Beginning Portfolio FAQs
BEGINNING OF THE YEAR PORFOLIO FAQs:
FINAL PORTFOLIO FAQS:
In the end of this integrated English program, you will have a career-based professional portfolio that will make you look valuable to prospective employers. Here you will find your class checklist for all the assignments, plus some other “Frequently Asked Questions” that may help you.
Q: “How do we make the portfolio?”
A: We will meet once a week. Every assignment is one more piece to the puzzle. In order to make the final product happen, you will have to SAVE ALL OF YOUR WORK throughout the course of the year. In the end, we will edit everything we have worked on and assemble everything you have into one clean mark-free binder that you can use to help you get a job.
We will provide to you a professional portfolio binder, necessary materials (like binder sheets & dviders) and a place to save your work. The rest is up to you. I cannot stress to you how important and useful a good portfolio will be to you when you leave here and are ready to look for a job.
Q: “What are some things we will put in the portfolio?”
A: Your finished portfolio will have a professional resume, a cover letter sample, many work samples (pictures and information about your work), writing samples and other documents that will help you communicate the knowledge of your craft/skill/ability. Here is a sample checklist from a past class to give you an idea of what some of the assignments will look like, comprising your finished portfolio: Portfolio Checklist
Q: “How do you grade the portfolio?”
A: And… Here is your final portfolio rubric: Final-Portfolio-Scoring-Rubric-2018
Q: “SO, why do we have to make a portfolio?”
A: As a campus-wide requirement, all seniors will create a portfolio over the course of the year. That means we REALLY think this can help you. This masterwork will include your employ-ability information and the exemplary work in technical and communication skills needed to stand out from the rest. This final portfolio can actually, in the long run, is something that we want to help you get hired.
Q: “Why is having a portfolio important when looking for a job?”
A: Your portfolio is an extension of yourself. It represents who you are and what you can bring to the table. Your final portfolio explains why you are valuable to a potential employer and why you should be hired in the competitive workplace over all other applicants.
Q: “How can this portfolio make me money?”
A: Overall, this work-in-progress could very well enable you to walk right out of school and step directly into your career of choice upon graduation. This portfolio can actually make you stand out from the rest and help to get you a job.
Having direct evidence of what your work looks like and written knowledge of your area of study, this is the one assignment that you could ever do in school that can actually make you money!
Q: “How do we know the portfolio REALLY works?”
A: It is not an understatement in saying that this is one of the few assignments from school that can actually directly make you money, if you do it correctly. We have had countless students return to BOCES, telling us that they used their portfolios and were, in part, hired because of them.
When I was hired here for my position in 2002, the administrators told even me that one of the key reasons they chose me was because I had a nice portfolio that illustrated what I could do for the school. The power of the portfolio to an employer looking at a stack of applicants for a job is invaluable. You will stand out from the rest.
If you plan to take extra time and care with the creation of your portfolio, not only will you be getting good grades, but you may very well be getting yourself hired somewhere in the near future.