Let’s say you want to apply for a role and you do not have all of the skills required or don’t have any relevant experience. What would you do?
Experience comes in multiple shapes and forms. Experience does not only limit to work or academic experience, you can create your own experience too!
Creating your own experience requires some work but it can be a rewarding experience. You can create your own experience in starting your own project in which you get to demonstrate the skills you are looking to develop.
Let’s talk about how you can start your own project to boost up your resume.
Validate the project
Before you start dedicating your time to start a project, you need to evaluate if starting a project will help you achieve your goal. If your goal is about gaining the relevant experience so you can talk about it, you need to make sure starting a project will help you do that. We recommend that you speak to a mentor, or something with experience, to validate if starting a specific project will help you accelerate your learning in the area that you want. For example, a mentor might recommend that you take certifications instead.
Have a clear objective & goals
You must have a clear objective of why you want to start a project in the first place. If your goal is to learn about a specific topic, you will need to identify the type of project that will allow you to demonstrate the skills directly. Identify whose this project is for by seeing if your project can actually have a client or a user. For example, you might be creating a website for a non-profit organization free of charge. While you get to gain relevant experience, the non-profit benefit from your skills!
Understand the commitment
Building something of your own takes time and commitment. You need to define the scope of the project you are starting. Is this a short-term or a long-term project? Are you passionate about it or just doing it for the resume? The project scope also matters. The bigger the project is, the longer it is going to take for you to finish.
Individual or group project
You don’t have to start a project alone. Depending on the scope of your project, you might want to get a friend to work on it with you so you can learn new things together. This is also a good way to learn how to collaborate in a professional setting and show teamwork and leadership skills!
Some project ideas
- A website project
- Ecommerce project
- A design/art project
- Coding project
- Create an app
- Building business model
- Market research
- A podcast about a specific topic
- Blogging about a specific topic
