Stop Making Excuses - Make a Portfolio!
Don’t worry - I’m talking about a digital portfolio - no mess!
What is a Professional Portfolio - and Who Needs One?
A professional portfolio is a representation of your competencies - demonstrating your technical, subject-matter, artistic, design, and communications skills.
Professional portfolios are a common requirement for media producers, artists, web designers, instructional designers, educational technologists, and yes…FACULTY. Compiling an iterative portfolio is often a requirement for tenure.
Why Do Employers Want to See a Portfolio?
Common Excuses for Not Having a Portfolio
Let’s go ahead and get the excuses out of the way - I’ve heard them all (and will admit to using a few of them myself, in the past):
I can’t create a portfolio because…
All of my prior work is covered by a non-disclosure agreement
All of my prior work is classified
I don’t own the intellectual property rights to any of my prior work
I don’t have a website
I don’t have “X” software
I don’t know what goes into a portfolio
I don’t know where to begin
I don’t have time to make a portfolio
OK…So Where Can One Host a Portfolio?
First, as I often recommend when it comes to building a brand and investing in your profession, it’s always better to go for “cheap” over “free.”
You can build a comprehensive portfolio - with options to monetize the site for consulting and freelance work - for minimal expense on sites like Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace (which is what we use for EpicLearningTeam.com). Each of these sites offer intuitive templates and WYSIWYG adaptive web design. The downside to these sites is that you can’t export or transfer your site to another server. The build is specific to the particular platform being used.
You can also build a site entirely or mostly from scratch using Dreamweaver, Bootstrap, or some other HTML authoring tool, then host it through a free or low-cost website hosting service. Remember what I said about “Cheap is better than free?” It applies doubly so when you’re selecting a host for your website. On “free” sites, you lack control over many aspects of your site, including monetization, search engine optimization, data security, and more. (See 36 Reasons Why Having a “Free” Website is a Bad Idea).
Another option to consider - and this is one that we also use in addition to our site in Squarespace - is use of a learning management system (LMS) as a password-protected, firewalled portfolio that enables learning objects to be fully functional and deployed. Look at Canvas, Moodle, and Blackboard for free LMS options for educators.
What Goes in a Portfolio?
Here are some of the things commonly seen in professional portfolios:
•CV or Resume
•Statement of Teaching Philosophy
•Letters of Recommendation
•Awards
•Exemplars of Original Work
•You created it
•You own the intellectual property rights to it
•Demonstrates skills that are in demand in the market
•Highlights your competitive advantage
Need Help? We’ve Got You Covered
We offer a broad range of services that can help you to build a professional portfolio that aligns with your goals. We have a very diverse and highly experienced team of 22 experts - encompassing K-12 education, higher education, instructional design, government and NGO consulting, corporate learning and development, media production, web development, edupreneurship, and international education. Review the profiles of our team and select a mentor whose experience best serves you.
30-Minute Consultations - Ask Us Anything - $50 - Just have a few questions or want to know how to make a plan for success? This option may be good for you.
Mentoring by the Hour - $100 - Get concentrated help when you need it on topics or tasks of your choice. Sure, you could spend hours on the Internet reading articles and watching videos to find solutions, but many clients have found strategic use of mentors saves both time and money. Ask someone who has already been down the path how to proceed and what you really need to know or do to be successful.
CV or Resume Review - $50 - Get actionable advice on your CV or Resume. Note that if you have both, like many of us do, the price is for one review. If you want both a CV and a Resume reviewed - or you use versioning (and many of us also do), the price is for each document reviewed.
Portfolio Review - $75 - Get your portfolio reviewed by one of our Epic mentors and receive actionable tips and links to resources to improve it and make it align with your goals.
LinkedIn Profile Review - $75 - Get your LinkedIn Profile reviewed by one of our Epic mentors and receive actionable tips to improve it and align it with your goals.
CV or Resume Writing - $300 - Don’t have the time to write or update your resume or CV? No problem! One of our highly skilled mentors will do it for you. Typically, the service takes five days. Please note that this price is for ONE document. If you want versioning, we can discuss add-on time through a mentoring package to cover the versions.
Build a Professional Portfolio Package - $500 - Work 1:1 with one of our experts to build a professional portfolio that highlights your skills, credentials, experience, creativity, and competitive advantage.
Creation of a Custom Online Portfolio or Professional Website - $1500 - Do you need a custom portfolio or professional website, but don’t have the time to create it?
We’ve got you covered! In this package, our Epic team will take your ideas, materials, work exemplars, and objectives and create a customized online portfolio or professional website that aligns with your goals. We will use HD images and responsive HTML/CSS to help you to promote your work and services.
Turnaround time is 10 days or less. Pricing does not include web host or domain name - but we can help you to decide on these things after you purchase a package if you do not already have them set up.
