Let’s face it: the traditional resume is dead.
While the resume has had a great run, new media has dwarfed its value. Leonardo da Vinci is credited with creating the first resume in 1492 when he used it to list his work when he introduced himself. But, would one of history’s most famous inventors still use it today?
Over the last 600 plus years, there have been two major changes that have massively impacted the ubiquity of the resume: the typed resume, and, social media. This last change will prove fatal for the lone one-pager.
In today’s global and connected workforce, why would either applicants or employers want such a limiting, lifeless, and stale document?
Social recruiting has taken over
In North America, over 76 percent use social media when applying for jobs, and 38 percent of job seekers use LinkedIn. As the Gen Y/Millennial generation continues to flood the job market (they will soon be the largest employed demographic group), there is no end in sight as to how big social recruiting will get.
A traditional resume, created in a word processor, is typically PDF’ed and then becomes a static document. It’s about as nutritious as a microwave dinner. Applicants are limited to a single page in a hard-to-read font.
The document is a one-dimensional showcase prone to boastful statements easily made knowing former colleagues will never see them.
Social profiles are rich with insights
Let’s take a look at your LinkedIn profile, which is rich with insights. It covers every component of a traditional resume but adds consistency in design across your applicant pool, built-in endorsements, and, reference features that provide public social proof of the candidate’s experiences. Plus, it allows for a depth of analytics.
Social resumes, like LinkedIn profiles, are living documents that are constantly getting updated and allow for a great deal more personality to shine through. As online video becomes ubiquitous, video resumes and screening will put the final nail in the resume’s coffin.
Ubiquity of Applicant Tracking Systems
Applicant Tracking Systems, these software behemoths, started as the only way large corporations could deal with the huge volume of applicants.
However as SAAS solutions take over, organizations of all sizes are shifting to innovative solutions that are much less cumbersome. Companies are skipping the resume submission in exchange for the direct LinkedIn plug-in and video. Paper-based resumes, of course, don’t easily plug-in.
As the world becomes more social, recruiting will inherently become more social and digital. My only question is this: has LinkedIn achieved the critical mass to completely own the social resume, or will they be disrupted as well?