Résumé is French for "summary". It's a collection of things that you’ve done in your work life that doesn't really give an indication of your aptitude, your natural talents, or how you'd fit onto a new team. A lot of the time, candidates have them written by others so it's not an accurate reflection of how a candidate writes or organizes thoughts.
Why Do Employers Still Rely on Résumés?
The résumé still does get used because it's easy for pre-screening purposes. In my opinion, this gets done by organizations who use administrative people working from job descriptions who scan resumes for keywords or job titles. In a candidate-rich environment, it gives them a quick reason to eliminate people missing a particular bullet point on the job description and to narrow down the stack that they pass on to the hiring manager.
There are many problems with this use of the résumé starting with the first call made to set up the interview by an HR person who has never worked in the role that they are hiring for who and often doesn't follow what's going on in the industry. The résumé gets used to have a chronological discussion designed to look for gaps. Here's an example:
Phone Screener: "I see that you only stayed at Company X for one year. What happened there?"
Candidate: "The company ran out of money and closed down. Didn't you read about that?"
Phone Screener: "No, but that sounds terrible. Now, I see that you were with Company Y for 12 years. Why did you stay so long?"
Candidate: "Well, it was a great company. I got promoted three times while I was there and I needed to let my stock options vest."
Phone Screener: "Oh, I can't really tell that from your résumé. Now, before that Company Y, you were a camp counselor. Is that right?"
Candidate: "Am I going to get a chance to talk to the hiring manager?"
You get the idea. A document that doesn't really sum you up very well leads to an unproductive Q&A session. You never get to a discussion about what the job is and how your skills would fit into it. And, it keeps you from having a discussion with the members of the team you might be joining.
And, the Internet Changes Everything!
A recruiter friend of mine was interviewing someone over the phone the other day using an electronic version his résumé sent through e-mail while looking at his LinkedIn profile. They didn't match up! The phone call ended shortly after that was discovered.
These days, you have know that most of what you do can be found online. So, use that to your advantage and keep things accurate and up to date across media. Use a blog to show how you write and what you can do. Know that people who share your interests will find you online. If they like what they see, you'll hear from them directly.
Your LinkedIn page should reflect what you have done in the past, who your network is comprised of, and include links to more information about you like your Twitter stream, your website, and anything else you want to share. Don't forget to Google yourself from time to time to see what's out there about you, because that information will get found.
It's All About Your Network, Anyway
Even in the “old days” of résumés, most people would tell you that once you get to a certain level, the best way to land a new job is through your personal network. Executives, rock star engineers, top sales people, well-published academics don’t ever need to look for a job because they get asked to come work at places. Let that be the way that you land your next job. May the résumé rest in peace.
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