01
What is a graduate portfolio website?
A graduate portfolio website, or student portfolio website, is a small personal site with one purpose: helping you get hired. It holds your strongest projects, your skills, a short introduction and a CV employers can download. Some people call it an online CV website or an online resume website. The name matters less than the job it does.
It doesn't replace your CV. Your CV is the summary an employer skims first. The website is where they go to check whether the summary is true. A bullet point says you built an app. A project page shows it, explains the problem it solved and links to the code. That's a very different conversation in an interview.
If you're a creative or consultant looking for clients rather than an employer, my page on portfolio website design is the better fit. And to be clear, this page is about a website for job hunting, not a portfolio of evidence you hand in for a module.
02
Do employers look at personal websites?
Some do, some don't, and nobody can honestly promise you either way. But checking costs them one tap. Someone working through a pile of applications won't read every word. If your link opens quickly on their phone and shows something real in the first few seconds, you've given them a reason to remember your name.
It matters most when your CV can't say much yet. If you're a graduate with no formal work experience, a portfolio turns 'I'm a fast learner' into evidence: the project you finished, the society you led, the problem you solved. For IT, computer science, design, marketing and engineering students, it's often the most direct proof you have.
03
What to include in a portfolio for a job, even with no experience
Keep it short and specific. An employer should understand who you are and what you can do within a few seconds of landing, then be able to dig into the detail if they want to. Here's what I'd put on a portfolio for a student or graduate with little or no work experience:
That fifth point matters more than students expect. On my own site, the proof isn't only academic. It includes serving as President of Emeris Voice, playing hockey and joining outreach work. An employer is hiring a person, not a transcript, and the rest of your life says a lot about how you'll show up.
- A clear first line: your name, what you're studying or qualified in, and the kind of role you want
- Three to five strong projects: far better than fifteen half-finished ones
- A short write-up for each: the problem, what you did, the tools you used and what you learned
- Skills you can back up: listed honestly and linked to the projects that prove them
- Life beyond your marks: leadership, societies, sport, volunteering and part-time work
- A downloadable CV and contact details: email, phone and LinkedIn, easy to find on a phone
04
Portfolio vs CV vs LinkedIn: do you need all three?
Ideally, yes, because each does a different job. Your CV is the document that gets you through the first filter. LinkedIn is where recruiters search and where your network sees you. Your portfolio website is the one place you fully control: your layout, your order, your words, with nothing else competing for attention.
They should point at each other. Put your portfolio link at the top of your CV, next to your email and phone number, and add it to your LinkedIn profile. When you email an application, put the link in your signature and mention one specific project in the message. That's how to send a portfolio to an employer without attaching a heavy file.
05
A portfolio for IT and computer science students
If you're studying IT, computer science or application development, your portfolio is also a sample of your work. A slow, broken or confusing site says something, whether you meant it to or not. Each project should explain what you built, the problem it solved and the languages or tools you used, with a link to the code on GitHub.
You might want to build it yourself, and that's a great idea. A personal website is a brilliant first project, and it teaches HTML, CSS and JavaScript properly. If you'd like help along the way, I also tutor web and mobile development. I'll guide your planning, layout and code, but the code will be yours.
06
Why I build portfolios for students
This one is personal. I'm a second-year IIE Bachelor of Computer and Information Sciences (Application Development) student, and I started with no coding experience at all. I know what it's like to need to show what you can do before there's a job title to point to.
My own proof built up one piece at a time: top of my class of more than 200 in the IIE Higher Certificate in Mobile Application and Web Development, the Full Stack Impact Award 2025, and an IOL Education feature in June 2026. I wrote about how that happened in no coding experience to top of class.
Working with me is simple. We talk about the jobs you're applying for and what you've done so far. I show you a direction before anything is built, then hand-code the site and test it on a phone and a laptop. At launch your domain is connected, and you own the site and the domain.
