The Kneeslider

Doers Builders and Positive People

Portfolio Projects Instead of a Resume

By

Two sets of finished castings for the Musket V-Twin
Castings for the Musket V-Twin - a perfect portfolio project
Are you are looking for work? With constant news of high unemployment it’s easy to feel a bit frustrated and demoralized, especially if you’ve been out of work for a while, but maybe you’re going about it the wrong way. If you’re looking for technical hands on work, you are uniquely positioned to do something many other job seekers can’t, you can literally show potential employers or customers what you can do by showing them what you’ve done with a portfolio of your past projects.

Do any of these statements apply to you?

  • You have no prior employment or all you’ve had are temporary, entry level jobs
  • You want a job unrelated to your previous work experience, you’re changing careers
  • You can’t find anyone advertising for the work you can do or want to do
  • You received no response to hundreds of resumes
  • You’re older and need to prove you’re still on your game and able to do first rate work

Even with the economy in slow mode, there’s always room for someone who’s really good. It doesn’t matter if you’re starting out or starting over, fresh out of school or fresh out of a job, the best way to convey how much you know or how good you are is with a great example of your best work, or maybe two or three examples. If you’re a hands on guy, like many of you are, if you have a project you’re especially proud of, you have the best advertisement possible for the kind of work you do, and whether you’re looking for an employer or some customers for a new business, show them what you’ve already done.

The age old resume is getting to be just that, old. If you don’t write for a living, but you can build or weld or fabricate with the best, then submit some photos of something you’ve done. Choose a good example and send it in. A writer submits examples of his best writing, a photographer, his best photos, a portfolio of what they’ve done in the past. Do you think it’s more convincing to hear someone say, “Hey, I’m really good,” or would you rather see what they’ve done? Show them a portfolio of your past projects.

Andreas Georgeades proves a few more years just makes you even better
Ask any employer what he finds most difficult and the common answer is “finding good people.” With high unemployment, it should be easy to find loads of qualified applicants, but what usually happens is companies get lots of resumes from people with no related experience or any accomplishments they can prove, they just want a job, any job, even if it would make no sense for that company to hire them. If you truly have experience and provable accomplishments, you can jump to the head of the line, even if you don’t write like a pro. Resumes are always filled with glowing superlatives, and occasionally one or two might be true, but it’s a lot better if the employer looks at your portfolio of projects and adds his own superlatives, “Wow, this guy does excellent work!”

Resumes frequently have a list of projects the applicant worked on as part of a team and the obvious question is how much this person had to do with the result. If you are strong in a particular skill, create your own project and show it to advantage.

Ryca CS-1 Suzuki S40 Cafe Conversion
Casey Stevenson used to work for NASA, the Ryca CS-1 shows he's learned a few skills along the way
The responsibility is on the shoulders of the applicant to prove his value in some way. You often hear the question, “How can I apply for a job that demands experience when no one will hire me so I can get the experience in the first place?” The answer is, you don’t need anyone else to give you experience, provide your own. The word “experience” is something employers use to find people with skills, they figure if you did it for someone else, you know how to do it and you can do it for them. What they really want is skill, know how, some proof you can actually do the work. OK, so prove it. If you don’t know how, learn. A piece of paper with fancy lettering, lots of Latin and your name on it proves nothing. A project you are solely responsible for with photos, video and a full description, perhaps on a website that details how you did it, is much better.

Of course, there’s a catch, there always is. You actually have to know how to do something and have a documented project that proves it. You can try to fake it, but the lack of confidence will show through so why bother? If you really can do it, your confidence will put you at ease along with the potential employer or customer you’re trying to impress.

Mule Motorcycles XR1660
Mule used to build rockets, he's not bad with motorcycles, either
Look at the projects we’ve featured on The Kneeslider over the years. If you were looking for highly skilled machinists or welders, or maybe someone with hands on skills and the determination to see a project through to the end, those custom builds or restorations would outshine any resume. If you were looking for work and sent in some photos or pointed to a website like The Kneeslider where your work was featured and said, “Look here and see what I can do,” the photos and words would quite clearly show what words alone could never convey.

Consider Aniket’s Musket and the engine he designed and built, including creating patterns and casting the cases, there’s a portfolio project that will open many doors. How about Maarten Janssens, a 20 year old student who designed and built his own 250cc racer. There’s John TangerÃ¥s and the T900 project and so many more, but you don’t need one on the scale of these, either. Just focus on what you’ve done and document it.

Sure, I know what you’re saying, why bother, no one’s hiring until the economy improves. Well, here’s a little secret, businesses are always looking for excellence and are always hiring. Always. Many employers right now, will immediately hire someone with the right skills even if they’re not looking through the normal channels, even if they think they’re not looking at all. Anyone who can produce more profit for an employer than he is being paid can get a job anytime, even in the slowest economy, even in the worst recession, that’s simple economics. It’s like offering someone five dollar bills at four dollars each. They will buy as many as you have.

Ian McElroy taught himself SolidWorks and designed Kickboxer
We talk a lot here about doing and practicing and we constantly show you projects many builders have completed, often learning the necessary skills along the way. If you have a great well documented story like one of those, to show an employer, they see not only the skills, but the can-do attitude, the persistence and determination, the ability to set, pursue and reach a goal. Compared to a dull resume filled with fluff and certificates that may mean nothing, these projects stand out.

If you’re older, you should already have some examples you can point to, or at least the skills to be able to create some, and if you’re young, your primary goal should be to get one started if you haven’t completed one yet.

