Is the CV dying?

A CV has long been the tool that helps you get your foot in the door when applying for jobs. But with so much information about your employment history and skills being available online, the CV is no longer the only search and screening tool used by recruiters and employers. Is this the beginning of the end of the traditional CV? James Roberts, HR recruitment consultant at Macmillan Davies, discusses.

As with most things there needs to be context applied. If you are in a particularly creative industry, you may have other ways of attracting attention from a prospective employer which go beyond a two-page word document. The CV is also an opportunity for you to stand out and display areas of experience that are relevant to the exact role you are applying to.

CVs are essentially, factual documents: they serve to share a candidate’s work experience and education record with their prospective employer; usually, they cannot reveal anything about a candidate’s character and/or personality and the ability to write a good CV bares no reflection of your ability to do the job. As employer or recruiter, you need to focus on fit and potential instead.

The one-click digital switch

We are seeing a digital resume switch, which is already happening with LinkedIn for example, where the candidate presents a summary about them and their experience, rather than a huge 6-page list of companies that they have worked for since 1979. Your LinkedIn profile is often more update to that you CV – this is often the first thing recruiters check – it also means quicker and easier applications.

This is of course in the interest of speed to the candidate (and we know how long and painful it is applying for multiple jobs) but from my experience a lot of these applications will not get properly looked at by companies, especially when you have a small inhouse recruitment team with multiple vacancies and sometimes thousands of applicants.

Talent is more than academic

Earlier this year, PwC announced that it has removed a requirement that new employees achieve a minimum of a 2:1 at university, acknowledging that talent and potential is “determined by more than academic grades”.

By removing the 2:1 requirement for undergraduate and graduate roles, PwC estimates that more than 70,000 more students a year would be eligible to apply for a job. About 17% of students at university do not achieve a 2:1 or first-class degree classification.

By assessing candidates based on their academic achievements and career history alone can limit access to high-level talent. PwC said it is confident that its in-house behavioural and aptitude testing is up to the task of assessing a candidate’s potential.

Eliminating unconscious bias

There are different types of unconscious bias but, in essence, it refers to the learned stereotypes that we may apply which could be a factor in who we choose to employ. These biases are rooted in our beliefs that we may have about things like race and ethnicity, religion or education. People may use them unintentionally when deciding who to hire and who to reject.

If CVs are used, much of the personal information is stripped out to prevent any bias from the hiring managers determining who should get hired. With most businesses now having a strict inclusion and diversity policy to prevent against such unconscious bias creeping into the hiring process, it’s proving a threat to the traditional CV.

The CV will stay, but for how long?

CVs should be part of a number of materials that people use to showcase their achievements, skills and ability to perform tasks relevant to the job. As a recruiter within HR, the CV is certainly very valuable and at Macmillan Davies we make an effort to consider every application and get back to candidates even if they are not right for the role that they have applied for.

Get in touch

Should you wish to have a confidential chat with James Roberts to discuss the current HR market and where we can help with inclusive recruitment or your search for work/recruiting into your team, please contact him directly at jroberts@mdhr.co.uk

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