I came across a very interesting infographic posted on SocialTalent entitled ‘How Recruiters Read your CV’ and this simple graphic highlights exactly why recruitment HAS TO change. Everything around us evolves however some industries are slower than others to react.
The article states that on average, a recruiter spends between 6-10 seconds scanning a CV to decide on if the candidate is worthy of consideration for the next stage.
Just imagine how many potentially excellent candidates are being missed out on because the initial human ‘scan’ didn’t like the look of a CV – perhaps the font used, the size of text, the layout – and that’s before we start to look at the unconscious bias that will creep into the process. Are we too focused on judging a book by its cover?
Of course, having a well formatted, error free and eye-catching CV is still key to finding a job however we are seeing a shift towards replacing that initial part of the process to smarter, more sophisticated tools. There is lots of attention on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data and how they are set to change the way recruitment is carried out, for example Are robot recruiters and AI personas the new competition?. There of course still needs to be a human element to the process however that point of human interaction is slowly being pushed further down the process.
Is that a good thing? If the correct tools and processes are in place, then I believe it is. It will save countless hours of interviewing (or being interviewed), reduce operating costs, increase talent pools of the correct candidates and enhance the candidate experience.
The way people are hired is changing, some organizations are embracing this – such as the way KPMG are changing how the conduct graduate interviews and how Deloitte is using a gaming app to attract broader range of talent. However, you don’t need to be the size of Deloitte or KPMG to be able to embrace new ways of hiring & selecting talent – there are numerous platforms and on-demand services that any company can use to improve efficiency.
At TalentintheCloud we use simulated assessments to help identify the very best candidates. We remove the unconscious bias from the process and produce digital profiles of candidates that gives our clients the ability to see, watch and read how candidates perform. We can take 1000’s of candidates at a time and apply a fair but structured process allowing candidates to demonstrate their key skills in a real world environment.
I’d be interested to hear people’s views on this – do people agree that the end of the CV is fast approaching? Do you agree or disagree that the recruitment process needs to change?