Sirona Says

Get a grip - the new 'Apply with LinkedIn' function is not going to kill the CV anytime soon!

What is the matter with people out there? Have they got sunstroke or are they just naturally stupid?  There are some really clever people making the most short sighted and quite frankly silly statements around social media and jobs. [rant warning]
What I am referring to is this mini-explosion of apps, products and platforms all based around social recruiting. We have had BranchOut, BeKnown, LinkedIn (new functionality) and Google+ all talked about as the next savior for the recruitment industry.
Not only are some of these people talking about the new social media Messiah walking amongst us (take your pick with which product I am talking about), but they are then forecasting that these products will see the end of other proven recruitment methods and practices - what utter cr*p!!

Will Google+ kill off Twitter and Facebook? Will BranchOut and BeKnown kill off LinkedIn? Will Google+ be the new Facebook? You can make your own mind up on these, but really? >>> As I said I put it down to sunstroke!!

This came to the fore on Twitter last night for me, when there were many people tweeting about the new 'apply for jobs with LinkedIn' button that is now live. It is a clever innovation by LinkedIn, and does have tremendous implications for online recruitment going forward. It is especially interesting for mobile recruitment, where it would allow applications to be made via the handset (if only the ATS providers can ever integrate it properly?)
Alot of people jumped on the bandwagon saying that it would kill off CV's and that people wouldn't need a CV any more because of social recruiting.

LinkedIn is not going to kill off CV's, in the same way that print advertising, job boards or recruitment agencies won't ever die. Things change and evolve, but when did you ever see anything die in the recruitment industry - well, ok apart from the Rolodex! There are some main reasons why CV's are safe for now:

• The minority are on LinkedIn - not the majority.
• Most peoples LinkedIn profile is out of date - is yours up to date?
• ATS vendors are slow enough to integrate social into their functionality, so this won't happen soon on your career site.
• Clients still 'like' a CV. it is traditional, it easy the 'standard' and it makes them comfortable. [Heaven forbid we take a recruiting manager (HR or Line) out of their comfort zone!]
• Not everyone is online (a shock, but a fact) in the way that you, me and the other internet savvy people are. Mention LinkedIn to them and they go into spasm!
• Data privacy and trust is still a huge issue for people.

So a huge reality check for the non-thinking idiots who like to make these statements!! The new functionality from LinkedIn will (in my opinion) be another small clever piece of the LinkedIn jigsaw.

• Will it change the world? No
• Will it mean that job boards and ATS vendors will hold their heads in their hands and start crying? No
• Will it signal a seed change for the way people apply for jobs in the future? An overwhelming yes!

Personally, I think this is the start of some interesting innovations coming our way soon. Whether you like it or not, sites like BeKnown using the medium of Facebook, will become more and more prominent in recruitment in the future. There are others, currently in alpha and beta testing that will push the boundaries of conceptual recruitment even further.

What LinkedIn have done is show us that recruitment is never going to stand still. Overwhelming change won't happen today................. but it is just around the corner waiting for you!

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Am I the only recruiter to get wound up by CV's?

For all you job seekers that use job boards and upload CV's to them, I have a simple request..........please save your CV/Resume under your own name and not some abbreviation, generic or "funny" filename!!
Recruiters do spend alot of time looking at CV's on multiple job boards, and should we want to download a CV, it would be so refreshing not to have to amend the filename itself. More importantly, don't job seekers realise that a document called MyCV, does not differentiate them at all!! Let me give some examples of a search I have been doing today - these are the saved name of these 'so-called' important documents:

CV ;   Curriculum_Vitae;   CV_job;   CV_Monster;   CV_John;   CV_AB_2008;   CV151207;   MyCV;   JohnCV, RobertsCV;   Buyer;   LatestCV;   CurrentCV;   Bulletted ;   

My absolute favourite name that somebody names their CV document.....  OOOOPPS !!!

I know I am having a pedantic rant about this attention to detail, but it seems to happen so often I am beginning to wonder why? Surely you produce a CV, then you name it John Smith CV or John Smith 24-1-08 don't you?? Why on earth would you name your CV  OOOOPPS???  While I am on the rant, what is wrong with spell checkers? I reckon there must be because so many people don't use them and leave typos on their CV!!

There, finished now, back to my valium!!