If Not The CV Then What?
The world we live in is changing faster than ever and of-course if you remain un-noticed, you get lost in noise.
There’s so much of this noise that you get tagged more often with a ‘perception’ than your actual skills/ professional self.
It might seem like a dumb question to ask, but lets keep the ‘dumb’ part aside and ‘lets ask’.
- Have you ever sent your CV to a potential HR and never heard back?
- Have you seen blog posts that say CVs are dead?
- Does your professional profile look mediocre?
If the answer to the above is ‘yes’, we think its worthy to question the relevance of the CV in times today.
There’s a lot that’s been said about the failing CV. Its still in use. Its still what recruiters ask for. Its still some information that is printed on a paper when the recruiter interviews the potential hire.
Before rubbishing the CV, lets understand hiring!
The CV is ‘information’ that sets a context between the potential hire and the recruiter. The decision to hire someone is entirely dependent on the conversation that happens between the recruiter(s) and the potential hire. From body language to relevant experience, speaking skills and a lot more is revealed in an actual meeting.
An important factor that makes a powerful impact in any hiring decision is the ‘social proof’. How many amazing professionals recommend you/ your attitude/ your work/ your ethics/ your discipline?
The CV hence plays the important role of ‘getting the first meeting’. But CV is dying? Aint’ it? Else you’d be getting more first meetings!
If not the CV, then what?
Remember this powerful equation that impacts hiring:
Successful hiring = the first meeting + incredible social proof
To get the first meeting you need a powerful professional profile and then a social network around it to gain social proof.
The signals on your CV are just not enough anymore. Your professional profile must be an aggregation of signals from your existence online + social proof from ‘real professionals’ who will vouch for you any day.
A great starting step could be your Linkedin profile. A powerful, well crafted Linkedin profile could be the platform to aggregate signals from across the internet for you + Linkedin recommendations could build the needed social proof that finally gets you the work you change the world with.
About unCV
unCV mentors young professionals and students to build a powerful professional profile.
