Career portfolio

Career portfolios are used to plan, organize and document education, work samples and skills. People use career portfolios to apply to college or training programs, get a job, get a higher salary, show transferable skills, and to track personal development. They are more in-depth than a resume, which is used to summarize the above in one or two pages. Career portfolios serve as proof of your skills, abilities, and potential in the future.Career Portfolios are becoming common in high schools, college, and workforce development. Fact|date=January 2008 Many school programs will have you create, update, and use a career portfolio before moving on to the next level in life.

Career portfolios can be used to obtain acceptance into higher education institutes or to obtain a job. A career portfolio should be personal and obtain critical information. Items that should be included (but are not limited to) include personal information, evaluations, sample work, and awards and acknowledgements. Career portfolios are often kept in a simple 3-ring binder and updated often. A career portfolio should be thought of as your marketing tool in selling yourself for personal advancement. Many admission offices/employers will request a career portfolio, so it is a wise idea to have an updated one on hand.

Another typical example of a portfolio is one used by artists. Artist portfolios consist of artwork that the artist can take to job interviews, conferences, and other networking opportunities to showcase his or her work, and give others an idea of what type of genre the artist works in. Art Portfolios, sometimes called "artfolios," can be a variety of sizes, and usually consist of approximately ten to fifteen photographs of the artist's best works. Some artist create multiple portfolios to showcase different styles and to apply for different types of jobs. For instance, one portfolio may be mainly for doing technical illustrations and another may be for surreal painting or sculpture.

Models and Actors often use online portfolios to showcase their career with a digital display of their photos, biographies and skills. Talent portfolios can also include video.

Animators typically use demo reels, also known as "demo tapes," in place of or in addition to, portfolios to demonstrate their skills to potential employers. Demo tapes have traditionally been short VHS tapes of approximately five minutes in length that showcase some of the animator's best works in as little time as possible. However, some employers have begun accepting DVDs in place of VHS tapes for demos reels.

Career portfolio include development, assessment and showcase portfolios.