Is the Resume Going the Way of the Dinosaur?

Resumes are a vital part of the job search, and putting together the perfect portrayal of your skills and abilities is one of the hardest things job seekers have to do.

And sorting through them is one of the toughest tasks employers have.

That's why one human resource professional has come up with a dramatic solution to the resume problem: Get rid of them in their present form.

"As we look at today's recruiting demands, the resume has not kept pace," said Joseph P. Murphy, principal and vice president of Shaker Consulting Group, a management consulting firm in Cleveland that specializes in employee selection.

The firm designs programs for companies that want to automate their recruitment process.

"Resumes contain the wrong type of information," said Murphy, who has been in human resources for 25 years. The consultant is on the board of the Northern Ohio Human Resource Planning Society and a member of the workforce staffing and deployment panel of the Society for Human Resource Management. He points out that computerized recruitment is growing daily.

Since 1998, when his company began designing computerized programs for job applicants that can be scored and measured, Murphy has predicted the end of the resume as we know it.

He recently wrote an article on the subject that appeared on HR.com, a Web site for senior human resource professionals.

"We should do away with resumes as a selection criteria or screening tool," Murphy said.

From the point of view of the job seeker, the consultant says resumes do not allow you to present your real achievements.

"When you apply for a job online, you have to use certain key words to show up in search engines, and the result is that you are measured not for your ability, but for your word choices," he said. And you don't have an opportunity to point out your individual value, abilities or achievements.

Murphy knows job seekers agonize and labor endlessly over their resumes.

"A lot of soul gets poured into writing them," he observed. "Many people get professional help in creating a resume, and when they do, the resume is a reflection of their coach's writing skills, not theirs."

And the nitty-gritty of what will make you a valued employee is lost in the process.

With online job applications taking over recruitment, Murphy reports that his company has "clients who do not even see a resume at the front end but ask for them at the back end when the job offer is about to be made."

Instead of relying on the "outdated paper resume," Murphy says many firms now use a standardized questionnaire tailored to each job.

The questionnaires are posted on the Internet, given by phone through an 800 number or filled out by applicants who are invited to come to the company's offices and use its computer programs on site.

"Employers get more information that way than resumes would ever give them," he said.

Other technical programs replacing the resume that now are being used to measure skills and personalities include a simulated work sample, situational judgments, biographical data and work styles.

"Because they're still a stagnant paper document, and we have so many emerging technological solutions, resumes eventually will disappear," Murphy concluded.

Source: Chicago Tribune. © 2005, Chicago Tribune. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. Powered by YellowBrix, Inc.