We've spoken about the death of cover letters (RIP), now let's talk about the unavoidable rite of passage in job hunting: THE RESUME! (or, résumé if you're fancy) *cue ominous rumbling thunder⚡*
📄 Are resumes dead?
Absolutely. When job ads are attracting thousands of applicants, and the average resume garners just 7.4 seconds of the recruiter's attention, it's clear resumes aren't really fulfilling their intended purpose. At best, they're a waste of time. At worst, they're to blame for crappy hiring decisions. It's time to rethink our approach.
⏳ A Brief History of Wasted Time
Resumes haven't changed in decades... but the world has. They used to be helpful when small-town recruiters were familiar with all the schools and employers getting name-dropped by applicants. But that doesn't scale because recruiters have familiarity bias, so candidates from lesser-known places are overlooked even if they're better. That's why even industry giants like the CEO of Recruit (Glassdoor and Indeed's parent company) have called resumes obsolete.
🔬 What Science Says
A century of research tells us the most accurate predictors of job performance are:
1. Work samples (29%)
2. Cognitive assessments (26%)
3. Structured interviews (26%)
None of the datapoints on a typical resume are anywhere near as accurate when it comes to forecasting on-the-job success. In fact, they're no better than random selection.
🧐 The Persistence Paradox
Despite their ineffectiveness, resumes cling to life in our hiring processes. Why? It's the "everyone does it this way" syndrome. We all assume they wouldn't be the status quo if they didn't work. But when 88% of resumes are immediately discarded, shouldn't we question this habit?
🎯 Cutting Through the Fluff
Resumes are minefields of bias, easily manipulated, and poor indicators of actual ability. They waste time for both applicants and recruiters. Meanwhile, many AI screening tools are low quality too, focusing on the wrong datapoints (like age) and filtering out potential stars.
❓Question to you: do you believe resumes really work, or are they just a comfortable habit? 👇
Senior Software Engineer
5dHello: Will you be posting video/sound from the interview, and do you allow an audience for your interviews?