What is a Career Development Portfolio?

A Career Development Portfolio is a file that contains a collection of all your career/work related projects to date. This is more than a resume - for it includes:

• Project Name
  
  
• Project Time Frame
  
  
• Goal(s) of the Project
  
  
• Your Specific role(s) in the Project
  
  
• Did the project complete successfully? Was your part delivered succesfully?
  
  
• If Yes, why - if Not, why not?
  
  
• What were the most difficult issues you faced and resolved in three distinct areas:
  
  
  
  • People Issues
    
    
  • Process Issues
    
    
  • Technical Issues
    
    
• Who was the lead of the project? Write down contact name and latest contact address, and if possible, what are they doing now?
  
  
• Who were the people you worked closely with? Write down name and latest contact address, and if possible, what are they doing now?
  
  
• Whom can you potentially get recommendations from?
  

Put all this information in one sheet of paper (or two at the most), and try and keep it upto date.

This portfolio will open up new worlds and doors for you constantly - by providing you with ideas and opportunities that your active memory would have long forgotten. And you will be astounded - yes, astounded - by the number of people you know over time. Later, make it a point to communicate with each of them periodically - at least once a year (New Year is a great time to do this).

The Roman army, back in the day, was more successful than any other army of their time for a simple reason - they kept better records! Who was in, who was out, where they lived and so forth. This record keeping meant they always knew the strength of their armies, their best people and could make the most sustainable plans (as opposed to saying - "We are 10,000 strong" - when in reality it may be closer to 7800 - could make the difference between loss and victory).

Maintaining your own portfolio of works will give you similar dividends - for life. It is one of the reasons why some folks seem to attract wealth and opportunities, while others, equally talented and hard-working, do not seem to get the same breaks.