As of: July 11, 2026.In a more selective job market, it is often no longer enough to simply list duties and strengths. Those who can show how they work become more tangible more quickly. This is exactly where work samples help: texts, designs, concepts, code, project examples, photos of finished pieces, presentations, or short case studies that make a claim on a CV verifiable.
For applicants in Austria, this topic is not only relevant in creative professions. Good work samples can also help make skills visible in IT, marketing, engineering, architecture, research, consulting, trades, education, office management, or project coordination. This is especially true when a CV or job title alone does not explain what someone can actually do.
Why work samples now carry more weight
The current StepStone Hiring Trends update describes a job market in which more applications do not automatically lead to faster hires. Companies scrutinize candidates more carefully, candidates are more selective, and skills need to be made clearer. For applicants this means: a strong application does not only describe what experience exists; it also shows what work results arose from it.
The AMS describes work samples as evidence of past work that make abilities and ways of working visible. They supplement a CV, cover letter, and references, but do not replace them. A work sample is therefore not a decorative attachment but a piece of evidence: it should show why a person is a fit for a specific task.
What counts as a work sample
Work samples can take many different forms. In traditional creative professions they are often texts, layouts, illustrations, photographs, videos, or campaigns. In technical fields they can be drawings, models, prototypes, screenshots, documentation, or software projects. In consulting, project management, or administration, anonymized case studies, process improvements, templates, presentations, or short project descriptions work well.
What matters is not the format but the substance. A work sample should ideally answer three questions: What task was solved? What role did the applicant play? What was the outcome? Without this context, even a good example remains hard to understand.
Work sample, portfolio, or project list?
A work sample is a single example. A portfolio is a curated collection of several examples. A project list is usually more concise and describes positions, tasks, and results without sending all the documents. Which format is appropriate depends on the industry, the position, and the stage of the application.
For an initial application, a small selection is often sufficient: a PDF with two to four examples, a link to a password-protected page, or a brief note that work samples can be provided on request. A large portfolio can make sense when it is common in the profession, for example in design, architecture, media, software development, or research. For general office or specialist roles, a slim project appendix often looks more professional than an overloaded folder.
Which work samples really suit the job
The most common mistake is quantity instead of selection. Anyone who sends ten examples leaves the sorting work to HR. A better approach is a small, targeted selection. The AMS recommends selecting work samples carefully, ensuring they are up to date, and aligning them with the advertised job profile. StepStone also suggests, as a guideline, a few up-to-date work samples rather than an unwieldy package.
A practical selection filter: Mark the three most important requirements in the job ad. Then choose at most one example per requirement. If a position requires, for example, project coordination, client communication, and reporting, an anonymized project overview, a structured presentation, and an example of a dashboard can have more impact than five random old documents.
How to make a work sample understandable
A good work sample needs context. For each example, write a short explanation: task, initial situation, your contribution, result, and tools used. It doesn't have to be a long text. Three to five lines are often enough. Without context, a work sample can quickly look like a loose document from previous jobs.
Example of a concise description: "Concept for an internal knowledge base, created as part of a team project. My contribution: structure, content plan and coordination with three departments. Result: standardized templates and faster onboarding of new employees." Such sentences demonstrate working methods, responsibility and impact.
People who come from another professional field particularly benefit from this classification. The entry on career change shows how important transferable skills are. Work samples make this transfer more concrete.
Data protection, confidentiality and intellectual property
Work samples must not disclose confidential information from previous jobs. Names of clients, internal figures, prices, strategies, personal data, access credentials or unpublished documents should not be included in an application. The AMS explicitly recommends anonymizing sensitive data or obtaining permission to share it in advance.
Your own rights should also be protected. For digital work samples, PDF files, non-editable formats, watermarks or password-protected links can be useful. If a work sample is only to be shown during an interview, this can be stated in the application. It is important to clarify that the documents are intended solely for the application process.
What to do if you don't have a work sample?
Not every female applicant has published work or publicly released projects. That is not grounds for exclusion. The AMS also lists fictitious projects or ideas as an option for people new to the labor market when real examples are missing. Transparency is important: a fictitious concept must not appear to be a client assignment. It should be labeled as a practice project, case study, or sample task.
Even small examples can help: an anonymized Excel analysis, a self-created process plan, a short writing sample, technical documentation, a learning project, a GitHub repository, a before-and-after example of a private organizational project, or a presentation from continuing education. The key is that the example fits the target role and reveals your way of thinking.
Work samples for entry-level and junior roles
Entry-level applicants often have little formal experience. Work samples can partly close that gap if they don't come across as exaggerated. A small analysis project, a summary of a thesis, a practical project from vocational training or university, voluntary work for an association, or a self-built tool can show how someone approaches tasks.
The jobspot post on Entry-level jobsexplains why junior roles are not always easy to spot. Work samples help demonstrate learning ability and practical application without artificially implying seniority.
Don't confuse work samples with trial work
A work sample in an application is different from actual employment at a company. A short example, a presentation, or an existing project is less problematic than unpaid work for a company. If a new task is requested during the selection process, it should be clearly limited: purpose, scope, timeframe, usage, and feedback should be transparent.
The jobspot post on Work trial explains the boundary between getting to know each other, a short work sample and actual employment. Applicants should be wary if a task is very extensive, resembles a real assignment, or the company might use the results later.
How to include work samples in your application
Work samples should not be attached to the email at random. For online applications, a compact PDF is often practical. For larger files, a well-named link is better. Filenames should be professional, for example „Arbeitsproben_Max_Muster_Marketing.pdf“ instead of „final_neu_3.pdf“. If an application portal sets upload limits, a brief note in the cover letter is advisable.
The article Reviewing application documents shows why a final check before sending is important. For work samples there are additional rules: each sample should be relevant to the role, be technically accessible, contain no confidential information, and be explained in a few sentences.
Conclusion: Show less, but explain better
Work samples in applications do not mean sending as many documents as possible. The strongest effect comes from selection and contextualization. Two very fitting examples are better than a large unsorted portfolio. Good work samples make skills visible without replacing the CV. They show your working style, thinking, quality and results.
The best next step: choose a specific target position, mark the most important requirements and find two examples that demonstrate those requirements. Write three sentences for each example: task, your contribution, result. If you remove sensitive information and give the file a clear name, a work sample becomes a strong argument for getting the next interview.
