Dive summary: 

• Young creatives, technologists and strategists now say that an impressive portfolio or experience with major brands is no longer what sets a potential employee apart, it's that person's side projects that will get them hired. 
• According to Anisha Ahluwalia, a director at Publicis-owned Denuo, their agency strongly favors candidates with impressive side projects; having a quality personal project shows that candidate can follow through with execution on their ideas. 
• The side projects offer a way for employees to show their "passion projects" rather than just a portfolio within the constraints of a client account. 

From the article: 

"The world’s most-buzzed-about creatives are well aware of this. Ivan Cash, for example, has worked with companies such as W+K, 72 and Sunny, Deutsch, BBDO, Venables Bell & Partners, and Facebook, but his online portfolio focuses more on his personal projects instead. Those include the Selfless Portraits Facebook app and Snail Mail My Email. He’s even invented a word for “the weekend after this”: “oxt weekend.” (Apparently, “next weekend” doesn’t work for everyone.)

For people like Cash and Tipping, their side projects probably do a better job of demonstrating their creativity than their client work ever could. For that reason, the projects are arguably as important to building a successful agency career as portfolios will ever be."​