Online portfolios are like show-and-tell for professionals.

You’ve spent weeks, months, maybe even years developing skills, studying, and working—now you get to put your results on display. You might be tempted to paste a few links on a one-page website and call it a day. But as competitive as the hiring process can be, you’ll need to do more to make your portfolio pop.

In this post, I’ll address who needs an online portfolio (hint: everyone), how to create one that suits your needs, and highlight some top-notch examples to help inspire your own.

Who Should Have a Portfolio? Considering the countless hours we all spend online and the rise of online networking, having a web presence that showcases your talent is a must. Put yourself in an employer’s shoes: Wouldn’t you trust a candidate whose work you can see instead of having to take their word for it or relying on a stale resume?

With that said, here are some career paths where online portfolios are an absolute must:

Photographers Videographers Architects Graphic Designers Artists Advertisers Web Developers Writers I’ll dive deeper into ideas and examples for your portfolio later in this post. But for now, just know that if you create anything, you need a portfolio.

“But My Work Doesn’t Have Any Visuals” Even if your interests don’t fall under the umbrella of “creative” work, having a portfolio is still possible and definitely advantageous.

Maybe you’re studying chemistry, nursing, HR, or another subject that doesn’t require as many bells and whistles as other majors. Even so, employers still want to see what you’ve accomplished with your time, and a portfolio can put that on display. Not to mention, you’ll be a step ahead of others who only have cookie-cutter resumes. Here are a few portfolio ideas for work that’s not so visually oriented:

Case Studies

One of the best ways to demonstrate authority in a subject is through case studies. This is an opportunity to show prospective employers how you think, work, and solve problems. The best part? You don’t need to know design to make a killer case study. For a deep dive into case studies, check out this guide from HubSpot.

Research

That’s right, history majors: you’re not exempt from portfolios either. Whether you want to become a teacher, a lawyer, or anything else, showcasing your ability to research and distill information is a valuable skill that can easily be translated into an online portfolio.

Lab Reports

If you’re in medical-related fields such as nursing or pre-med, chances are you’re stretched pretty thin for time. With that said, repurposing lab reports is an easy way to show what you’ve been up to in, well, the lab. All you’ll need to do is convert them to PDFs and add the links on your website.

Presentations

Nearly every major in college requires a presentation at some point. If you’ve suffered through research and public speaking, why not include the finished product as a portfolio piece? You can embed a slideshow into your website or, better yet, include a video of you presenting.

Certifications

If your potential career values or requires any type of certifications, it’s in your best interest to put them on display in your portfolio once you earn them. This can be as simple as a blurb, such as “Google Adwords Certified” or a screenshot of the actual certification if it was completed online.

How to Create an Online Portfolio If you’ve read this far, chances are I know two things about you: you don’t have an online portfolio (or need a better one) and you need help building it. In this section, we’ll explore what needs to go into your portfolio and some useful tools to button it up and make it legit.

Create Your Website

(If you already have a website, skip on down to the next step.)

First things first: if you don’t have a website, make one—right now. A personal website is the most important networking and professional development tool you can have. Traditional resumes (black text on white paper) are becoming less relevant. They go out of date as soon as you accomplish something new, not to mention exchanging resumes is way more of a hassle than exchanging website links.

Bottom line: you need a website. To build one, check out our ultimate guide to building a personal website.

Don’t worry, we’ll be waiting for you when you get back.

Choose Your Best Work

Think of your portfolio like a highlight reel—you want to be selective. Before you dive headfirst into the details and design of your portfolio, take some time to reflect on what work you’re most proud of. Remember, you’re going for quality, not quantity. If you’re on the fence as to whether something is good enough to include, chances are you probably shouldn’t.

For example: As a writer, it doesn’t make sense for me to link to every single article I’ve ever written. Instead, I created a tab on my website called “Popular Articles” where I list 10 of my best-performing or best-written articles. Why not give it a try?