Stand Out From The Crowd With A Digital Portfolio

Include this article in your Skills Builder Journal. It could help you develop... 

Upskill Me helps students showcase their talents and develop skills for life. And what better time to do this than when you’re applying for jobs. Here is their advice on standing out from the crowd and landing that job...

The employment market is increasingly competitive. There are hundreds of other applicants for any single job who also have the same qualifications and similar grades. So the question on many recruiters’ minds is: what else can this candidate offer? Rather than just sending your CV, think of ways you could prove your value to a prospective employer. Creating a digital portfolio - or digital record of achievement - to showcase examples of your work can help you stand out – especially if you're aiming for jobs in the creative, technology, media, PR and journalism industries. 

What is a digital portfolio?

A digital portfolio is an online tool that showcases everything that's great about you.This is the place to put all your best achievements in one spot and show off your personality alongside your skills. 

You can share your interests, grades, certificates, multimedia projects and career aspirations. You can even get a shareable link to include in job applications, your CV or UCAS applications. For example, suppose you’re applying for a digital marketing job. In that case, you could share your portfolio page link, which contains a blog or YouTube channel, along with your CV to showcase some real-life examples of your passion for writing and content creating. 

Here are three ways a digital portfolio can help you stand out from the crowd:

Record your amazing achievements 

It can be challenging to track and communicate the non-academic skills which employers and universities genuinely value. Have you completed a volunteering project or competed in a sports team? Keeping your work in one place will help you remember everything and see your personal development over time. 

Get prepared for work 

60% of employers say they rate soft skills such as communication, teamwork and creativity among their top three priorities when recruiting. The rise of technology makes soft skills like communication all the more important in the future, as it is one of the few skills in which AI and automation cannot achieve the same standard as humans in. 

Building a digital portfolio can help you identify and record the skills you are already building at school and your extracurricular activities. Recording and developing your skills will increase your confidence in interviews and make you better prepared for the workplace by practising highly in-demand skills. 

Improve your reflective skills 

Reflective writing is a format for expressing your thoughts and reflections on an achievement or activity. It should include what you did, how you felt about it, the challenges that you faced, and what you learnt as a result. When applying for highly competitive university places or jobs, you will need to show evidence of your skills and achievements to prove that you have the right qualities to succeed. 

By keeping track of your successes, failures, and everything in between, you’ll be able to understand where you need to improve and celebrate how far you’ve come. 

Creating a digital portfolio can help you stand out from the crowd by showcasing evidence of your achievements in a professional way. Why not try creating your portfolio page with Upskill Me and share your portfolio link in a CV!