— Professional portfolio is not reserved exclusively for creative professionssuch as graphic artists or designers. This is the biggest “urban legend” regarding recruitment, explains Anna Gniadek, a labor market expert. According to her everyone – from a miner and a nurse to an HR director – can and should have a portfolioto present yourself in the best possible way on the labor market.
Having a portfolio also makes job interviews easier. It allows us to talk not only about responsibilities, but also about specific work results. Unfortunately, application forms often do not allow you to attach additional documents apart from your CV.
— If someone has the time, funds and basic skills, it could be the solution own website that serves as an online business card. I also recommend the My Portfolio website – a free tool developed by the Educational Research Institute. It allows you to create a professional profile, as well as take advantage of advice and sample portfolios of people at various stages of their career – explains Natalia Lisiecka, career advisor and headhunter. Just include a link to the website in your CV.
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What should a candidate's professional portfolio look like?
As Julia Fedde-Czech, Head of Headhunting at TeamMakers, explains, a well-prepared portfolio should start with a short, factual answer to the question of who a given person is professionally and what he or she is really good at.
— This is not about an extensive biography and list of responsibilities, but about a clear value proposition: what problems I can solve, in what business contexts and what tools I use.
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Experts unanimously emphasize that its most important element are specific case studiesi.e. project descriptions that will show, above all, the context of the situation.
– Every one of them should embed activities in the organizational contextsure define a business problemspecify the candidate's role and show the decisions made and their effects. Numbers, changes and conclusions are key here. In my experience, this is the case a few well-described projects provide much more than a dozen superficial examples – says Julia Fedde-Czech.
He adds that the way of presenting competences is also an important element of the portfolio. Instead of listing them, it is much more valuable to show where and in what context they were used. This especially applies to areas such as change management, strategic thinking, and leadership, which remain empty slogans without reference to specific situations.
— Additional reinforcement comes from the voices of others – short recommendations, project references or stakeholder opinions that confirm the presented actions.
Portfolio for Junior. How to present yourself without experience?
In the case of people who are changing industries or are at the beginning of their career, portfolio is a chance to present your own ideas on improvements, optimizations or savings that the candidate could bring to a given organization.
Anna Gniadek emphasizes that the purpose of the portfolio is making the market see the value the candidate bringseven if he is just starting to work in a new role. It allows you to “sell” your potential despite the lack of commercial experience in a given area.
— The portfolio should present, how the candidate approaches problem solvingand what educational path he followed. If during our studies we implemented: private projects made with new tools, we can show them as evidence of competence, explains the expert.
He adds that a great idea for a portfolio is to use storytellingi.e. documenting your path, e.g. in the series “My path to becoming a programmer” in social media. — It's still an underrated format. Meanwhile showing progress, mistakes and small successes builds credibility and allows recipients – including recruiters – to identify with our story – he explains.
— It sometimes happens that candidates are active in some associations or voluntary organizations. Sometimes they are active on social media, take part in competitions and hackathons. Sometimes they do something as a hobby, e.g. on GitHub. It's worth adding it to your portfolio, adds Natalia Lisiecka.
All training, certificates and projects carried out during studies can be valuable tips for the employer. Our competences are transferable, they can be translated into specific needs in a new place. If we don't see it ourselves, we can ask one of the AI models to tell us what is worth mentioning.
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How to stand out on the job market
— We must be aware that competition is fierce today and decision-makers are often flooded with messages with traditional CVs. Very similar to each other, because more and more often candidates optimize them for specific offers with the help of artificial intelligence – emphasizes Natalia Lisiecka.
As a result, each CV has the same template, stripped of the things that go beyond what is in the advertisement and which may be a decisive differentiator and determine the employer's decision.
— Job advertisements are not always constructed perfectly – sometimes the hiring manager does not really know who he is looking for. It only comes out during the process. If we uncritically trust these tools, we will deprive our CV of things that could ultimately turn out to be our advantage – adds the expert.
The portfolio serves as a relational tool
There is more and more talk about trying to establish contact directly with the recruiter, e.g. on Linkedin. A portfolio can be a good excuse for this.
As Natalia Lisiecka emphasizes, when everything is being automated, direct contact with the employer is an excellent strategy. Of course, we have no guarantee that everyone will reply, but it certainly increases our chances of getting noticed. We must remember that not all recruitments are announced on portals. It is worth taking care of these relationships.
This way of thinking about the portfolio means that it is no longer just a tool for the candidate's self-presentation. For recruiters and employers, it becomes a source of specific knowledge about work style, decisions made and real impact on the organization. In practice, it allows you to quickly assess role fit, reduce the risk of unsuccessful recruitment and make more informed decisions.
