Your time is valuable. You can’t afford to waste it on inefficient hiring.
When new technologies come along, people often wonder if the old ways of doing things will become obsolete. With the rise of Amazon and e-readers, people panicked that traditional print books would die out entirely. While that hasn’t happened (yet), the book industry is very different from what it was a couple decades ago. The same is true in many areas – the way we purchase and listen to music, the way we watch movies and television, and so on. In the realm of human resources and talent management, the brave new world of the digital era has prompted many to ask, is the resume dead? My short answer is almost, but not quite.
The Traditional Resume: Dead or Dying?
Most small and maybe even medium-sized businesses are still hiring in the traditional manner, which means they expect applicants to submit a cover letter and their resume – the traditional document job seekers assemble in order to provide a concise summary of their qualifications and work history. Larger companies, however, have created online application processes that often require applicants to enter most of this information. Some may still have you upload an electronic version of your resume, but many don’t even bother with this step anymore. Thus, while the traditional resume is definitely dying, employers still need the information it contains. They’re just getting that information without the submission of a formal document
Resumes Versus Employment Testing
The more pressing issue for employers is whether or not the traditional resume adds much value in the hiring process. This is where things get interesting. If you’re deciding which candidates to bring in for an interview based solely on your examination of their resumes, you’re making your hiring process dreadfully inefficient. Interviews are the most time-consuming aspect of any hiring process, so you should only bring in the absolute top candidates – the people who we like to call the A-Players. But here’s the thing: You can’t identify A-Players by looking at resumes. This is because pieces of what goes into the making of an A-Player simply can’t be conveyed in a resume. I’m talking about things like workplace compatibility, how well they flexibly adapt to a new work environment, and their level of cognitive functioning. Also, an unfortunate number of candidates are not above faking information on their resume to look more attractive. That said, there are also go-getters who aren’t very impressive on paper because they’re entry-level and don’t have much experience but are smart and capable. And finally, some people have impressive resumes and interview really well but simply don’t have the aptitude for the job. What’s the answer to these conundrums? Employment testing!
Employment Testing for Efficiency and Quality
You may be thinking the things I just listed that can’t really be conveyed in a resume are the very things will come out in an interview, right? In some cases yes and in other cases no. You’re not going to be able to score a candidate’s cognitive functioning from an interview. But the more important point has to do with hiring efficiency. If you look over 20 resumes and decide 7 of them look good enough on paper to bring them in for interviews, you’re looking at very big chunk of time spent on that process. You spend the hours conducting the interviews and afterwards you find you can easily eliminate 4 of the candidates, now leaving only three. Objective screening and employment testing could have done this for you and you would have saved yourself 4 interviews worth of time.
Saving time is always great, but even more important is getting the best results. Wouldn’t you rather spend your hiring time weighing the pros and cons of each candidate in a small subset of A-Players? This is what objective screening and employment testing can do for you. Contact PainLess Hire today to find out how we can help you hire the A-Players you need to take your business to the next level.