The death of traditional resumes

The World has changed. Everything has changed. Why? Because the Social media revolution has changed the way we live our lives, the way we connect with other people and even the way brands conduct their business. Many brands out there have already understood that the game changed and therefore are moving their marketing efforts from traditional media like T.V and radio to online tools waiting to share content and build communities. Now it's all about building a community and establishing a relationship with your community. At least this should be the path. Despite this change, most brands out there still use traditional methods to recruit staff. They might post something on their facebook or twitter page saying they are hiring staff, but they still expect you to send them a nice cover letter explaining why you should be hired, and your resume. Why does this still happen?


Personally, I believe resumes suck. I hate reading resumes and I hate writing resumes. When I was a graduate student I was told "to get a job you should write a resume or a curriculum vitae describing your educational background, your work experience and your skills."  I was told, and you probably as well, that this is the first step for you to get a job. Then start bombarding 50 to 100 companies per day and if you're lucky at least 10 of them will call you for a job interview and soon you'll probably have a new job. This worked in the past. But it's over. It doesn't work any more. The game changed. 


If you think about it...a resume as it is traditionally defined is just an excuse to reject you or me. Once you send a .pdf listing a bunch of facts like where you studied or where you worked and what you did, whoever is reading your resume is probably thinking "well...they're missing this or they're missing that". That person will probably be looking for specific keywords and then boom, you're out because relevant keywords were missing. If the HR department of that company you just applied for is polite and has time they might even send you a nice e-mail saying you're out, but most companies out there will just ignore you. I totally agree with the legendary Gary Vaynerchuk when he once said: 


"Developing your personal brand is the same thing as living and breathing your resume every second that you're working. Your latest tweet and comment on Facebook and most recent blog post? That's your resume now."


Gary is absolutely right! I believe that in the future people will get jobs based on their desire to succeed and not on their qualifications (the past) as we still see right now. Traditional resumes are dead, or at least they will be soon.