Portfolio Project

Purpose:

A Career Studies Portfolio is a collection of purposefully selected items that you will gather during this course to illustrate your skills, values, abilities, and interests. These items will reflect the experiences you will have both in and out of school. Because of your personal, academic, and interpersonal skills will be developed during your experiences, you can use these selected items as tangible reminders and evidence as you plan your career path. The Career Studies Portfolio will help you to clarify your interests, abilities, and aspirations. It will enable you to keep track of what you do well and to identify areas that need strengthening. In this way, the Career Studies Portfolio will assist you in establishing future goals and education and career plans. As well, you will be able to use items from the portfolio when applying for community placements, part time jobs, and in the future, when you apply for admission to specialty courses or other educational institutions.
But why have a portfolio at all? Isn't a resume enough? A resume is essential, but a portfolio can do things that a resume cannot. Competition is tough in the job market. A personalized portfolio can help you stand out from the crowd. A personalized portfolio; sets you apart, shows your unique and marketable qualities, illustrates the depth of your skills and experience, assists you with marketing yourself in an interview, and supports what you tell the employer by demonstrating what you have to offer.( Always mention your portfolio in the reference section of your resume and your cover letter.)

Benefits of a Career Studies Portfolio

	Contributes to the student's sense of accomplishment.
	Provides materials to use in preparation for more education and/or a job.
	Connects home, school, and community activities.
	Promotes personal accountability.
	Develops an awareness of the student's own knowledge, skills, and values through self-assessment

	Collect items that tell a story about something important you have done or items that are a permanent record of an accomplishment. Examine your daily life to see what you have to show that you are an active, capable, employable person. Put them in your portfolio. Throughout this course, collect products of your activities in class and in the community. You will decide what you want to put in your portfolio, but here are some suggestions.
	Evidence of progress toward goals-goals journal, certificates, report cards.
	Items from out-of-classroom experiences-photographs, video or audio tapes, written reports, articles, or letters.
	Results of activities and projects carried out as part of your personal exploration- charts, graphs, polls.
	Items that demonstrate accomplishments-badges, certificates, letters of recommendation.
	Items that show skills, interests, and attitudes-personal inventories, photographs.
	Items that tell about the school year-scrapbooks, photo albums.
	Evidence of reflection - journals, evaluation checklists, visual art.
	A resume.
	A letter from your doctor saying that you are allergy-free.
	Evaluations from your volunteer placement at a seniors centre.
	A letter of recommendation from the supervisor.
	Your academic achievement record.
	A letter of recommendation from your physical education teacher.
	A letter of recommendation from the swimming instructor with whom you coached juniors each Saturday.
	First aid certificates.
	Recreational certification.
	Honour certificates or awards from your school.

PORTFOLIO FORMAT AND ORGANIZATION:

Your biggest time commitment will be the initial development of your portfolio, but once you've developed it, keeping it current and up-to-date should be fairly easy. Your two biggest decisions in developing your portfolio are:
Format:
Students in the elearning segment can scan items ( Resumes, letters of recommendation, pictures of trophies won) and submit this information as a Corel/ Power Point Presentation or as a web site. All other students will purchase a Record of Achievement ($15.00) to house all materials in.
Organization System:
You should include a table of contents at the beginning of your portfolio for ease of finding information. Use dividers to separate the various categories of the portfolio. You will need to place similar items together. For example, if you have three letters of recommendation, they should all be placed in the same area of the portfolio, not scattered throughout. A well-organized portfolio indicates that to a potential employer that you are a serious job seeker.

A Sample Career Studies Portfolio

Here is a list of items that one student gathered after participating in a Career Studies Course as well as volunteering in a community seniors centre for 20 hours.

Resume (up-to-date).
Two letters of recommendation (one from a senior, one from a supervisor).
List of daily responsibilities carried out during each centre visit.
Audio tape of special interview project carried out with seniors.
Safety Course Certificate.
CPR Certificate.
Personal collage done in class (and photos of seniors doing similar at seniors a centre).
Learning Style Questionnaire.
Career Interest Inventory.
Facts about the future of career choices in working with the elderly.
Newspaper photo of recent family reunion and article written by student.

UPDATING YOUR PORTFOLIO:

Once you have accepted a job offer, remember to keep your portfolio current. One way is to create a portfolio file. Save copies of materials you have written, projects and ideas you have worked on, and notes on activities and decisions you have made that had positive results. Remember, you never know when your next job search will begin.