Overview of Your Workfolio

Your Workfolio will present the most important information about you in 7 sections: Career Vision, Career Highlights, Professional Links, References, Activities and Interests, Resume and Work Samples, and Contact. All of your most important key words will be on this page, which is an actual page on Internet which will be available for searching by search engines such as Google. The page is designed to lead the reader to discover increasingly deep information about your career history and your envisioned future successes.

You will immediately have an easy to remember internet address at www.workfolio.com/stars/yourname. You can use include it on your resume so that readers can immediately go to more information about you. You can call managers and leave a message about your abilities related to their needs, and leave your Workfolio address.

In your most powerful presentation, your Career Vision will be supported your Career Highlights, which are your accomplishments. You can develop a number of Career Highlights(accomplishments), publishing some, and keeping others private. When you adapt your Career Vision statement to fit a current need, such as appealing to a specific employer, you will be able to quickly change which Career Highlights to publish, and the order in which they will appear.

Images, which can be entered automatically, are an important part of your Workfolio. They appeal to more senses than words alone. They may provide a symbolic impact so that your written words will convey an impact similar to if you were presenting them in person.

Password protection is available for all or parts of your Workfolio.

You can view a sample Workfolio at http://www.workkfolio/stars/bobstar.

Overview of Procedures

No knowledge of HTML is required. The Workfolio Builder contains text boxes into which you can copy text which you have prepared and spell checked. To add more information, click on Add a Block. Every time you add or edit something, click on Save Changes. You will have a folder into which you can place your personalized images and electronic versions of your work samples, resumes, reference information, etc. Your electronic HTML versions of work samples, resume, references, etc. can be entered automatically. Your images can be emailed to images@workfolio.com.

Procedure for Beginning

When you enter your log in name and password from the Create/Edit screen at www.workfolio.com, you will see the Workfolio Create/Edit Screen:

Click on Enter/Edit your Career Vision. You will see areas for selecting the image which will accompany your vision, and password protecting it if you desire. Click on Add a Block at the bottom to bring up the entry area. The way to add additional items in all of the sections is to click on Add a Block.

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Career Vision

If in your current transition you are open to a number of options, your Career Vision could be to utilize your motivated abilities, and the Career Highlights and other Workfolio elements would show your relevant expertise.
If you are focused on making an impact on a sector of our economy, your Career Vision would specify the results you are seeking to achieve in organizations or the market place, and the rest of your Workfolio would support that.

Example of broad Career Vision:

“To use my abilities in initiating contacts and maintaining relationships in an area such as marketing, operations or program development. Good experience researching ideas and developing explanatory materials. Strong ability to interact with people to achieve a common view. Interests in enterprise wide procedures such as supply chain management processes.”

Example of specific Career Vision:

“To be a key player in creating and installing in an organization a comprehensive human resource development and deployment process. Able to initiate collaborative activities to identify needs at all levels. Good experience competency identification and modeling, and developing and implementing career development systems.”

Procedure for Entering Your Career Vision

Enter the Title for your Career Vision, and enter the complete vision into the Body text entry box. You would not have a link in your Career Vision, and so leave the URL text entry box empty. Your first Career Vision would be public. You might decide to have more than one prepared career vision. If so, you would create another and choose which one to make public at any time.

Don’t forget to Save Changes

Procedure for Adding Images

Images multiply the impact of your vision, career highlight stories and interests. A starting selection is available for immediate insertion into the Workfolio template. You then have the opportunity to find, if you desire, images which better convey the abilities you were using or the results you created.

You have 3 options:

The Workfolio Builder has over 100 images which can be automatically added.
Search internet for an image and link to it by viewing the source code and entering it into the Workfolio Edit Form Text Box.
Email one of your pictures in either .gif or .jpg format to images@workfolio.com. The size should be 110 x 110 pixels. Kinkos will help you to scan a physical picture into electronic form. If you are not able to size it, we will help you to either reduce the size or to cut out a segment.

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Career Highlights

The Career Highlights you present are the most important part of your Workfolio. They bring to the fore what you did to the create the results which are most relevant to your Career Vision.

