CVs / Resumes are pointless....

I’ve thought this for a while now. I am, and always have been, a firm believer in skills and values-based assessment. For me, it’s about looking at what someone can do, what their potential is , rather than what they may have done in at different time, place and under specific (and very different) circumstances.

I agree that, in the past, CVs and resumes had a place. But the world is changing faster than ever, and to survive and thrive as a business, we need to change the way we bring people into our organisations. 

In a recent McKinsey Global Survey, 87 percent of executives said they were experiencing skill gaps in the workforce, or expected them within a few years. But less than half of respondents had a clear sense of how to address the problem.

Let’s talk CVs and resumes for a moment.

It’s thought the first use of a Curriculum Vitae (CV) was in 1482, when Leonardo de Vinci created the first professional one. It took until the 1950s (nearly 500 years) for the CV to become formalised, and for it to be expected during job interviews. In 1984, the first guide to writing CVs was published, and today you can get help writing the ‘killer CV’ from many different sources.

However…

Have you thought about what a CV is? It’s a list of accomplishments, polished to within an inch of its life. It’s a piece of crafted paper that is:

• related to what someone has done elsewhere – how relevant is that to your business right now, at this point in time?
• hard to check – some estimates put the amount of CVs and resumes that include mistruths at between 20 percent and 50 percent.
• it doesn’t actually give you the skills the person has, or their potential to develop
• it’s not recorded or displayed anywhere that can market your workforce, other than an HR filing cabinet (in most cases).

So what, you might ask?

When looking at the future of work and business pivoting post Covid-19, one thing is clear: organisations will need to reskill their workforces – and quickly, given that research shows 90 percent of UK employees will have to engage in some form of reskilling by 2030. This is according to a new report by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). That’s 26 million workers who will require upskilling as their roles evolve.

Even pre Covid-19, in 2017 the McKinsey Global Institute estimated that as many as 375 million workers—or 14 percent of the global workforce—would have to switch occupations or acquire new skills by 2030 because of automation and the continued rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

These snapshots show that things are changing and that business leaders need to act. In my opinion, one of the most impactful things you can do is change the way you bring people into your business. By running targeted assessments, you can identify the skills and attributes of the people entering your business, you can begin to understand qualitatively what ‘good’ looks like, and identify the potential among your people so that, together, you can upskill and meet future skills gaps.

Recently, at the #RecFestoneworld event, my colleague @Tom Lakin talked about ‘Hiring for Potential’, and how you can use assessment to do just that. (You can watch it on-demand here.) The key takeaway for me was that you have to make a plan and execute it, because being more aware of the skills you have in your business will position you better against your competition.

However, assessing new hires isn’t enough. To fill the skills gap, you will need to create your own talent, rather than trying to fish in a shrinking pool.

Again, so what?

Well, first I would recommend looking internally at your in-house talent, and run whole-business assessments against key skills gaps. This will allow you to understand who can be reskilled and by what methods to grow your own workforce. Could accountants make the best data scientists? What roles align naturally to working with the machines of the future? Getting a handle on this will give you a business advantage. (It can significantly raise employee engagement and advocacy at the same time.) It’s also worth spending time on hard and soft skills, attributes, and personality, because these let you understand more about your people, and therefore your business. As an added benefit, you could see a cost saving, due to lower attrition, higher engagement and shorter time to productivity, as well as a more inclusive and diverse workforce in newer skills areas.

Secondly, I’d recommend looking for potential rather than experience, especially for more junior roles. Recently, Resource Solutions, in partnership with InfinityGlobal.IO, pioneered a tech-led Digital Talent initiative, with social impact at its core.

In one project, 50 percent of successful applicants had no formal tech experience, yet qualified for roles requiring 2+ years’ experience. These individuals would have been overlooked immediately by any other process, i.e. the classic CV or resume!

We were able to run a truly inclusive selection process and create a talent pool with incredible diversity of age, ethnicity and experience level. For example, 56 percent of successful applicants where non-White British, ranging in age from 18 (digital natives) to 55+ (career changers).

The main takeaway for me is that everything is changing faster than ever before, and, as business leaders, we will need the right people doing the right roles (both now and in the future) in order to thrive. To fill the skills gap, we must change the way we bring talent into our organisations, and how we support lifelong learning and internal mobility across our businesses. The gap is coming, and it will widen if you do nothing. Those that invest in assessment and learning are likely to be significantly ahead as we emerge from, or learn to live with, Covid-19.

To know more about how we help our clients review, plan and change the way they bring talent into their business, please get in touch with ResourceSolutions

#recruitersfirst #humantech #experiencelead #deliveringimpact

About the Author.

Pete Donaldson is Head of Sales for the EMEA and Americas Region for Resource Solutions, a Global Recruitment Process Outsourcing Specialist. Pete has been in the Recruitment Industry for over 10 years and has worked in People Leadership and Management for over 20 Years and is passionate about the future of work and driving social mobility.