Building A Strong Career Portfolio: Preparing for the Workplace

Davinia Bascombe |  Careers Consultant

Building A Strong Career Portfolio:  

Preparing for the Workplace  

27/10/2025

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What’s In Your Career Portfolio? 

Finding the career of your dreams should be, if not already, a considerable investment – not necessarily financial unless you’re really keen to spend, but an investment in strategy, finding the right people or ‘networks’ and time – this won’t happen overnight, so having patience is important. 

In The Power of Networking: Finding the Right People for your Career Success, you learned how networking skills can be maximised through key people, contexts and approaches. This article continues to explore the impact of networking, but this time, networking regarded as part of a larger context – your career portfolio. Here is where your strategising, networking and time come together - presenting the best employable version of you. 

Does my portfolio have to be ‘fancy’? 

The short answer – no. Your portfolio needn’t be slick or glossy - it should simply record (on paper/digitally) academic activities/modules (those connected to skills required in your desired career/industry), achievements, qualifications, ‘sponsors’ as explored, below. 

Professional Development (Early Stages) 

Tracking progress throughout your career development journey - in other words, conducting a ‘formative assessment’ of your learning and development ensures you’re continuously developing your performance.  

As an undergraduate, this can start right from the beginning of/throughout your studies; receiving/giving feedback, reviewing progress/self-reflection, agreeing/setting individual employability objectives with your Personal Tutor (PT) are all ways in which you can measure and take control of your career development. 

Marketable Skills and Commercial Awareness 

Do you know the skills in demand for your desired career/industry? Conducting a ‘skills audit’ is a great way to demonstrate how well you can adapt to market demands. On the flip side, do you know which skills are in decline? The World Economic Forum WEF_Future_of_Jobs_Report_2025.pdf  includes comprehensive data on industry trends e.g. fastest growing/declining jobs, top employability skills now/within the next five years and in decline, types of industries favouring skills on the rise within the next five years. 

 One of LinkedIn’s ‘Top Voices’ in Learning and Development (L&D), Ross Stevenson outlines  The Three Es For Building Future Skills You Need | Ross Stevenson. This is the concept of ‘Expiring’ (going out of date), ‘Evolving’ (currently used) and ‘Emerging’ (on the rise/future) skills. Aligning your skills against industry/L&D trends keeps you well-informed and your employability skills sharp. Don’t forget to include technical skills – those which are specific to your intended career coming from e.g. your education, past/current work experience.   

Achievements 

Can you name at least 3 top achievements? These could be receiving an award for contributions to work/studies/local community, gaining a qualification for course/training or receiving good feedback for a task which you found difficult – ‘success’ doesn’t always have to be something on paper, but a reflection of growth – moving out of your comfort zone. However, what’s important is to recognise not only what you’ve achieved, but confidence in your ability to achieve.  

‘How to Build Confidence – 5 Essential Pillars’ by Performance Coach Hashim AlSadr linkedin.com/in/hashimalsadr outlines 5 requirements for increasing your self-confidence or self-efficacy namely direct experience, role-modelling others, mental state, emotional state and social support. Read the article to learn more about how the pillars support your achievement. As referenced in ‘The Power of Networking’, self-efficacy is one of the emerging or future skills desired by employers – developing/recording instances where you have demonstrated this skill will put you on the right track to career success. 

Transcripts, Degrees, Licenses and Certifications 

Don’t forget to record proof of degree completion upon graduation. If you already have professional experience, you can include completed training and membership of professional associations. These may be stored as paper copies or pdf documents for electronic portfolios. 

References and Testimonials 

Adding references endorses your professional brand - specifically your level of competence to perform roles connected to your desired career. Include at least three references and consider carefully whom you choose as referees; the contacts should be those who’ve ‘sponsored’ or supported your career development and are positioned to speak knowledgeably about your skills and overall employability. 

Having explored these core elements of a career portfolio, the progression into a graduate role and contribution in the workplace should be a little less daunting and more purposeful.  

Remember that your career journey will become clearer when you start tracking how far you’ve come and where you want to go. 

References 

12 Elements to Include in a Career Portfolio (With Tips) (2025) 

Available at: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/career-portfolio (Accessed: 22 October 2025) 

WEF Future of Jobs Report (2025) 

Available at: https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_Report_2025.pdf (Accessed: 24 October 2025) 

The Three Es for Building Future Skills You Need (2022) 

Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rstevensonuk_the-three-es-for-building-future-skills-you-activity-6963428748444475392-QXuQ (Accessed: 24 October 2025) 

How to Build Confidence – 5 Essential Pillars (2025)  

Available at:  https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity: 7387106365925822464/ (Accessed: 24 October 2025)