If I told you I was a great interior designer, would you believe me?
Probably not, and I'm pretty sure you wouldn’t hire me to decorate your living room without a lot more evidence.
If I gave you recommendations from three people I’ve decorated for, that might help.
But you might think they were friends doing me a favor, or maybe their standards aren’t as high as yours. Or maybe there are many more who thought I did a lousy job. Or that those are the only decorating jobs I ever completed.
The best proof of my expertise would, of course, be to actually decorate a room for you.
I could check out the houses in your neighborhood and get an idea of the size of your living room, and
I could ask you or your friends about your taste, and
I could guess at your income and budget, and then,
I could create a drawing of new living room decor for you.
If you are the best person I could hope to work with, I might actually do that. But it would take a ton of time and effort.
There’s something that’s almost as good.
If I create a portfolio of photos of rooms I’ve decorated and drawings of many more I could execute on, you might not care how many people I’ve worked for or what they thought.
You would be able to judge for yourself whether I could create the style you like.
Short of actually hiring me, it’s the best evidence you would have about my abilities. And it’s much easier for me to create than the first option. AND, I can also use it to show other potential clients.
In short, I show you that I’m an expert, rather than just telling you.
You can do this too when looking for a job.
Your resume is just a fancy way to tell people that you are an expert. The faster, better way to convince someone is to show them, with projects, portfolios, blogs, posts, articles, proposals, or anything else that is relevant to the results you want an employer to hire you to produce.
You don’t need decades of experience: just good, relevant examples.
You don’t need tons of qualifications: just good, relevant examples.
You don’t need loads of references: just good, relevant examples.
If you want a job that you don’t have the traditional experience for (but even if you do) there’s no better and easier way to get one than by showing your work.
The icing on the cake is that as you produce these samples, you are getting more experience and confidence in the very thing you want to be hired to do.
Not to mention it is so much more fun than just submitting your resume umpteenth times to the black hole of the job boards.
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