I am not sure why, but I have been thinking a lot about jobs and job searching these days. Maybe it has something to do with the economy.

In any event, as a thought experiment, I began toying with an updated resume. What would I include? How would I change my existing one?

I quickly became discouraged becuase I realized I would not want to work for an organization that uses resumes as the primary screening tool.

So I began thinking: what would I want an organization to look at as it makes its hiring decision? I realized that these days, especially in the “gig economy” that so many professional people (and others) are now a part of — the best way to convey your value is through a portfolio.

Take the handful of things you are most proud of and present them as if they each were an area of your portfolio. Maybe it’s your blog, your neighborhood newsletter, a project at a recent employer, a change process you are spearheading in your current job. Now — put it all together as a webspace. Or a report. There are plenty of tools to do this. Think as if you were preparing your annual report. Sure, you need to include the boring due diligence bits (your list of jobs . . . the resume). But that’s not what grabs anyone and it’s not what conveys your value.

Do I have such a portfolio to show you? Not yet. Like I said, this was a thought experiment. Give me time!

I will say, though, that writing this post spurred me to put together this. It’s a start.