The Resume As We Know It Should Die

I recently removed the file upload field from the ‘Apply for a job’ form on the new soon-to-be-live Ideaware website.

It was a quick change, it uncluttered the form. Why did I remove it? Simple, I don’t review resumes anymore.

I haven’t done so for a long time. This lead me to thinking on how Tech companies usually approach the hiring process (from my and other fellow Entrepreneurs experience): take a look at code on Github, designs on their Dribbble profile and review their LinkedIn page. A personal, well-built portfolio website is always a big plus.

Here’s why a resume sucks (and should die):

• Very impersonal - tells you very little about the person
• You can blatantly lie in your resume, since it is very hard to verify
• Dates, numbers and GPA’s are worth nothing
• You can’t see & evaluate a portfolio on a piece of paper

Here’s why having a good online presence wins:

• You get a better grasp of someone, not numbers and words
• You learn A LOT from reviewing code
• You learn A LOT from a good design portfolio
• Easy to see if they’re a good fit for your company
• Hard to lie on Linkedin, your network tells a lot about you

You can’t see all of this in a resume, period. When a resume does reach my hands my first task is to find an email in there, send the person an email asking for links to their work & code.

That’s two steps we can totally avoid. Oh, you don’t have anything online? Sorry the chances of me hiring you dropped almost to zero.

The conclusion is simple: Resumes/CV’s & cover letters are worthless in our industry.

There is so much more to a person and their skills than just facts and numbers on a well-indented PDF (or printout).

The internet tells you so much about a person these days.