I often joke with a friend of mine that if they ever lost their job they would be unemployable. Because they have a great CV but zero digital footprint. No LinkedIn , no Twitter , no Facebook. Nothing.
I ask them to imagine a future where you don’t have a CV or resume. A future where your talent and achievements are broken down into tweetable chunks. Your professional life , and a good bit of your personal too, is available online for all to see. You are scored according to your worth and the value of your followers. Your score can determine whether you get that job interview.
And they laugh at me. ‘Paul , you are such a geek.’ As if that is ever going to happen.
Except it has happened. In 2013. At least if you are applying for a job at Enterasys Networks.
As many of you will already know the web was set alight when Vala Afshar pronounced the death of the CV. “The Web is your résumé” he said “Social networks are your mass references”.
Enterasys have just broken new ground with their latest job advertisement. The minimum requirements for which are:
This has made a lot of people start frothing at the mouth at the absurdity of it all. It’s a natural reaction when someone proposes a completely new way of doing something.
But I’m more interested in the opportunities this presents than its flaws. I think Vala is right for trying to disrupt the way companies recruit people. Why shouldn’t we start using social influence and the Social CV as part of recruitment?
Most minimum job requirements are based on what people achieved in school. If I were to apply for a job tomorrow the first thing it will ask me after my name and address is what I did 20 years ago. A time when jobs required completely different skills.
But we are still hung up about educational attainment. Even when it has no practical relevance to what we are applying for.
Don’t believe me?
A former colleague of mine recently applied for a job and was told that because a GCSE didn’t meet the required grade they were an unsuitable candidate. They came with my full endorsement – someone I’d employ again in a heartbeat. The qualification that scuppered their job chances was 15 years old – everything they had done since was irrelevant to the employer. And this wasn’t some blue chip city firm – it was a housing association- a business supposedly founded on the principle of giving people a second chance.
15 years of achievement and all it comes down to is what’s written on a piece of paper.
How absurd.
What I like about the idea of a Social CV is it is a genuine meritocracy. Anyone , anywhere can become influential on social media. Regardless of educational performance you can reinvent yourself online. Whatever their faults – Kred and Klout have something that educational qualifications will never have – they are bang up to date.
- Go on holiday and your Klout score declines
- People stop finding you engaging? You lose Kred.
Surely something like RebelMouse , that creates a Social front page based on your digital presence , paints a more relevant picture of you than the conventional CV?
Social Media has changed recruitment forever. HR teams and employers must change their practices to adapt to it , not expect social media to adapt to them.
I would agree that the concept of the Social CV has got a lot of maturing to do. But it will become accepted as employers realise that social media skills are becoming a necessity.
But what do you think? Could the Social CV replace the traditional approach?
Paul Taylor 
I’m with you on this Paul, I absolutely do think that the Social CV will transform how employers will recruit in the future – but I’m not convinced it will completely replace the traditional CV, not just yet anyway. There will still be a necessity to demonstrate a professional qualification in some roles; Doctors, Designers, Architects, Scientists (for example) – but what makes one candidate stand out from the next – the way they portray themselves, communicate and influence, all of which could be backed up by their Social CV.
Great post!
Thanks Andy – you might be interested in the way Vala Afshar has set out the requirements of the role , not only replacing the CV – but including applicant checks! http://blogs.enterasys.com/hiring-a-social-marketer-no-paper-resume-accepted/
Really interesting, thanks Paul. It’s got people here at @DigitalSparkLtd talking already and I only forwarded it to the team ten minutes ago.
Thanks Tom I think is an important debate. I’m very interested in how the application for the job overtly stated how online searches would be done as part of the process too!