“Why hiring through CV or resume no longer works.”
The hiring process in today’s world is more of a science than an art, well at least it should be. With the evolution of technology, employers no longer need to look at CV’s, match keywords or make gut decisions. With advances in tech, the hiring process can be more data-driven and precise. Relatively speaking, the CV is no longer the best tool for determining the eligibility or quality of candidates. Considering the many new tools at the employer’s disposal, hiring through CV or resume no longer works. You heard right. It doesn’t work!
If you look at the hiring process of big companies, you will see they’ve shifted to data-driven hiring. Companies like Google, IBM, Apple no longer look for a college degree, it’s all about skills and personality. And companies like Accenture, Tesla & Linkedin have been continuously innovating hiring practices aided by neuroscience technology, which determines whether a candidate is suitable and their likelihood of being successful.
Here are the six reasons why curriculum vitae (CV) doesn’t work anymore:
- Inefficient screening process: In today’s job market, the average job posting receives over 250 applications. How long do you think it will take a hiring manager to screen all those CVs/resumes? Research suggests that a hiring manager spends at best 6 seconds to make a decision about a CV or resume. Does this allow for unbiased and thoughtful consideration of each candidate? How does an employer justify such a short screening process? Hiring through CV or resume is a cumbersome, expensive and inefficient process
- Bias in selection: The chances of bias are immensely high when a hiring manager makes a judgment about a CV in such a short time. Often, managers are impressed by the name of educational institutions, experience, exam scores, resume design or references. All of which are factors that can easily cause biased judgments. Now consider the larger problem of bias because of gender, religious affiliation, ethnicity, etc. To make matters worse, also consider that a candidate might not advance beyond an initial screening because of something trivial like a clumsy photograph or simple typo. All-in-all, the company loses potential talent, diversity and risks a bad reputation in certain communities.
- Increases wrong hiring: Hiring the wrong candidate or even just a bad one is expensive. It increases turnover & kills momentum. Studies show that companies face 80% turnover because of bad hires. In a survey led by Fast Company, 25% of all companies surveyed said that a bad hire costs them more than $50,000 per year.
The chances of hiring a bad candidate are high when relying solely on CV. A CV doesn’t paint a complete picture of a candidate. The CV shows chronological employment history, work experience and other “tangible” details. But a study reveals that past work experience is not a determining factor of performance in the workplace. Rather a positive attitude, agreeable personality, cognitive abilities & “job fit-ness” are more crucial factors. It’s simply impossible for a CV to provide all this information about a candidate. Thus, hiring based on CV is inefficient relative to the many emerging technological tools at our disposal.
4. CVs are full of lies: More often than not CVs are a collection of sweet lies. A Fortune article cites a study which suggests that out of 2,000 people, 58% of the candidates lied, exaggerated & fabricated details on their resume.
Alarming! Candidates claim skills they don’t have, experiences they haven’t experienced and projects they haven’t done. Unfortunately, it’s not possible for a hiring manager to verify every detail listed on a CV. Even if it were possible, how could a manager justify doing this for potentially hundreds of candidates? Ultimately, “CV only” hiring can cause inefficiency and embarrassment for hiring managers and costs the company more than necessary.
5.Doesn’t assess what’s really important: A CV doesn’t fully assess a candidate’s emotional quotient (EQ), personality or cognitive ability. Hiring managers often emphasize more trivial and weaker determinants, which studies show is highly problematic. Tech companies like Google are relying more on emotional intelligence, as opposed to where the person went to school or what grades they received. A curriculum vitae doesn’t help hiring managers with such screening factors.
6. Focus on experience over skill: Years of experience is still a crucial determining factor in CV screening, this is especially true among older generations. A CV portrays experiences and accomplishments but not skills or personality. A 20-year study shows that previous work experience when hiring a person is not an indicator of success. That is why big companies have been adopting new hiring practices, such as artificial intelligence & automated intelligence and are increasingly considering curriculum vitae screening obsolete.
What’s the alternative then: So if not CV then what? Data based hiring it is! Data based hiring through artificial intelligence and automated intelligence give much more detailed information on a candidate’s skill, personality, and attitude, which studies show are stronger indicators of candidate quality, potential and overall “job fit”. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates the average cost of a bad hiring decision can equal 30% of the individual’s first-year potential earnings. So if you don’t want to risk this loss, considering changing or enhancing your hiring process today!
About upskillable: upskillable is a pre-employment assessment solution with an integrated jobs portal built by a team of experts with years of experience working with great organizations. Upskillable’s integrated job board, multidimensional psychometric and skills assessment engine, and applicant tracking system (ATS) accelerate the hiring process by leveraging automated intelligence (Ai). Our pre-employment assessment solution is not only easy to use but also curates instantly the top candidates making the hard work of hiring the right person easy.