Career Highlights can come from your work, volunteer, educational, social or hobby experiences.
Many of your accomplishments which are candidates to be Career Highlights are hidden either because you can not remember them, or they are buried beneath another experience which may have a negative cloud around it. Look at every period of your life for both positive and negative experiences, and select the positive experiences which best support your vision.
A Career Highlight can be one expanded example, or a description of a number of experiences which show the same abilities.
Write an impactful paragraph using the STAR format: Summarize the S-Situation. Describe the T-Task, what you wanted to do, your intention. Emphasize the 3 or more A-Actions using very phrases which show what you did to carry out your intention. Include a R-Result from your point of view.

Procedure for Entering Career Highlights

Click on Enter/Edit your Career Highlights to see the Builder Screen. You have an option of being led through steps to create a powerful story based in the Situation, Task, Actions and Results of your Highlight. To do this click on Accomplishment Builder. Or, you can enter the Title and Body of the Highlight directly in the text boxes. Enter a Title and a Body. Click on Pick a New Image to select a different image. Or, you can enter the URL of an image from the web into the image box to insert that. If you would like to use one of your own images, email it to images@workfolio.com. In that case, enter “graphics/imagename.jpg(gif) into the box. It will be available for your use within 4 hours.

Procedure for Using the Accomplishment Builder

Enter your text into the boxes. Use your cursor to move from one box to another.

Select example behaviors from the pick lists, and then add additional actions.

You will see another screen which combines everything you have entered. Make changes and add text so that the Career Highlight reads smoothly and provides a powerful presentation of your expertise.

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Professional Links

Your knowledge of key information resources which exist on Internet adds power to your career picture. Listing some of them on your Workfolio will show that your knowledge is up-do-date. Your credibility for being the best person for implementing your vision will be enhanced. When you search, you will find:

Interviews with leaders in professions and industries
Success stories and case studies
Aids for increasing the effectiveness of programs
White papers for background
Product descriptions

When you organize information and assemble the best links from your point of view, you add something to the bank of knowledge of your area. You will be remembered for your view by those who visit your Workfolio.

Procedure for Entering Your Professional Links

When you click on Enter/Edit Professional Links you will see boxes for entering a Title, Body text description, and a URL for your links.

To make an additional entry, click on “Add a block.” Don’t forget to “Save Changes.”

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References

Feedback from others goes here. Viewers of your Workfolio will get a deeper understanding of what you have done well, as well as a fuller picture of both your strengths and areas for improvement. This area can be password protected.

This section can contain:

Comment pages from your teachers about a school project
A survey of users of a product you have created or a workshop you delivered.
Awards you have received.
Open reference letters
360 evaluations
Copies of performance appraisals

Procedure for Entering Your References

Enter the Title, Body, and a URL to the actual electronic document. Go to http://www.workfolio.com/workreferences.html to publish your documents. You can choose whether to make each selection Public or Private.

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Activities and Interests

Employers are interested in seeing the whole you, your activities beyond the workplace. You may be involved in professional activities which will show some of your skills. Your interests are also important. You will be a member of a team, and you’re your interests will communicate what you have in common with them, and how you bring a complimentary point of view.

In this section you can include:

Pictures and a brief description of professional association activities
Your family life with pictures(use sparingly)
Involvement in clubs and political organizations
Anything showing you and other people
Hobbies of all kinds

Procedure for Entering Activities and Interests

From the Workfolio Builder page, click on Enter Your Activities and Interests. You will see text boxes for entering a Title, Body, Image and URL

If you have another Activity or Interest to enter, click on Add a Block. If not, click on Save Changes and you will return to the Workfolio Builder page.

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Resume and Work Samples

Employers who read your Career Vision and Career Highlights and would like to learn more about you will be able to view your work history on your resume. They will be able to look at work samples you have provided to

Procedure for Entering Your Resume and Work Samples

From the Workfolio Builder page, click on Enter Resume and Work Samples. Enter the type of your item into the Title text entry box. Enter a description of it into the Body text entry box.

In order to enter your resume, convert it to HTML format, and then go to www.workfolio.com/resumebuilder.html. If your work sample can be converted to an HTML document, convert it, and then go to www.workfolio.com/worksamples.html. Follow the instructions there. If it can not be easily converted, scan it at Kinkos to convert it to an image file in either .jpg or .gif format. Email it to images@workfolio.com.

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Contact Information

Procedure for Entering Contact Information

What you put in the Title box will be the first item, highlighted in bold. The email address will be emphasized in the sample below. The items you enter into the Body section will appeal below the Title as entered.