I review portfolios nearly every day, and certain mistakes keep appearing. These aren’t minor nitpicks. They’re errors that actively cost people interviews and opportunities.

The frustrating part is that they’re all fixable. Usually in an afternoon. Here are the ones I see most often, along with how to sort them out.

Mistake 1: Leading With Your Weakest Work

People tend to arrange their portfolio chronologically, starting with their earliest work. This means the first thing a hiring manager sees is often the least impressive piece in the collection.

The fix: Lead with your strongest, most relevant work. Order your projects by impact, not by date. Your best case study should be the first thing anyone sees.

If your strongest work is from two years ago and you’re worried about recency, add a date to each piece but still lead with quality. A strong project from 2024 beats a mediocre one from last month.

Mistake 2: No Context for Your Work

A screenshot or a link to a live project means nothing without context. Who was the client? What was the challenge? What did you contribute? What was the result?

I’ve seen developer portfolios that are just a grid of project thumbnails linking to GitHub repos. I’ve seen designer portfolios that are galleries with no captions. These tell me nothing about the person’s thinking or impact.

The fix: Every portfolio piece needs at minimum:

• A one-sentence project summary
• Your specific role and contribution
• The outcome or result
• Any relevant metrics

Mistake 3: Trying to Showcase Everything

More is not better. A portfolio with thirty projects is overwhelming and dilutes the impact of your best work. Nobody is going to review all thirty.

The fix: Curate ruthlessly. Five to eight strong, well-documented projects will always outperform twenty thin ones. If a piece doesn’t demonstrate a skill or outcome that’s relevant to your target roles, remove it.

You can always keep a secondary page of “Other Work” for completeness, but your featured portfolio should be tight.

Mistake 4: Ignoring Mobile

Over 60% of initial portfolio views happen on mobile devices. Recruiters check portfolios on their phones between meetings. If your portfolio doesn’t work well on a small screen, you’re losing viewers.

The fix: Test your portfolio on your phone. Can you read the text without zooming? Do images display properly? Does navigation work with touch? If you’re using a platform like Squarespace or WordPress, most themes are mobile-responsive by default. But always check.

Mistake 5: No Clear Contact Path

I’ve reviewed portfolios where I genuinely could not find a way to contact the person. No email address, no contact form, no LinkedIn link. Just work samples in a void.

The fix: Include your contact information on every page, or at least a persistent link to a contact page. Make it visible. Include multiple options: email, LinkedIn, and a contact form if possible.

Mistake 6: Generic Personal Statements

“I am a passionate professional who is dedicated to delivering excellence and creating meaningful solutions.”

That could describe anyone in any field. It tells the reader nothing about you specifically.

The fix: Write a personal statement that includes specifics. What exactly do you do? Who have you done it for? What makes your approach different? Keep it to three or four sentences and make every word count.

Better: “I’m a UX researcher based in Sydney who’s spent the last six years helping fintech companies understand how real people interact with their products. My research has directly influenced product decisions at three of Australia’s top digital banks.”

Mistake 7: Inconsistent Branding

Your portfolio uses one colour scheme, your LinkedIn has a different photo style, and your resume uses a completely different design language. This inconsistency makes you look disorganised.

The fix: Choose a simple visual identity, a consistent colour palette, typeface, and photo style, and apply it across your portfolio, LinkedIn, resume, and any other professional materials.

Mistake 8: Neglecting SEO

If your portfolio lives on the web, it should be findable through search engines. Many professionals build portfolios that are invisible to Google because they lack proper titles, descriptions, and content structure.

The fix: Add descriptive page titles, write meta descriptions, use heading tags properly, and include text content that describes your skills and specialisation. This makes you findable when someone searches for “UX designer Sydney” or “freelance copywriter Melbourne.”

The Quick Audit

Spend 30 minutes this week reviewing your portfolio against this list. Fix the easy things immediately. Plan a session for the bigger changes. Every mistake you eliminate removes a barrier between you and your next opportunity.

Your portfolio should be working for you, not against you.