Our
parents and grandparents may tell us stories of how they simply walked
into a company and got a job, but those times are long gone. As are the days of
mailing hundreds of speculative CVs to prospective employers, hoping one might
bite. No, the job market has changed dramatically over the last few decades;
competition is rife and scores of people vie for the same one role.
It's more difficult than ever just to secure an interview.
To
keep ahead of the curve and get themselves noticed, applicants
are increasingly resorting to more innovative ways to showcase their
talents and demonstrate their suitability for a vacancy. More often than
not, these innovations are digital - but can they ever better the traditional
linear-format CV?
Types of digital CV
Online: most people have posted their CV online, registering
with internet recruitment firms or jobs boards. Although just an electronic
version of the linear CV, placement online enables recruiters to find
them, or algorithms to suggest 'jobs you might be interested in'.
Video: currently used more commonly to enhance traditional CVs rather
than instead of them and, when done well, they can be great. Great video
CVs often 'go viral' and result in a deluge of job offers from which
the talented candidate can choose.
Visual: collates interactive material into a traditional format, such
as videos, blogs, presentations and/or social media to create what mashable.com
calls a 'great digital portfolio'.
Social media: LinkedIn, the professional
networking site, is widely considered as a social media CV of sorts, comprising
job history, skills and professional connections. Twitter and Facebook can be
used in similarly creative ways to detail skills, experience and what role the
applicant is looking for.
Advantages
There
are a plethora of advantages to employing a digital CV. Here are a few:
Beat the competition: aside from the speed benefits
in terms of physically getting a resume in front of an employer versus snail
mail, digital CVs can be eye-catching, engaging, humorous and elevate an
applicant above the rest; for their effort if nothing else.
Appropriate channel: as more jobs are
advertised online, it is fitting that CVs should be posted via this channel
also. With so many applications to sift through, this saves a huge amount of
time and also allows recruiters to search for suitable candidates
faster.
Reflects changes in the recruitment process: a
large proportion of today's recruiters are expected to
research candidates online, while most managers admit to doing it,
whether morally right or not. As such, a positive, professional online
presence, in whatever form, is all-but essential and can vastly influence
an individual's job prospects.
Demonstrates skills: a digital CV can indicate
that an applicant has initiative, is creative, possesses technical abilities
and has original ideas that transcend the 'everyday'. They can also infer
precisely how passionately an individual wants to work for a specific brand or
in a particular role in ways that a paper CV simply isn't able to convey.
Representative of modern working life: using
a digital CV, it could be argued, is a method which is far more
appropriate for the application of modern roles. Changes in working practices
and workers' own expectations/ attitudes mean we have seen roles
essentially deconstruct and become non-linear. Surely, then, a linear
CV is no longer sufficient on its own?
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