“I see you have a computer science degree and extensive tech work experience. But I also have at least 50 other candidates with a similar resume. So, why should I hire you?”
These days, many companies are not just looking for relevant experiences.
They are looking for individuals who are able to adapt, learn and apply new skills quickly.
Since young, many of us have been instilled with the mindset of “study hard and get a good career”, often with the view of a one-track career pathway or industry to excel in. But as the world grows more advanced, and crowded with people, you need to be able to distinguish yourself from both humans and Artificial Intelligence.
What is a Career Portfolio And Its Benefits?
Just the other day, I was reading a piece by April Rinne in the Harvard Business Review about viewing your career as a career portfolio that really changed my perspective.
You might not realise it, but everyone has a career portfolio, even if it is not a paid job.
For example, I am a content strategist/writer by trade. But my career portfolio also includes titles such as “inline skating coach”, “musician”, “clan leader” and of course, “investor”. While some of these do not generate an income, they are relevant identities of my life that I’ve spent significant periods developing. Through these ventures, I have honed various transferable skills such as coaching/teaching, learning quickly, leading and more.
But why bother building a career portfolio?
Like how diversifying your investment portfolio reduces investment risk, a career portfolio broadens your horizons and grants you versatility in your professional life.
Over the years, we have seen some jobs become obsolete while others are now facing “extinction” with advancements in technology. Using one of my roles as a writer, for example, I could be out of a job if AI becomes advanced enough to write exactly the way that I do.
But since I have a career portfolio, there are other pursuits that I can fall back on for an income.
Most importantly, I have the ability to navigate uncertainty as I am used to learning new pursuits from scratch when building my career portfolio.
Lastly, curating a career portfolio is more than just having transferable skills and a well-rounded professional identity, it helps you discover your purpose as you take on new challenges.
How Do I Curate a Career Portfolio?
Identifying what is in yours is the first step to distinguish yourself from others in your career. All of us possess a unique combination of skills, personality traits and experiences.
Many of us fall into the trap of thinking that our resumes are all there is. Traditional paid work experiences.
However, a career portfolio is more than that.
Think about the hobbies or anything that you do outside of your studies or work. It could be something as simple as doing volunteer work or being a team captain of a local soccer club. So long as you have created value for others in said role, all these contribute to your career portfolio.
Your portfolio should consist of all these roles, skills, traits and experiences that make you unique!
Once you have thought of all your various roles, you could draw what is called a Career Portfolio Map.
This is where the real value of a career portfolio lies as you can then link your roles where they may complement each other!
As you grow in your various roles and learn new ones, your portfolio map will expand exponentially and help you as you draw parallels between the roles in your career.
How Do I Make Use of My Career Portfolio?
At this juncture, you may be thinking, how is this different from a fresh graduate resume putting roles such as “CCA leader” or “student council member”? While it is fundamentally the same concept, a career portfolio takes this a step further, provided you know how to portray your portfolio narrative.
This is why sending cover letters has become increasingly important over the years and why LinkedIn is so popular as a professional social media network. To get an edge over the competition, you need to be able to draw on your various experiences and weave them into a cohesive pitch.
The question you need to answer is, how does your unique combination of skills in your career portfolio fit your next role?
This answer is what you need to be able to showcase in your cover letter, during job interviews and even on LinkedIn if you want to play the long game!
All in all, the future of work is constantly changing and we can’t control that. What we can control however is how we want to curate and build up our career portfolio to become not only a more versatile worker, but someone who brings a unique set of expertise to the table.
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