College professors and career advisors are realizing that the process of developing a portfolio can be an important learning tool for students to help them assess their learning and to compare it to the employer's need for skilled, capable employees. Students are discovering that portfolios offer a better way to demonstrate their learning experience that adds value to their potential for specific kinds of work. A portfolio may contain a resume. A portfolio may be large or small, a few pages to 20 or more. A portfolio may contain colorful graphics.
Most people use their portfolio in interviews.
They do not send them out as if they were resumes. A portfolio is a visual representation of your abilities, skills, capabilities, knowledge, qualities - and it represents your potential. In the same way that archaeology reconstructs a civilization from artifacts, a portfolio reconstructs your work life from artifacts. In both cases, the artifacts are fragments that represent pieces of the whole. Work products you've made on the job.