It’s an age old saying, apparently dating back to the mid-19th century. It’s as valuable a statement then, as it is now - and definitely one I believe should be applied to recruiting. How can one judge a person's true ability to perform a job simply by looking at a few pages of text?

When you think about it, is a CV or resume really the best tool for assessing a candidate? Sure, you can get a feeling for where they have worked, what they claim to have done and perhaps an idea on their ability to write, but each one of these things can be misleading and potentially fabricated.

After my last article relating to the sheer number of candidates who applied for one job (you can read that here), I was contacted privately by an experienced Executive who wanted to understand why companies overlooked his CV, even though he was selective on the positions he applied for.

Don’t take my word for it – here’s a screenshot of the response to a single advert posted on one of the leading job boards on the 8th July - i paused it on the 10th July.

Your blueprint guide for working overseas 

The market for skilled professionals is truly a global one and candidates with good skills can literally work their way around the world. Yet for every successful move we hear about, there are also plenty of others that end in disappointment and (occasionally) disaster. Most of these could have been avoided with additional research and careful planning....