Is the resume dead?
Over the past few weeks, I have either read, overheard or being part of a discussion on the life expectancy of the beloved resume. Many say the resume is dead and we are now awaiting the official burial or perhaps a cremation would be more appropriate. Let us take a brief look at the transformation of the resume during the past 20 years. Resumes 20 years ago and perhaps 10 to 15 years ago were presented on rich thick paper, gold leaf in some cases and bound in expensive covers, all of this effort to seek out the attention of the recruiter or hiring manager by standing out from the crowd. Despite the effort invested in the physical presentation, these documents were generally quite stale in terms of content. As we gained more freely available access to computers, the resume progressed. Templates were freely available and job-seekers started to experiment. Some of the resultant resumes were disastrous but failure goes hand in hand with success, if you’re not failing, you’re not trying!
We’ve since witnessed the resume transform into a sales and marketing document designed to highlight your key saleable assets, your skills and experience. There’s a choice of resume formats to employ depending on your circumstances. We have recently experienced a massive surge with individuals having an online presence. From networking sites like facebook and Linked In to interactive job boards, an online brand is becoming part of the norm. Recruiters will seek you out in these networking sites perhaps to check you out following an application you made or they will use these online areas as search tools to augment traditional methods.
For the time being, sending out your resume is still very much part of the job hunting experience and I would not subscribe to the fact that the paper resume is dead. Digital resumes are on the rise and it’s essential to place an equal amount of effort into your digital resume when actively job seeking. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel however as much of the content in your traditional resume can be replicated in an online resume. Question is, have you invested the required amount of time and energy into your traditional resume?
