How do you present your community outreach portfolio?

1 Define your goals

Before you start creating or updating your portfolio, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with it. Are you applying for a specific job, grant, or award? Are you looking for feedback, collaboration, or recognition? Are you trying to build your network, reputation, or brand? Depending on your goals, you will need to tailor your portfolio to suit your audience, purpose, and context.

2 Select your best work

Your portfolio should include examples of your most relevant, recent, and remarkable work in community outreach. You want to showcase the diversity, quality, and impact of your skills and experiences, as well as your personal and professional growth. Choose work that aligns with your goals, highlights your achievements and challenges, and reflects your values and vision. Avoid including too many or too few items, or work that is outdated, incomplete, or unrelated.

3 Organize your portfolio

Your portfolio should be easy to navigate, understand, and appreciate. You can organize your portfolio by theme, category, chronology, or priority, depending on what makes sense for your goals and work. You can also use different formats, such as online, print, or video, to suit your preferences and needs. However, make sure that your portfolio is consistent, coherent, and concise. Use clear headings, labels, and descriptions, and avoid clutter, errors, and distractions.

4 Showcase your impact

Your portfolio should not only show what you did, but also why and how you did it, and what results and outcomes you achieved. You want to demonstrate your impact on the communities you served, the organizations you worked with, and the issues you addressed. You can use various methods to showcase your impact, such as testimonials, case studies, stories, data, or visuals. However, make sure that you are honest, accurate, and respectful of the confidentiality and consent of the people and groups involved.

5 Highlight your skills

Your portfolio should also show what you learned, how you improved, and what you can offer as a community outreach professional. You want to highlight your skills in areas such as communication, collaboration, leadership, problem-solving, creativity, or advocacy. You can use various ways to highlight your skills, such as self-assessments, feedback, certificates, awards, or endorsements. However, make sure that you are specific, relevant, and realistic about your skills and abilities.

6 Update your portfolio

Your portfolio should be a living document that reflects your current and evolving work in community outreach. You want to keep your portfolio updated, fresh, and dynamic. You can update your portfolio by adding new work, removing old work, revising existing work, or changing the layout or format. However, make sure that you review your portfolio regularly, solicit feedback from others, and align your portfolio with your goals and opportunities.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?