What is a Portfolio Career?

If you are thinking of changing career and having difficulty deciding what to do, a portfolio could be the ideal option for you. After all, in reality it is unlikely that you will find all the ingredients of your dream job in one place. If you look back over your career history, including student days as well as work experience, and make a list of everything you enjoyed doing, you'll probably come up with an interesting combination of skills and activities

The trouble is, that jobs aren't created to fit people - people are expected to squeeze into jobs. This works if the majority of tasks you're expected to complete is in alignment with your preferred skills set. However, this is not the case for many people if you really want to live the life you love, finding a career that fits is crucial. So if you're struggling to find the perfect career, it might be time to consider looking beyond specific job titles and creating a portfolio career.

The term was first used by Charles Handy to describe a pattern of work which has emerged as a result of the death of the job for life. Having a portfolio simply means that you earn your living in a combination of jobs. So you may need some careers advice to help you sort out your ideas. A careers advisor will be able to help you assess the how practical your portfolio is and enable you to plan for any extra study you may need to undertake.

You could end up with a mixture of employment and self-employment. For many people, this is a frightening development, but it doesn't need to be. Your parents or grandparents - depending on how old you are - expected to find a job and stay in it for their entire working life, probably moving up the career ladder - unless they chose to move to another post.

Nowadays, things are very different, with short-term contracts, an increase in temporary positions and downsizing, outsourcing and all sorts of cost-cutting measures. So, very few professions now offer the security of a job for life.

portfolio career

There are two ways of looking at this: it can be seen as a problem, or an opportunity. It's a problem if you expect to find job security, a pension and job satisfaction all in one place and it could also be a problem if you don't like change.

However, the end of the job for life can be seen in a very different light; it can be seen as an opportunity to expand your horizons, develop new skills and get a great deal more job satisfaction than you currently enjoy.

A portfolio career needs to be carefully planned and that plan should be implemented gradually, as it is difficult to tell in advance if a particular combination of jobs will work. It is important to avoid simply having two part-time jobs which involve long hours, extra travel time and don't give you the chance to use your skills. Learn how to set up your portfolio career.

What is a Portfolio Career?