Many industries require a portfolio to showcase your work, including the arts, design, writing, computer science and some engineering and tech roles.

A well-prepared portfolio provides a sample of your work and/or materials that demonstrate your accomplishments, skills and abilities.

A portfolio may be hosted on a personal website or on a platform such as LinkedIn, Github, Tumblr or Wordpress.

A portfolio may include your resume, writing samples, digital images of your work, project summaries or reports. It may include video and audio.

During an in-person interview, it may be helpful to bring a hard copy of certain work samples organized in a binder or folder. You may also choose to show your portfolio on a laptop or tablet.

Creating your Portfolio

When compiling a portfolio, consider the following guidelines:

• It is not a chronology of your work; select a sample of only your best, most relevant work.
• Your portfolio should be functional, user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing.
• Check to be sure everything works. Do not have broken links or images.
• If your portfolio includes a team project, be sure to credit others' work where applicable.
• Where appropriate, include descriptions of your work, what components you contributed, any source material used, what tools or software you used, etc.
• You may need to show 3D images of your work or the stages of production.
• Think about the audience or industry, and tailor your materials to that audience.
• Include your name and contact information.

Like a resume, your portfolio is a work in progress and needs to be updated often.