Change is inevitable… or is it? In the last couple of years we have felt the impact of change in how human resourcing is evolving in a very positive way. The problem, however, is that old school ways are still fighting a losing battle against new school thinking. There was a time when a list of one’s employment and a handshake got you a job, but this isn’t 1950 anymore. This is a new century and with it has come sweeping changes to how job seekers gain employment. Today, a person gets an opportunity for an interview based on his knowledge, experience, skills and abilities. Many still cling to the old “rules” that a resume should be one or two pages maximum with brief notes highlighting the more important items. Can you imagine someone like the President of General Motors getting his job based on a two page resume? I can’t!
New school human resourcing wants details. They want to know the knowledge, experience, skills and abilities a person can offer without needing to try and interpret vague statements in an out dated resume. Chronological resumes cannot match skills based resumes because they are just not designed to quickly provide what is needed in today’s employment world.
A successful resume today needs to cater to both the old school and the new school, until such time as old school finally fades away into history. It’s simply not happening fast enough yet. A proper resume, for old school, needs to quickly detail the value a person can be to a company and yet, for new school, given the additional information needed so that assumptions do not need to be made. This drastically cuts back on the time needed to qualify a candidate and also streamline the interview process, saving time and money by increasing the efficiency of human resourcing. Gaining a job is contest… and there are no points for second place.