Musings On The "Portfolio Career"

As a student about to graduate from music school, the idea of a "portfolio career" is soon to become a reality for me. With so much competition for the few full-time performing jobs left, I think that many young people today are faced with a choice between musically multi-tasking or starving. I can only hope that once more people are forced to adopt the "portfolio" mentality, the idea of freelancing will cease to be taboo.

Portfolio careers are now an option for all kinds of job and the little research that we have suggests that already in the Uk over 1 million people may be managing a portfolio career. The combination of new technologies and the recession makes this workstyle more attractive to people who wish to develop their own unique blend of work and life. It is increasingly difficult to find one job that enables you to use all of your skills and tap into all of your passions. Katie Ledger and I have been researching this for almost 2 years now and our new book on the subject was published in October from A&C Black,called 'And What Do You Do? 10 Steps to Creating a Portfolio Career'. We continue to research and love to hear from people who have or are considering a portfolio career. Please let us know your thoughts on www.portfoliocareers.net.

Thanks for the reflections and connections to my post. I agree that much of the conversation is about semantics -- people do what they do, regardless of what we call it. But two things in particular attract me to the 'portfolio' metaphor over 'freelance' that strike me as beyond semantic.

One is the intent and intentionality the word suggests -- that a portfolio career isn't just about getting gigs, but about bringing intention and vision to that work beyond the paycheck (balancing high-risk jobs with low-risk jobs, creative work with technical work, and the like).

The other is the public policy element, where there seems to be very little acceptance (yet) of the particular needs, benefits, and challenges of people who CHOOSE to have multiple part-time or limited-term jobs. The general approach by labor departments in states and nations is that these folks are just filling time between ''real'' jobs. Yet, the economy and the evolution of the workforce suggest that for many, this IS their job, and is just as valid as a full-time, permanent career.

The recent debate in Wisconsin, for example, around film production incentives had one side arguing that film production in the state created jobs (albeit temporary and focused work for film professionals, caterers, technical crews, and such) and the other side said those didn't count as jobs at all.

Of course, I also think 'portfolio' sounds cooler at parties, and perhaps that's enough.