Have you ever lied in your resume? What about embellishing it, just a tad, to make it impressive? Raise your hands, if you have said ‘almost truths’ – things which are kind of true but most certainly untrue in your resume. Something tells me that the vigorous ‘no’ nods have stopped at that second question. Of course no one raised their hand. This is not a LIVE session. Which is precisely, the concern of employers today. Let me flip the question, if you have been or hypothetically are on the hiring side, how much do you trust what you read in a resume? I think I have made my point clear. Resumes in the traditional form, are not the best way to gauge a candidate or even to represent yourself as a candidate for a position. A mediocre candidate can easily have the perfect classic resume. A perfect candidate may have a Medicare resume.
With the facility of generative AI, making the lies in resumes more sophisticated has become easier than ever before. The HR force is waking up to this new reality. This in turn requires us, as potential candidates, to wake up as well. Good morning! As with the case of any trust deficit situation, there is a great importance being placed on evidence. The face to face interview has been the only way, so far, of garnering that evidence. But, we have fooled and been fooled here too. One can posture, after some quick research on the company and its management – just to come across as a great fit.
What is the HR machinery doing to adapt and make the selection process more effective? Devices such as the asynchronous interview – where people respond to pre recorded questions and interviews conducted by AI bots etc are known to be in practice now.
What does this mean for job seekers? We need to up our resume game to cater to the new-age requirements and challenges of companies that are seeking us. How? Words simply don’t cut it anymore. Actions speak louder than words, is a truism that just got even truer. We need to work on video resumes – short, authentic videos of ourselves talking about our qualifications, personality traits, value system, skills sets etc. Did you notice the unusual elements I mentioned there? Elements that are not typically included in or expected to reflect in a classic resume?
That’s right. Personality traits and value systems. Video resumes allow for these aspects to be represented in an authentic manner helping HR personnel assess the level of our cultural fit into the company as well.
Preparing video resumes also primes us for video as a medium of interview be it with a human or an AI bot. The future is ‘on camera’. The facility to hide behind a static resume is fast eroding. On the other hand, people with the right skill set for a job but poor writing skills, have a better chance with this change. A dance instructor or a psychotherapist for example, classically relied heavily on a well crafted resume, typically in English to be circulated at well-paying institutions looking to hire experts like themselves. For no fair reason, they were put at a disadvantage against less competent people who happen to be good with typing out a resume, but not necessarily at their job. Now with the acceptance of the video resume, they can showcase their ability through the spoken word, as their authentic selves.
As HR ups their game at evidence based hiring, job seekers will have to think of every possible way to provide evidence. This is yet another case, for building an online personal brand. A personal brand like any other brand – consistently communicates the essence of the brand or person. Consistency builds trust. In an increasingly bot-ridden world, building trust is paramount – be it as a company or as an individual professional. We are fast heading for times when our resumes talk about us, quite literally.
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