Schedule Updates to Your Professional Portfolio
When your job involves working on multiple projects – usually at the same time – it’s easy to forget to update your portfolio. If you are lucky, you will have a steady stream of work with constant deadlines, and you will have little time for anything work-related other than, as you can imagine, real work.
The problem with this approach is that if you don’t immediately add the project to your portfolio as soon as you complete it (if yes, congratulations on this lifestyle), it will be difficult to keep track of everything you finish. And then, when you’re in position when someone asks for your portfolio, you end up struggling to piece things together at the last minute. The solution is to find a balance between constantly updating and completely ignoring your portfolio: updating it on a set schedule.
How to keep your portfolio up to date
In some cases, managers require employees to update their portfolios regularly. (And by the way, when we say portfolio, it can be anything from graphic design projects to what you’ve written to academic background on a resume.) Designer, editor, and startup advisor David Hoang once worked for a manager , whose design team updated its portfolio on a quarterly basis, and took to Twitter to provide the others with details.
“It struck a lot of people who wondered why she was forcing us to do this, ” he writes on Twitter . “The more you let go, the more you let go.” Ok, that makes sense.
Hoang describes it this way: Regularly updating your portfolio produces several results. First, it gives you the ability to document what you did. Second, because many portfolios are case studies, he writes, “it gives you time to focus your work on impact.” Third, reflecting on your work while updating your portfolio can rekindle your interest in the work, especially if you look back and are proud of what you’ve done. “Updating your portfolio should be a constant and reflective tool, not just a preparation for leaving,” Hoang writes.
It may take some motivation and a few calendar alerts, but keeping your portfolio (at least partially) up to date can cost time and energy.