Is a CV Still Relevant?

I always ask my clients how they feel about recruiting and more often than not I hear the following response; “I hate it!". This is great news for me as I love it and I can take away that burden but, naturally my next question is why? Among various reasons there seems to be a common theme...

I love recruitment and I believe being passionate about what I do has led to my success and the strength in the relationships I have built but there is one part of recruitment that I am inclined to agree with my clients about – I hate reading CV’s!

Very rarely do I see a CV that truly reflects the candidate I am representing or interviewing for my own teams, whether they are sales professionals, recruiters, developers or engineers. I tend to ask candidates how and when they put their CV’s together and I often receive the following responses; ‘Oh, I did it years ago and have just updated it a little’ or ‘I paid an online service’ or ‘I quickly put it together last night before our meeting’. Yet so many clients make decisions purely based on CV’s.

The truth is, rarely are people taught to write a professional CV but it remains part of the age old recruitment/job search process that we have followed for decades. But in an era of digital transformation surely the age of the written CV is dead?

If reading CV’s is the main part of recruitment that hiring managers (and some recruiters) detest then why not cut it out? In my latter years of recruitment, I have avoided CV’s where possible; I work smarter, I sell better, I get results quicker and it takes away the burden for all parties.

Here are some invaluable top tips for recruiters…

1.      Don’t make your life difficult; ‘sell don’t send’! Pick up the phone and pitch your candidates to your clients. This will speed up your process and allow you to address all the reasons why the candidate is right for the job! Prove to your client that you are not merely a middle man between a job board and them but you truly understand your market and your candidates.

2.      If your client puts an emphasis on seeing sh*t hot CV’s then advise your candidates on how to write one.

3.      Don’t wait for your candidate to write a CV before you submit them to your client; if after you have pitched in your candidate your client insists on a CV before deciding on whether to interview, refer them to their LinkedIn profile which is essentially a digital CV.

Top tips for hiring managers…

1.      Recruitment is expensive; would you rather work with a glorified CV service or a genuine consultant who can advise on the skills and weaknesses of candidates available to you? Allow your recruiters to do what they do best.

2.      Would you be impressed if your consultants were simply emailing job briefs to potential candidates in the market or do you expect them to ‘sell’ the opportunity? It works both ways…

3.      Speed is key, not just so your recruiter can earn their commission but for you to secure the best talent before anyone else. Competition is rife! Don’t wait for a CV, view their LinkedIn profile and listen to what your consultant has to say. If you don’t trust your consultant or believe your consultant really knows what you’re looking for, then perhaps it’s time to review your PSL?

Get in touch with the team at TSE for more advice on hiring and ob hunting.