I have recently been working with a group of clients, discussing how the world of work in the 21st Century has evolved. One of the biggest changes noted was how we apply for jobs now and as a consequence of that; how the role of the ‘traditional CV’ has since become outdated.
Curriculum Vitae is Latin and roughly translates to mean “the course of my life”. Traditionally, it was a reflective document about us and our employment history. It would include a photo, personal information such as age, marital status, children and a whole range of things we would never consider revealing about ourselves now!
Employers are no longer interested in the ‘course of our lives’. They want to know what skills, experience, knowledge and qualifications we can bring to their organisation in order to improve their revenue.
Employment Legislation now protects us against discrimination, so we are no longer judged unsuitable because of because of how we look, or our age, whether we have children, our race, ethnicity, religious beliefs or our health.
We now live in a society that embraces diversity and recognises we have a wider range of gender profiles other than just ‘male and female’. This has created a lot of discussion in the HR and Recruitment industries about introducing and promoting ‘gender neutral’ CV’s and recruitment campaigns; and why not?
Why do employers need to know our gender in order to make informed hiring decisions? It’s no longer relevant.
Technology has also had a huge impact on Recruitment, with CV’s being scanned and shortlisted using Artificial Intelligence and Applicant Tracking Systems and Software. Now A.I, instead of human beings, read our CV’s and take the hard work out of the sifting process for hiring managers. A.I does all the hard work searching for key words and phrases looking for evidence of how we meet specific job criteria.
Social Media is now such an integral part of our daily lives that if we are not ‘searchable’ on social media we appear to be out of date. The latest statistics show at least 78% of employers will search for you on social media websites and will expect to find you on Business Networks such as Linked In. Depending on your line of work and industry, if you don’t have a strong, professional, online presence this could really hamper professional credibility!
Organisations are now readily promoting the use of the ‘online CV’s’ where candidates are asked to upload a 2 minute visual presentation and sound-bite about themselves and why they want the job. No CV writing required!
People are now carrying personal business cards with their Linked In URLs, personal web pages, mobile phone numbers and email addresses so they can instantly exchange contact information and set up networking meetings for possible job opportunities wherever they are.
We are living in a technological and digital age where parents are choosing their children’s names based on whether there is an equal domain name available so their child can have their own digital identity as they grow up!
All these changes are happening now and are constantly evolving. We need to keep up and keep current so we can continue to keep relevant in today’s dynamic and fast moving employment market.
If you need help to bring yourself up to date in today’s job market, why not book a free telephone consultation with me via my website.
