What is the standard procedure when applying for a job? You inquire about openings and the first thing you are told is “send us your resume”, right? Is this relevant anymore?
I would argue that resumes are antiquated, lifeless leftovers from a time before rich online communications. A resume is just a simple document outlining where you’ve worked before, what you did there, and how well you can embellish.
We have tools today that are so much better than a resume. The first place I go to research a prospective employee is LinkedIn. This will show me recommendations from others, previous work, communication skills, and connections.
I can do a simple Google search and find out a great deal about someone’s previous work. I would much rather read a candidate’s blog than a boring resume. A blog will tell me how well that person writes, what that person is passionate about, and what that person knows. I’m interested in what he or she posts on Twitter and why he or she finds it important. I look for a personal website that collects previous work and showcases it in a rich, living medium.
We all have a productivity footprint, which is a collection of all the work we have done, words we have published, and profiles we have created online. This productivity footprint tells me so much more about a person than a resume.
This is why I don’t really look at resumes. When someone inquires about a job at my company, I am more interested in that person’s productivity footprint than a lifeless document.
What do you think? Should we stop using resumes?
