Building an ePortfolio is an excellent way for students to showcase their best work to prospective employers. Since ePortfolios are web-based, students can use them to easily present their talents and reach a broader range of employers. This format is especially helpful for students seeking employment in education, business administration, graphic design, or information technology.
An ePortfolio, or web-based portfolio, consists of a student’s accumulated work and achievements. This collection can be in the form of an online resume, blog, or website and should showcase the pertinent knowledge and skills students have attained up to this point in their career or educational journey. It also serves as a tool for managing learning experiences over a lifetime, allowing students to track their personal development and intellectual growth.
Digital portfolios help students broadcast their selling points and accomplishments to the world while going above and beyond the simple list of jobs and accomplishments typically included in resumes. For example, a web design student may have an ePortfolio web address displaying screenshots of their best work. A teaching major may create an ePortfolio with sample lesson plans, student teaching reflections, and recommendation letters.
A career ePortfolio can significantly improve a student’s job search. Consider the benefits of using ePortfolios in the job search process:
Viewing a student’s ePortfolio helps recruiters carefully evaluate the individual’s work and skills, determining if they are a right fit for the company. For example, a graphic design company searching for a specific art style can choose the candidate that best matches that style. Students benefit from better position matching because it helps them enter workspaces where they will thrive and join companies that will value their work.
Students and recent graduates can make their accomplishments and work samples more visible to recruiters by posting an ePortfolio. Rather than compiling samples each time they apply for a job, students can create an ePortfolio for recruiters to find and view easily.
Since ePortfolios help students track their development, they can also help students reflect on their current skills and identify potential growth needs. Comparing their work samples to other portfolios and company examples can help individuals decide how to improve their skills and compete with other candidates in the industry. Displaying their work samples also gives them a competitive edge over applicants who lack ePortfolios.
Showcases, comments, recommendations, skill tags, badges, academic networks, and collaboration are unique features of an ePortfolio. These features let students display their accomplishments, experiences, knowledge, and career and academic skills to prospective employers.
You can help students build an effective portfolio with these tips:
Students can use their ePortfolios effectively during a job search by:
You can help students succeed in the job market by adding ePortfolio solutions to your career center. Students may not always consider the benefits of ePortfolios independently, so you can increase awareness and help more individuals get started. Providing useful resources and educating students and alumni about an ePortfolio’s advantages can kickstart more careers, which reflects positively on your institution.
An ePortfolio can help students highlight the skills they learn in school with tangible evidence to back them up. More and more, employers are expanding their use of digital portfolios to get a feel for their candidates. These ePortfolios provide a body of evidence and aid in the recruitment process.
Watermark Student Learning & Licensure gives administrators and decision-makers at higher education institutions a full-range view of student learning by analyzing, tracking, and assessing learning from internships, clinicals, or coursework. The result is an ePortfolio students can use to fuel their future success.
Students and evaluators can interact with artifacts in one place, and faculty members can streamline their assessment and grading efforts. Request a customized demo with a sales team member to learn how we can help you support each student’s career path.
