Profiles and perception

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

This is the second in a series of 5 articles. Last week we looked at the increasing use of technology to sell candidate experience verses the traditional CV. This week, can employers see the wood for the trees?

Profiles and perception

There are now a range of tools available which are competing with or complementing the traditional CV. Today’s younger candidates have grown up with social networking, YouTube, instant messaging and blogs. This is particularly true for the generation born after 1989, often classed as ‘the Internet Generation’ or ‘Generation Y’:

According to a US survey in 2007, 97% of Generation Y own a computer, 76% use instant messaging, 28% own a blog and 44% read a blog, 76% of college students have a Facebook account, and this take up is still increasing.

It is possible to increase your profile and therefore perceived employability by utilising all of the tools at your disposal. This is obviously what candidates want, but does make it more difficult for an employer to focus on real ability and skill set as opposed to perceived ability and on-line hype.

It’s not just the American youth who are taking advantage of cyberspace for recruitment purposes. Virtual interaction is taking place amongst experienced professionals here in the UK too, even at the highest levels:

Sanderson’s recent survey of professional candidates on their database showed that 46% of respondents had a profile on Facebook and 42% on LinkedIn. 91% expected employers to conduct a Google search or check details on networking sites before interview.

Added value or information overload?

With the increased use of on-line CV’s and “Personal Professional Websites” candidates can highlight experience and demonstrate his or her skills through references, pieces of work, opinions and case studies. Professional blogs can highlight their knowledge and interest in their field, showing them as an interested expert in what they do.

But the same tips (and tricks) that were always available to candidates writing standard CV’s are now available “writ large” for on-line profiles. There were always CV builders, CV writing services and professional CV checkers, plus an array of different templates to choose from.

Over 70% of respondents to a recent Sanderson survey said that they had used CV writing assistance/tips available from the internet (Sanderson surveyed 1397 professional candidates on their database in May 2008)

Now there are a whole host of additional points for employers to consider:

• Did the candidate build the site themselves?
• Does it matter if they didn’t?
• Are they better than a candidate without a website?
• Do I have the time to check all of this information- the blogs, the articles the work samples?
• Is it relevant?
• Is it all the candidates own work?
• Am I being blinded by the impressive presentation and missing the content?

Essentially the internet means that you can find any information you want, get whatever help you need, create what you want and link it to anything that adds to your suitability. This doesn’t mean that the information available to potential employers is necessarily untrue, just that there’s so much of it.


Next week 'Professional Networking – Mutual Backslapping?'


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