collected the screenshots and built the description, you can set up the slide deck. I recommend using Google Slides as it can be accessed anywhere and anytime, quickly and easily.

Create one slide per project that contains at least a screenshot and the critical details of the project.

Here is an example list of the slides:

• Slide 1: [your name] portfolio
• Slide 2: Table of content
• Slide 3: Screenshot of your professional summary list in your resume
• Slide 4: Name and a screenshot/logo of the portfolio piece #1
• Slide 5: Description for item #1.
• Slide 6: Name and a screenshot/logo of the portfolio piece #2
• Slide 7: Description for item #2
• Slide 8: Name and a screenshot/logo of the portfolio piece #3
• Slide 9: Description for item #3
• Slide 10: Thank you slide

Feel free to be creative, but keep it professional. Use 1-2 color tones max for slides. I recommend using a white background.

Step 4: Showcase your work portfolio in an interview, resume, and Linkedin

Show it in the interview

In the interview, ask the interviewer if there is time to share a few slides based on some of the projects you worked on in the past. Most of them will say yes! Tell them the presentation will make it easier to discuss your experiences in detail. I recommend asking this question at the beginning of the interview.

Ask, “Is it ok if I share a few slides on some of the projects I worked on in my past roles? It will help me talk about my experiences a little bit better?” If they say yes, great! Pull it up on screen sharing software or your computer. If they say no, you can send them the slides as supplementary material in the post-interview thank you email.

Hyperlink it in your Resume

When you insert the portfolio as a link in your resume, it provides recruiters with an additional data point they can consider when selecting candidates. Do a quick online search to learn how to hyperlink text in Google Docs or Word. If done correctly, the portfolio should put you on top of the list.

Show it on LinkedIn Featured

On Linkedin, there is a section called “Featured.” This section will let you hyperlink your Slides to your LinkedIn profile.

Send it as a Supplementary Item

When applying for jobs, you can also add the portfolio as a supplementary item. Most job application portals allow you to attach additional documents to showcase your abilities. This is a great place to attach your work portfolio as well. You can attach the work portfolio as a PDF file (do a quick online search to see how to publish Google Slides as PDF.

That’s it for this week. See you next Sunday!

Dulik Kohomange​
Executive Coach & Business Advisor
Find me on LinkedIn | Visit my Website​

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