Employers spend hours sifting through stacks of candidate resumes only to find a few hidden gems in the pile. Most resumes submitted to employers are poorly designed, poorly written, and many contain so many “flowery” words, one might think they’re reading a poem rather than a resume.
The TMI Age
In the TMI (Too Much Information) age, every single one of us is inundated with information. We’ve even resorted to abbreviating everything and using emoticons to communicate because we just don’t have the time anymore to speak in full sentences. We read our news headlines in less than 140 characters, we have to shorten our URL links, and we need to embedd even more information in the print advertisements we see using QR codes. How is any of this relevent to the job search process?
The Impact on Recruiting
The world of recruiting is changing. Excuse me, the world of recruiting has changed! Employers already use resume parsing software to scan resumes to extract data determined to be most relevant for their open position. The software automates a large portion of the resume review process to filter hundreds of resumes to only a few, saving employers time. Recruiters have also started leveraging the power of word-of-mouth by building talent communities through social media platforms to attract and engage talent from which to draw upon when they want to fill open positions. We are starting to see QR codes on resumes and business cards representing new, more aggressive, and innovative ways to market one’s self. What’s next you ask?
The Micro Resume
Now, a small trend has emerged known as the micro resume. This trend was reportedly started in China with the micro resume being a condensed version of a job seeker’s qualifications, typically printed on a business card using no more than 140 characters. Consider the following Tweet which could also act as a micro-resume:
“Recent Valedictorian Graphic Design graduate recognized with 2011 ADDY Award seeking entry-level package design position in Phoenix, AZ.”
The micro resume is something that would appear on a business card so it would still need to include one’s contact information. One can argue that the micro-resume isn’t a resume at all, but rather an extension of the basic concept of a headline that provides a brief explanation of one’s qualifications. The micro resume is not a trend in the U.S. but it is an interesting concept and might be indicative of even more drastic changes in the job seeking process yet to come.
What other trends do you think might be coming down the pipeline in the recruitment world?
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I like this idea, though I think I’d call it a portable elevator speech. If you can clearly put down the important bites on a card you can pass it easily with your linkedin.com URL…thanks!
Ginny,
The concept of selling yourself in brief selling points is the consistent theme with all new forms of self-marketing. I think why it is termed a micro resume is because it is in print. It could be called a Twitter resume if this was the bio on a Twitter page so semantics aside, I think the broader discussion relates to the future of recruiting and self-marketing. We have seen pretty big changes with technology and social media and how that has changed things. I decided to do more research on this topic and came across an excellent blog post where the author writes about the nano resume. It is written as science fiction but to prove a point that one day, it might not be far fetched to have candidate information in bar codes with software programs filtering on more sophisticated variable sets. Check it out: http://bit.ly/pc2XuN.