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A Guide to Building an Online Portfolio
Regulars | Article

A Guide to Building an Online Portfolio

Many students prefer to concentrate on the all-important academics and tend to oversee the fact that the portfolio is becoming increasingly important. As the job market becomes more competitive, academic grades are no longer the only consideration for employers.

While a cover letter and resume can act as a formal summary of your career, a portfolio is a comprehensive collection of your most valued accomplishments. It helps showcase your skills and expertise in greater detail while providing an avenue for potential employers to assess your capabilities.

A Guide to Building an Online Portfolio

A Guide to Building an Online Portfolio

Many students prefer to concentrate on the all-important academics and tend to oversee the fact that the portfolio is becoming increasingly important. As the job market becomes more competitive, academic grades are no longer the only consideration for employers.

While a cover letter and resume can act as a formal summary of your career, a portfolio is a comprehensive collection of your most valued accomplishments. It helps showcase your skills and expertise in greater detail while providing an avenue for potential employers to assess your capabilities.

A Guide to Building an Online Portfolio

Let Your Personality Shine

Inject some personality into your portfolio and do not be afraid to show it through your site's design and user interface – not every detail on your site has to follow a strict template.

With that said, remember that a portfolio is only as good as the site's user interface. A prospective employer should be able to find your email address and gain access to your work samples, so make your site as user-friendly as possible.

Showcase Your Capabilities

Apart from showcasing your most valued projects, it would be wise to include a short excerpt explaining your thought process and the inspiration behind them. For those without much experience, this is also a great way to help fill up any empty spaces on your site.

If you are an aspiring architect or designer, merely inserting images of your work would not speak much. By inserting excerpts or descriptions, potential employers can gain insight into your working style and interests.

Consider Testimonials

Testimonials from your professors, internship supervisors and former clients are a good way to support and highlight your value.

Having testimonials elevate your credibility and assurance to the eyes of prospective employers. In addition, they also prove your level of professionalism and competency.

Useful Websites

Usually, money and extensive knowledge in HTML and web design are essential tools needed to create a website or online portfolio from scratch. However, the plethora of online portfolio websites and social media platforms available today eases the entire process. Some sites you can use include:

Wordpress
Wordpress is not just for blogging; it is an easy-to-use platform to showcase your work. It features various blog themes catered toward specific professions, such as photography and journalism. These professional themes add an impressively clean feel to one's portfolio.

However, remember to focus on simplicity. Do not bombard your website with too much information or too many distracting decorations.

Also, be sure to optimise your "About Me" page. Those who want to know more about you – such as "Who is this person?", "What qualifications do they have?", "Are they looking for work?" and "How can I contact them?" – will click on this. Be sure to include all of this information on the page.

Facebook and Instagram
While these two platforms are a great way to connect with your family, friends and colleagues, it can also be a useful tool to showcase your work. Not only will you be able to share the work you have done, your Facebook and Instagram pages can help you build a fanbase.

DeviantArt
As one of the largest art communities on the web, DeviantArt is a great tool for artists and graphic designers to display, share and even sell their artwork. You can also use it to get feedback and interact with like-minded artists and designers.

Journo Portfolio
Created for journalists, this user-friendly platform enables you to showcase your articles and written pieces through a variety of themes. The site is also mobile-ready, so your portfolio will look great on any device.