We Live In A 'Show Me' World Now

In a time when many people are struggling to find work that is financially and personally rewarding it's important to point out how things have changed over the last decade. When you were looking for work (either as an entrepreneur or employee) in the past you would spend most of your time telling people why they should hire you or buy what you're selling. Today the cost of the technology required to share what you do is more accessible than ever. Combine this fact with the reality that every hire is important to companies because a) they know that they have the luxury of choosing from many candidates, and b) bottom lines are so fragile that the output of every employee counts. What we have now is a time where there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to show people what you can do. More and more companies prefer this approach rather than taking your word and the word of your references.

A practical example of this phenomenon is found in the story of a young man who was recently hired (albeit as an intern) at Apple, Inc. For many, a job at Apple is a dream so surely Apple has their pick of the best and the brightest. The blog MacRumors reports the following bit of information.

"University of Georgia student and user interface concept designer Jan-Michael Cart has officially announced on his new blog that he is headed to Cupertino to take a seven-month internship with Apple. Cart has gained some fame in the Apple rumor community for his ideas and concept mockups for potential iOS and Lion feature additions and enhancements."

The video mockup that Mr. Cart created can be seen below. It has received over 600,000 views on YouTube. Something like that means more than any resume you can send out. Before YouTube existed (it only went live six years ago) getting the word out on a video like this would have been very difficult. The creation and editing of the video would have cost thousands of dollars more as well.

Technological and economic times have changed. Are you changing with them? For whatever it is that you do there has never been a better time to show what you bring to the table. If you haven't tried this approach to getting attention then you haven't made an earnest attempt to achieve your goal of a more financially and/or personally rewarding career.