Maarten Janssens with his MJ-Works 250RR
Student Maarten Janssens with his MJ-Works 250RR
Students just starting out should be thinking about this early in their studies. If a student finishes college with nothing more than debt and a piece of paper, he’s got a problem. If during all of that time, he completed nothing he can proudly show as an example of his best efforts, if he has no valuable skill he can demonstrate on demand, I hope he enjoyed all of the parties. Students like that may get angry when no one will hire them, when what they should feel is a sense of urgency to begin doing something to prove what they’ve learned can create something of value. The students, if they really think about it, may stumble into the realization they can’t actually do much except pass tests. It’s their responsibility to prove their value.

Today, it’s imperative, whether your career path is employment by others or running your own business, working with your hands or your head, self taught or college educated, you need a portfolio of what you’ve done. It’s your own responsibility, no one else is going to do it for you. Too many people only think about accomplishments when they’re out of work and trying to write a resume. You should think about it all the time, what is it you’re doing? What are you accomplishing with all of those hours you put in every day? If your employer or your own business went belly up tomorrow, what would you point to as an example of the work you’ve done? Create that portfolio of projects. It will help keep you on track each day and will give you the confidence you need to move on to something else if the need arises. It’s nice to look at once in a while, too, just to make you feel proud. Whether for yourself or showing it to potential employers or customers, it’s a powerful statement when you can say, “I did that!”

Comments

  1. WOW! Another great article. This hits me hard in two ways. First, my own brother is going to college on his own dime. He’s getting a Bachelors degree in history. He wants to be a Police Officer which around here requires a college degree. After the schooling he will also need to get into (and pay for) the Police Academy. Everyday he calls me and complains about all the debt hes in and the future dept he will acquire. He keeps reminding me that in the real world a History degree is about as worthless as it gets and he’s doing it just because hes far enough along that it doesn’t pay to end prematurely. As I said, I work in the automotive industry. I can’t tell you how many young people apply for a job at my shop and claim to have experience. Then, something goes awry. Either they know nothing more than front brakes (disc) and oil-changes, or they can’t seem to wrap their mind around the locking system of a 4 post lift. I have one kid now who helps on weekends because hes still a junior in highschool and he is awesome. He may not know much, but he tries to figure out everything for himself. He usually does effortlessly and without breaking things. If its really something bizarre he’ll look online or in a manual. If none of this exposes the correct repair procedure he’ll seek help with either me or another employee. My point is that he has that “DRIVE” do work. He tells me he is looking into Lincoln Tech or UTI. He’s worried about the high drop out rate and graduates who are without jobs. I explained to him that he’s different. A lot of people think they can go to school and then they are technicians or (insert professions here). It doesn’t quite work that way. The drive, want, and/or need comes first, the rest will follow and results will vary.

    • It’s a high recommendation that he’s even aware of the dropout rate of the tech schools. Most people don’t bother to do the math.

      If he’s talented enough and willing to study he can take the ASE tests without going to school. Any kind of ASE certificate is a leg up, and even failing one of the tests will inform you as to whether one wants to pursue ASE certification.

      Point out to him that “not breaking things” is pretty much the first requirement for people that work on spacecraft, airplanes, and racecars. If you don’t have that first skill–and it certainly is a skill–you don’t have the foundation to build on.

  2. I got my break into the motorcycle trade by sweeping floors and then the offer of some painting work on the shop building. After I got paid I was able to rebuild my engine and get back on the road. As soon as I arrived at the shop on my bike, the owner and service manager walked outside, looked it over and I was offered part time work in the workshop.
    Show what you can do and the doors of opportunity will open.

  3. With this sort of portfolio images are the key, people are very visual and a good picture says at least a thousand words. I took an obsolete 4 megapixel digital camera lying around in a drawer with a dead battery, put a new battery I got cheap from Ebay in it and now keep it in the shop in a little hard case so I can pull it out and take pictures of my various projects as I work on them. Digital pictures cost virtually nothing so I take lots and lots of images and look through them for the best ones.

    Also I have created a mini-photo studio to take the best possible pictures of my projects once they are completed, I use a neutral gray cloth as a background and a piece of white cloth draped over a framework of dowels to soften and diffuse the light so as to nearly eliminate shadows. This was easier for me than it would be for many because most of my stuff is rather small.

    You don’t have to have Photoshop or any software at all in your computer these days to tweak your photos to look their best, there are any number of online photo editors available but most of them are not that suitable for the way I work. The best one I have found after considerable looking is Pixlr dot com, it looks and feels a lot like a simplified version of Photoshop and all you need is an internet connection to use it right in your browser.

    http://pixlr.com/editor/

    A couple of example images of my work, these pieces are fairly small and made from briar burl and antique elephant ivory in the case of the spinning top and briar burl with African blackwood in the case of the star of David pendant I made on request for a Jewish friend who saw some of my pieces.

    http://i43.tinypic.com/33kb2hj.jpg

    http://i41.tinypic.com/2lsiqgw.jpg

  4. You can’t build a reputation on what your going to do. – Henry Ford.

    some how this applies all to often to the unemployed people I know.
    Not willing to put in the hard work to earn the reputation of a doer.

  5. As a guy who has more than 20 years of being self employed under my belt, I can attest that your portfolio of projects is something you can bring to the table when talking to prospective employers.

    You use your personal and profesional references and your portfolio when dealing with clients and you do the same with prospective employers. You use ALL your tools to get the results you want.

    Now, I’m looking to stop working for an employer and spending my time in my own shop doing what I want and when I want to.