Creating an e-portfolio may be one of the best things you can do for your career. It helps you organize and showcase your work, helps you reflect on where you have been and where you want to go, and can be what differentiates you when an employer makes the decision of whether to shortlist, interview, or hire you or not.
Another benefit of creating an e-portfolio is that you can learn some valuable computer skills. In fact, you can use the same techniques and technologies used in this tutorial (e.g. RSS feeds, file storage, Google AdSense, etc.) to create a website or blog for a small business, hobby, area of interest or expertise, etc. Creating an e-portfolio may help you get that first, entry level job or get a better job for someone already further along in their career.
This 10-step tutorial shows you how to create and develop an e-portfolio using ZEN Portfolios, which uses the leading WordPress tool. It’s easiest to just scroll down to go through the 10 steps but here is a quick summary of what you will be doing…
Step 1 – Register with ZENPortfolios.com
Step 2 – Write your first post & add descriptive tags
Step 3 – Change your theme
Step 4 – Add Pages
Step 5 – Add a contact form
Step 6 – Write more posts
Step 7 – Customize your sidebar and links
Step 8 – Gathering feedback and moderating comments
Step 9 – Backup your files
Step 10 – Promote your e-Portfolio and track results
It normally takes between 1 and 4 hours to complete this tutorial. In reality, it is a project that is never really over… it’s always good to keep updating your e-portfolio as your life unfolds. Everyone’s has heard that the days of having one job for life are over… the average person switches careers at least seven times in his or her life. You should never stop learning and you should never stop updating your e-portfolio. Your e-portfolio is only as good as it is current.
Feedback
Each section of this tutorial has a comments area. If you have questions with a step or would like to comment on something you have found that might help others developing their e-portfolio, please click on the comments link and submit your feedback.