A career portfolio is a deliberate collection of an individual's qualifications, skills, experience and achievements, plus documentation of them, organized from a career development perspective. A career portfolio is both a product and a process, a way of thinking about careers and their evolution that is relevant throughout the period of undergraduate studies and beyond. This section outlines the career portfolio concept.
To learn about career portfolios, students can enrol in Interdisiplinary Issues in Career Development (ASSC/SCIE 1101). This class provides a structure in which students can relate their academic programs to potential career paths, and identify career goals and the skills needed to pursue them. An important aspect of the class is small work groups with senior students as mentors. Not only do students build a career portfolio, they will develop a capacity for career planning that will serve them throughout their studies and their working lives. This is a half credit class that is taken as part of a regular degree program.
Closely related is another class Communication, Group Dynamics and Career Development (ASSC 3100). Selected senior students enroll in this class that introduces the career portfolio concept but emphasizes principles of leadership, mentoring, group dynamics and communications, including relevant theory and research. A key part of this class is to apply skills through working with small groups of students enrolled in the Interdisiplinary Issues in Career Development class. This is a full credit course that is taken as part of a regular degree program.
Portfolio Design: The Basics was written by Jeanette Hung for Dalhousie Career Portfolio • 1999, Dalhousie University, Halifax NS. Reprinted 2001, 2004
Dalhousie Career Portfolio in operation from 1998 to 2003 was supported by Human Resources Development Canada and by the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation.
