Latest / Career Skills with Fexingo: Hard Skills, Soft Skills, and Future-Proofing Your Career / How to Make Your Skills Obvious to Employers
Transcript
- Lucas: So I was talking to a friend last week who's a hiring manager at a mid-sized tech firm, and she said the most frustrating thing about reviewing resumes is that everyone claims the same skills. Leadership, communication, data analysis. But almost nobody shows them. Luna: Right, and it's not like you can just attach a spreadsheet to your resume. But I think that's the core problem. Skills are invisible until you make them visible. Lucas: Exactly. And that's what we're getting into today. How do you make your skills obvious to employers? Because the people who figure this out tend to skip the line, regardless of their background. Luna: And before we dive in, if this conversation helps you think through a career decision, and you want to keep this show ad-free, you can support us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a tiny gesture, but it genuinely keeps us going. Lucas: Yeah, and we appreciate it. Now, let's talk about a specific example. A project manager I know, let's call her Priya, was stuck in a mid-level role for years. She had all the technical skills, but she couldn't get promoted. So she decided to build a portfolio of her work, anonymized and stripped of client names. Luna: What did she put in it? Lucas: She collected before and after snapshots of project timelines, budgets, and team feedback. She redacted the confidential parts and created a simple slide deck that walked through three projects, her specific contribution, and the measurable outcome. It wasn't fancy, but it told a story. Luna: And that got her the senior role? Lucas: It did. She applied to a new company, and in the interview, instead of saying 'I'm good at stakeholder management,' she showed a slide where she'd cut a project delay by three weeks by reorganizing the communication cadence. The interviewer later told her that was the moment they knew she was the right fit. Luna: So the proof wasn't just in the outcome, it was in the story. She showed her thinking. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the shift we're seeing. Employers are moving away from asking 'what are your skills?' and toward 'show me a time when...' But the problem is, most people only do that verbally in an interview. They don't prepare the evidence beforehand. Luna: So what does that mean for someone who's not in a project-based role? Like if you're in customer support or operations, how do you create proof? Lucas: That's a great question. The key is to think in terms of artifacts. Every job produces some kind of output, even if it's not obvious. A customer support agent might have a log of resolved tickets, or a before and after of a help article they rewrote. An operations person might have a process map they improved. Luna: But a lot of that is confidential or proprietary. How do you handle that without breaking compliance? Lucas: You anonymize. You change the names, you blur the numbers, you generalize the specifics. The goal isn't to leak information, it's to demonstrate your methodology. And you can always ask your employer for permission to use sanitized versions. Most are okay with it if you frame it as professional development. Luna: That's a good point. And there's also the option of creating your own projects outside of work, like a side project or volunteering. Lucas: Absolutely. I know a marketer who built a tiny online store just to practice conversion optimization. She didn't make any money, but she had real data and screenshots of her experiments. That became the centerpiece of her portfolio. Luna: So the proof doesn't have to come from your day job. It just has to be real. Lucas: Right, and that's a big unlock. Because a lot of people think they can't show their skills because they're bound by NDAs or they just don't have 'portfolio-friendly' work. But the truth is, you can create your own evidence. Luna: What about the resume itself? Should you link to a portfolio or attach samples? Lucas: I'd say a link is better than an attachment. Recruiters skim resumes in seconds, so you want something they can click quickly. But the link should lead to a clean, focused page with three to five examples. Not a dump of everything you've ever done. Luna: And what about interviews? How do you weave this in without sounding like you're bragging? Lucas: You weave it in naturally. When they ask about a challenge, you say, 'I actually have a slide for that, let me walk you through it.' You bring a tablet or a printed one-pager. It's incredibly rare, and it makes you memorable. Luna: I've heard of people doing that, but I thought it was only for creatives or designers. Lucas: That's the old way of thinking. Now it's spreading to all fields. I've seen accountants bring a sample of a financial model they built, and a supply chain person bring a dashboard they made in a weekend. It's about showing the thinking, not just the result. Luna: So what's the first step for someone listening who wants to start doing this? Lucas: Start small. Pick one skill you want to be known for, and find one piece of evidence you can create this week. It could be a one-page case study, a simple chart, or even a two-minute video explaining a process. The format doesn't matter. What matters is that it's concrete. Luna: And then you update that as you go, so it's not a last-minute scramble before a job interview. Lucas: Exactly. Make it a habit. Every time you finish a project or learn something new, add a slide or a note to your portfolio. In six months, you'll have a library of proof that most candidates just don't have. Luna: I love that. And I think it also helps you in your current role, because you're more aware of the value you're creating. Lucas: Yeah, that's an underrated benefit. When you start documenting your wins, you realize you're doing more than you thought. It's a confidence booster, and it can also help you negotiate a raise or a promotion. Luna: So to wrap up, if you want to make your skills obvious, don't just claim them. Show them. Lucas: And the best time to start is now. Whether you're job hunting or not, building a portfolio is an investment in your future self. You never know when you'll need to prove what you're capable of. Luna: Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time.