Electronic Portfolios as Job Search Tools: Perspectives from students, career counselors, and human resource professionals

Electronic portfolios have traditionally been used by artists as a means of showcasing and organizing projects and accomplishments. Within academia, colleges and universities have implemented electronic portfolios as a way for students to showcase and share their papers, projects, and course work. Universities and colleges typically license e-portfolio software and distribute the platform to students. The eFolioMinnesota software is free for all students and residents in the state through the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System (MnSCU). Unfortunately, little has been researched about the use of e-portfolios in career development or employee recruiting. Never before have e-portfolios integrated with workforce development efforts nor aided in business and industry development. My research was intended to find the impact of electronic portfolios in hiring practices. Through an anonymous survey, 66.7 percent of human resource representatives and career counselors admitted to seeking candidate information online. While 70.7 percent said they view online resumes, only 29.3 percent are viewing electronic portfolios. On a scale of one to ten, the average rating for value in a resume was 6.34 while it was only 4.66 for electronic portfolios and 44.7 percent of respondents found little to no value at all in electronic portfolios. The biggest weakness of using electronic portfolios in the hiring process was time, or rather a lack of time. Some considered it an extra step in the review process and questioned if using that extra time was worth it. If we want students and job seekers to develop electronic portfolios as job search tools, employers will also need education and training on the best practices for incorporating this new tool into their screening and hiring process.