Have we seen the end of the paper CV?

www.stuff.co.nz recently ran the article below called "Say goodbye to the paper CV". It's a pretty bold headline, but let's consider this a bit further...

We have seen some pretty impressive online CV's or marketing approaches - this is a couple of my favourites!

http://googlepleasehire.me/ and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EzNll1U2N8 

Pretty impressive - but not for everyone or every situation.

"Say goodbye to the paper CV" has some good things to say about LinkedIn, Blogs and traditional CV's, here are a few snippets from the article sprinkled with a few from us:

LinkedIn:

If you are wanting to own your online reputation LinkedIn is a good start - it started as a professional networking site and has been evolving into something much more. It has a job board, hosts groups, represents businesses and individual profiles.

We have a Company Page so individuals and companies can research us and what we do. Our brilliant team also have indvidial profiles linked to our company page and their profiles on our website. Two examples are www.pnpersonnel.co.nz/christinechristine and www.pnpersonnel.co.nz/claire 

This allows customers and individuals to connect with us and share our news - we have had success in attracting great employees through LinkedIn, and meeting awesome clients too.

Huge LinkedIn Tip: Make sure your resume or application matches your LinkedIn information - employers and recruiters check your profile, and it takes 30 seconds to spot a LinkedIn Liar

Facebook:

Facebook is one of the biggest networks there is online - FACT! If you share your job search with others on Facebook be sensible!

Share your status with well known friends, don't share information that may hurt your career long term (like boozy party photos, bagging your co-workers / boss or resigning on Facebook).

Huge Facebook Tip - Don't share things on Facebook if your job search is confidential.

Twitter:

Some have spoken about Twitter being the new way to find roles and approach employers. There is a very successful recruitment business model that uses Twitter heavily - but it is really in its infancy or for IT / Design or similarly aligned industries.

Huge Twitter Tip: If you have a Twitter handle keep a professional one!

Paper CV:

The Paper CV a.k.a. your Resume or Profile is the cornerstone of your job application for most people. It is a professional document that outlines your career history, your strengths, achievements, roles and responsibilities in a well-planned, easily read document.

It's goal is to profile your professional history and abilties well enough for potential employers or recruiters to understand the high level of relevance of your application to a given job.

Wikipedia says "A curriculum vitae (CV) provides an overview of a person's experience and other qualifications. In some countries, a CV is typically the first item that a potential employer encounters regarding the job seeker and is typically used to screen applicants, often followed by an interview, when seeking employment."

Your CV was traditionally printed and delivered / posted to the employer with your application, after reading job advertsing in the newspaper. Those were the days where the most impressive CV's were often on expensive paper, with amazing fonts and even scented.

It has quickly evolved already into MS Word documents and PDF's being emailed or attached online.

Huge CV Tip: Always have a CV in MS Word format, keep it well formatted, current and accessible. 

Summary:

The Paper CV is largely supersceded - but a well crafted resume in a MS Word document (or similar compatible file) that can be quickly printed, attached or emailed to a recruiter is very much alive!

Your resume is a concise representation of you and your professional acheivements - presented in a relevant medium to an audience that wants to access the information.

Keep it accurate, keep it fresh and make it relevant to the opportunity you are applying for.

• Paper CV's are relevant for industries / employers who are not using PC's or tablets regularly (be prepared to print a CV if it seems appropriate)
• Electronic Resumes (normally a MS Word file) are the most helpful format for us and most of our Manawatu clients
• Powerpoint Presentations - maybe - if in support of a good resume. If not they often annoy end users when they receive big clunky files
• Websites / Blogs - may be very relevant if the role you apply for is online or media driven - but tread carefully
• LinkedIn does allow users to view your public profile and also download a PDF CV - it's informative but simple
• Video approaches can be amazing if they suit your industry but pretentious if they don't

Your job application will be the sum of many things such as your initial phone call / email + your CV + your interview(s) + reference checks + online checks such as LinkedIn. Your resume is the foundation document to start your application.

For most situations a clearly formatted - well though out resume in MS Word is easy for all parties - always keep one on a disk, in the cloud or backed up. 

In a world where email is rising, the pace of business seems to be quicker every year and often interviews are harder to secure - I am sometimes surprised to receive an application where someone has taken extra time to present their resume to an exceptional standard.

I nearly always interview that person!

Exceptional means it stood out because of its design, information, relevance and it had 5% of something special!

Usually for me it was the applicant was also pleasant, professional and matched or exceeded the profile their resume gave of them and they always had a great CV in the format I asked for. Whether the preferred format was paper, email, LinkedIn, website, video, entirely depended on the preference of the hiring manager - but the content was relevant, accurate and informative.

What should be in a CV? ...that's a whole new discussion!