More information, more interactive, more lies?

This is the first in a series of 5 articles. Over the next few weeks, we’ll look at the tools available to candidates, whether they add any value and what employers should do to make sense out of it all.

With the traditional CV under threat, does technology make it more difficult for employers to get a true picture of their potential employees?

Recruitment used to be so simple didn’t it? Read the pile of CV’s on your desk and pick the strongest candidates to interview. The CV told you what you needed to know- education, experience and employment history. Its look and feel gave you additional insight into the candidate based on layout, spelling and punctuation. There was always the danger of embellishment or fabrication, but essentially the CV felt like an egalitarian and fair way of comparing candidates via a single document.

As we enter an age where commentators are predicting the “death of the CV” or at least a diminished role for the traditional CV within the recruitment process, candidates are increasingly using technology to sell themselves.

We’ve all had the sales pitch. These tools will make recruitment easier, offer more information, and provide links to examples of articles, blogs, videos and references.

Yet, with technology comes the opportunity to “enhance” ability, oversell experience or just downright lie. It is often more difficult to spot embellishment or “over exuberance” than deliberate falsehoods, with candidates wringing every ounce out of their experience. As one blogger advised recently when answering a query about CV style; “truth, yes, modesty, NO” - but where does confidence end and overconfidence begin on a factual document like the CV?



Next week 'Profiles and Perception'; does an on-line presence add value to the recruitment process or simply 'big-up' less able candidates?