It’s never too early to start creating your own portfolio. Whether you’re a freelance web programmer or a student of journalism, you should be working on a portfolio where you collect the best pieces you’ve produced. But if you don’t have a portfolio yet, don’t worry; you can start working on one right now.

Now, why would you want to start growing a portfolio? The fact is that most people don’t have any kind of portfolio until they start actually working in a permanent job and producing results. But the best thing about having a portfolio is, it can tremendously increase your success in getting a job of your preference, and it is an indispensable asset if you’re an entrepreneur.

One of the primary roles of a personal portfolio is to show off your skills. Interviews are, after all, occasions where you are welcome to flaunt your skills and virtues. But the unfavorable thing about written skill descriptions is that they are only descriptions, and anyone can fabricate good qualities about themselves. It is only natural for an employer to be skeptical when he sees an assertion along the lines of “I have practical knowledge on how to design modern Web 2.0 layouts with Photoshop.” But with a portfolio that includes printouts of some of the website layouts created by the interviewee, the interviewee can give the employer an exact definition of what she is capable of producing. This tactic completely penetrates the employer’s skeptical defenses, therefore successfully justifying the skill descriptions.

Now, there are three main characteristics that all good portfolios (ought to) possess: focus, best works, and diversity. Here we’re not going to be looking at the exact contents of a portfolio, but I will be showing you how a portfolio should be organized.

1. Focus. Every portfolio needs a focus. If you bring all the works you’ve created in your life—drawings, poems, websites, dessert recipes—your portfolio will be diluted and lacking coherence. It is obvious that if the job is about designing websites, the employer will have little interest in how creative a cook you are. So you should only include material that is relevant to the job you’re applying for.
2. Best works. This should go without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway for the sake of emphasis: Include your best works. It’s quality over quantity. And keep in mind what the company is looking for. Don’t feel bad to hide your weaker works. You might also want to ask others to help you handpick the best ones. If you’ve received any awards or prizes for your works, you should never forget to mention them.
3. Diversity. I know I said quality over quantity, but you shouldn’t also fail to show the employer that you can produce different types of works. Diversity doesn’t mean that you unload a thick stack of works on the employer’s desk—you can choose to focus on three works that show variety.

Having a good personal portfolio to back the skill descriptions on your résumé is an invaluable addition to the résumé itself and your cover letter. Depending on the type of job you apply for, you can have an advantage over your competitors by providing visual proof of your achievements.

I will now let you develop your own portfolio. Remember, even if you’re a beginner you should start saving some of your works right now. If you tend not to produce anything functional or otherwise complete, take your mentality one step toward practicality and begin working on personal projects that you can potentially add to your portfolio.

I would be happy to see what you’ve created, so please post your works in the comments. Thanks! And good luck!

Landing a permanent job does not mean that you stop learning. We already should know that joining a company is like a direct extension of your previous studies—that’s when you really start learning the ropes. You notice that the college courses you completed were just an introduction to what you would be facing in working life.

And there is always more to learn. No one can be a true master of their profession. If you are a math teacher and have completely mastered the curriculum you are teaching, there is still a lot more to do to improve yourself as a math teacher; you can develop more effective ways to explain difficult mathematical concepts, or you can make your courses more interesting by setting your applied questions in more attractive contexts.

If you are working for a company, you will be improving your assets as an employee if you decide to learn more. Your boss might not notice the changes immediately, but people will eventually notice the hard work that you’ve put into becoming a better professional. In fact, I strongly believe that the will to constantly improve yourself is the true mark of professionalism.

If you are an entrepreneur, this will be even more important, since your whole career depends on your being competent to make the right choices and take the risks that lead you to enduring success. You don’t have the security that an employee has, so you have to individually strive to improve yourself in order to make your business prosper.

Here’s a handful of tips to get you started.

1. What problems did you face recently? If you are having recurring problems, there must be something that you can do to stop them from reappearing. Don’t let these problems become an enduring obstacle that hinders your success.
2. Did you have questions recently that you couldn’t answer? Find out the answers, and study the concepts more extensively to avoid further confusions.
3. What are your weaknesses? Surely there must be something in your field of expertise that you don’t feel too confident about. Strive to gain expertise on all areas relevant to your profession.
4. Can you express yourself clearly? Unless you are a self-sustaining agriculturist, you probably have to deal with people at work. One of the qualities of a good employee is the ability to accurately communicate thoughts to others—in speech and writing. Study effective speaking and concise writing.
5. Take Socrates’s advice with a grain of salt: “I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.” You should accept the fact that the more you learn, the harder it becomes to keep up with the exponential inflow of ideas; but you will also, at the same time, gain many solutions to earlier problems.

I would like to hear your tips on how to transform oneself into a better professional through constant learning. Please share them in the comments. Thanks!