The resume of the future will be here sooner than we think

There simply aren’t enough candidates to fill open positions.

Talent acquisition professionals have been faced with this dilemma in recent years. While the unemployment rate in the U.S. is at an all-time low (3.9 percent), there are still open jobs — 6.6. million, to be exact. This figure from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ March 2018 report is the highest number of job openings since December 2010. Though talent shortages are nothing new, the burden to fill these positions is mounting and the pressure is being felt by talent acquisition professionals around the world.

However, we can all take a deep breath and applaud as these pressures will be alleviated, thanks to advancements in technology. For the first time since the revolution of social media, we in talent acquisition have a glaring opportunity to harness technology and our next revolution by tapping into what I call the ‘Resume of the Future.’

The ‘Resume of the Future’ is going to change the way talent acquisition professionals do their jobs. This new type of resume will use the latest technology to transform how we source and attract talent and will also change the ways we can evaluate that talent. Think of the ‘Resume of the Future’ as more of a persona than a traditional resume. The idea is that individuals will have everything about them—not just their education and job history—together in one place; a Flipboard and Dropbox-like digital offering that includes an aggregated compilation of a candidate’s technical abilities, certifications, accomplishments, recommendations, skills, social profiles and personality assessments. Not something they type up from a blank template, but a collection of relevant data and information from their lifetime. For example, if a 7-year-old entrepreneur had a monopoly on lemonade stands in her neighborhood, that experience would be featured in her future resume.

Additionally, technological advancements like AI, machine learning, VR and AR will change how the future resume is displayed and how recruiters will interact with it. For instance, recruiters will use AI and machine learning to efficiently scan and match candidates with open positions based on their potential for success (not just their previously documented successes). VR will enable organizations to penetrate remote geographical talent markets while AR will enable us to enrich our candidate experiences.

Below are four technologies that will be integrated into the  ‘Resume of the Future’ and change the way talent acquisition professionals source, assess and entice qualified candidates.

Social Profiles Will Allow for a More Holistic View of Candidates

Social media recruiting has already exploded—LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram—nothing is off-limits. This was the first step in transitioning from candidates applying with a traditional resume to a more inclusive profile. At my company, 36 percent of our applicants this year applied using either their LinkedIn profile or mobile device. But in the future, recruiters will be able to use social feeds in order to match candidates to open positions. Using bio-facial recognition recruiters will be able to pull-up a candidate’s public persona and view everything from credentials, certifications and projects they’ve worked on to what type of dog they own and who they are connected with on any given social network. Then, depending on what common ground recruiters share with candidates, they can spark introductory conversations with candidates based on their entire profile—not just the standard resume.

Virtual Reality Will Allow Recruiters to Better Entice Remote Candidates

Virtual reality interviews will allow recruiters to better connect and entice remote candidates. Currently, if someone in L.A. is interviewing someone in London, then that candidate is going to have a completely different experience than someone who is able to come into the office for an in-person interview. Using virtual reality or even just a heads-up display (HUD), recruiters can create an experience for remote candidates that more closely represents both the company and the in-person experience. This is the first step in breaking down the computer wall between recruiters and candidates.

A second way virtual reality will be used to reach potential candidates is through virtual career fairs. Today, companies send a representative to attend career fairs in-person, but this is both time-intensive and costly. A virtual career fair will allow organizations to do a virtual presentation to all of the individuals at the fair, and then break-out for one-on-one interviews. These virtual career fairs would take only a few hours and enable recruiters to meet candidates from around the world.

Machine Learning Will Enable Organizations to Recruit for Potential

Machine learning will help companies identify candidates based on their potential for success in a role rather than their past experience. Today, companies tend to use years of experience as a benchmark to determine who will be a good fit for a role. But because job titles and experiences can vary greatly from one company to the next, this doesn’t give recruiters the insight they need to know if a candidate is truly a good fit. This also becomes important as we prepare for the onset of gig economy, candidates will have a variety of different experiences not necessarily exact job matches. Machine learning will enable recruiters to use an algorithm—based on the successes of employees in the organization that had similar roles—to determine a candidate’s potential for success. Recruiters will then be able to match candidates with any open positions where their skills show high potential for success. If candidates are missing a skill needed for the job, they can be upskilled internally in order to prepare them. This not only opens up the talent market to less experienced individuals, but also those with varying backgrounds.

Augmented Reality Will Enable Organizations to Enhance Experiences

Imagine holding up your camera in the Yelp app to a restaurant and all of the reviews populate on your screen automatically so you can determine if that’s where you should have dinner. This same augmented reality will open opportunities for organizations to provide information to candidates instantaneously. Whether it’s through the utilization of a HUD or via a mobile app, candidates will easily find answers to the questions they seek. For example, through the utilization of AR, candidates at Career Fairs will no longer be unaware of what a company’s mission statement is, what employees think of the company or what positions are open. By simply holding up their phones to a company’s booth, candidates will see company descriptions, employee reviews and open job listings right on their screens.

We all know this current candidate-driven talent market is incredibly challenging. The ‘Resume of the Future,’ along with the help of emerging technologies, will help ease the burden of the current talent shortages by providing us ways to open up our talent pools and create a more all-encompassing experience. These technologies will not only help us differentiate ourselves from competitors, but these are the things that candidates will start to expect in their daily lives. Are you ready for it?

Authors

Brianna Foulds serves as the Senior Director of Talent Acquisition for Cornerstone OnDemand, a global leader in cloud-based learning and human capital management software. Brianna has more than 15 years of experience in Technology, Hospitality, Engineering and Manufacturing, and Retail. At Cornerstone, Brianna leads a global team of Talent Acquisition Partners and supports the product team in the ideation and advancement of Cornerstone’s software. Prior to Cornerstone, Brianna served as the Head of Talent Acquisition for Oakley and worked in recruiting at California Pizza Kitchen.