Workplace

The days of the résumé may be numbered. 

In fact, at some companies, résumés have already gone the way of VHS tapes and flip phones. They’re still around, but most people don’t use them.

After all, what hiring manager wants to make a decision about a job applicant based on a text-based email attachment, when you can get a much better sense of a person’s personality, judgment, and communication skills by jumping online. 

All an employer has to do is Google your name, skim your blog, browse your Facebook profile, and check out your YouTube videos. And they’ll instantly know who you really are, instead of the sanitized version of you on your resume. 

And even companies that still accept résumés, don’t want the standard laundry list of jobs, education and awards. It has to be multi-media presentation, with, say, interactive graphics, links to your Twitter feed, LinkedIn profile and Flickr account, and maybe a “this is who I am” video on YouTube.

One job seeker we read about even used Pinterest to create what she calls a “Living Résumé.” Her pins include a copy of her résumé, a link to her blog, and a list of her speaking engagements, along with news articles that mentioned or quoted her, and even an article about how to build a résumé on Pinterest. 

Interestingly enough, a lot of employers say not to bother to “sanitize” your online life before you submit yourself for a job. Sure, take down anything that might paint you in a bad light – like you doing tequila shots. But hiring managers understand that nobody’s perfect. And they’d rather know the “real you” than bring you in for an interview - and discover that you’re completely different than the person they Googled.