Despite all the possible types and uses of portfolios mentioned here, it’s important to remember that your portfolio must have a clear purpose, focus, and audience.  All the components of a single portfolio should speak to:

§         you, to compile and assess what you want to accomplish, what capabilities and skills you have gained (and how), and what capabilities and skills you want to gain (and how);  or

§         a particular employer, to state what capabilities and skills you have, to document them, and to suggest how they might be useful in that organization.

Fortunately, the work of compiling a portfolio for one purpose and audience will be fairly easy to transfer to another, in a different portfolio.  This is only a little more involved than creating a résumé specific for the position or promotion for which you are applying, which you already know you should do [see notes on résumés and cover letters].