Kill The Resume
07.14.2010 | Chris Bailey | Focused on Career
I can’t possibly say how much I dig this article. Ben Popper at Business Insider advises companies Want To Hire Smart? Ditch The Resumes. Regardless of whether you’re in the middle of a job search or gainfully employed, I think the ideas highlighted in the article will resonate with you.
For me, resumes are like elevator pitches. Excellent at helping job seekers fine-tune their professional marketing focus but utterly worthless when it comes to adequately communicating overall strengths and value. And for HR pros and hiring managers, the resume becomes a lazy way out of understanding what a candidate can do for the organization. The reason is that a resume is all about past history and nothing about the present and future. And God forbid you want to move toward a different type of job or enter a different industry; that damn resume virtually locks you out of those options.
As Ben ends the article:
In an age of disruptive business models, a resume doesn’t say much. The smart hire puts the candidates ideas first, then looks to see how they network and collaborate. It’s about seeing what someone can go, not where they’ve already been.
Of course, this means that both company and candidate have to dance to the same tune. A few courageous business execs are out there rewriting how they find great talent. What’s your organization doing to kill the resume and start uncovering an individual’s actual value, their strengths that transcend a piece of paper?
photo credit: brymo (via flickr)
5 Responses to “Kill The Resume”
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So you and I are on the same wave length thinking about hiring today! I like this a lot, especially the idea of focusing on where they're going, not where they've been. We need to think disruptively right now – this is reinforcement of that. Thanks!
My recent post Find Your Best Employees via Your Best Customers
Yep, we sure are. We both see the overlap between the customer experience and employee engagement. Companies need to stop doing things the same old way and expecting different results (insanity anyone?). Disruptive, ballsy, imaginative thinking + action is the only way to improve, right?
What I'm able to do, in a small scale though, is hiring a lot of people from my network. Ask me do build 5-person team and I should find these people among those I've already worked with but who are now spread around different companies.
However it won't work this way if you ask me to hire 50 people.
Another technique is hiring complete freshmen and teaching them. I was always a big fan of internships. You get a bunch of folks almost for free and after a couple of months you should be able to say who has potential to become decent specialist. On the other hand it takes much more time, like a couple of years, to get the specialist up and working at full speed if you choose this scenario.
My recent post Why I Prefer to Hire Women
@pawelbrodzinski ·
why would this not work with 50 people? You can ask the first 5 to recommend other people, …
@Chris: Yes I still get phone calls for things I did 15 years ago for only 6 months (and have been long of my CV). Getting phone calls for coaching too a long time especially as that did not fit into the recruiters database.
Another thing to consider (for programmers) is to do pairprogramming in the interview
I think this can be doen for otehr jobs also (do the work)
It wouldn't work with 50 people because I don't know 50 people suiting specific needs and willing to join my endeavor.
And yes, I can ask my network for further recommendations but I've learned it doesn't work nearly as well. What you often get is "this is my friend but I've never worked with her so I give you no guarantee" kind of help.
This is by the way something which always leaves me surprised – how few people average person can recommend as potential employees.
My recent post Why I Prefer to Hire Women