My Career Voyage! Charting The Course

By Patty Edwards Shaver
MCV Career Development Facilitator

Creating a career portfolio can be the wisest career planning decision you make. It offers insight, clear direction and a plan to get you where you want to go. A portfolio also offers evidence of what you have done and can do for your next employer.

A portfolio is
• built from self-awareness through self-assessments, career exploration, planning and navigating your career voyage.
• a collection of records that provide evidence of knowledge, skills and abilities, and accomplishments to employers.

A career portfolio can be created in two parts: one for career planning that only you see, and the other part for collecting evidence of what you can do that potential employers can see. The first section can include career planning and research documents organized in sections pertaining to the My Career Voyage: Charting the Course process.

1. ASSESS: Look Within – The first tool in the career voyage is the spyglass. Rather than looking out, the career spyglass looks within to assess interests, skills, abilities, personality traits and work values. Before you can decide on the right career, you must “know yourself.”
   
2. EXPLORE: Find Direction – The career compass provides direction on the career voyage. It finds occupations that match your interests, abilities, personality and values.
   
3. PLAN: Chart the Course – The career chart involves a marketing plan and preparation of marketing materials: résumé, cover letter, business card and career portfolio.
   
4. NAVIGATE: Take the Wheel – The career wheel will help the career explorer navigate a successful career voyage while networking and using the best job search strategies.
   

The second section of the career portfolio should include evidence of what you can do. Collect everything you can from the past five years. Anything older than that may not be considered relevant. Place this information in your career portfolio. Arrange this section in a way that makes sense to you and is easy to find. Some examples of career evidence can include:

• letters of recommendation
  
• endorsements
  
• media/press samples
  
• writing samples
  
• promotional/design samples
  
• Web site you created
  
• project / work samples
  
• charts/graphs
  
• newsletter articles / announcements
  
• honors and awards
  
• letter of appreciation / acknowledgement
  
• work performance
  
• certificates / diplomas / licenses
  
• professional development activities
  
• leadership activities
  
• professional presentations/publications
  
• success stories (see
  
• volunteer activities
  
• organizational affiliations
  
• PowerPoint presentation
  
• Audio / video presentation
  
• Web site / blog
  
• Photographs
  

After you have completed the career planning section and collected career evidence, you have a master career portfolio. The master portfolio simply houses all career information. Other portfolios can be created from the master to fit specific situations such as, targeting a specific job, job interview, employment performance evaluation, and negotiating a raise.