Is the traditional CV dead? Here we uncover the surprising limitations of a CV, and how to optimise it for the better.
An article that I read this morning encouraged me to share a few thoughts and insights on this topic.
Increases in attrition levels and longer bedding in periods before new hires become productive are becoming more commonplace, and can often be traced back to poor or inadequate recruitment practices.
The limitations of a CV
Most of us understand that if you want to evaluate prospective candidates properly, then you will need to dig far deeper than the traditional CV.
You will also need to go beyond a telephone interview, and if you want your onsite face to face meeting to be effective, then you will need to do a lot more ahead of that interview, to evaluate the prospective employee that you are meeting with.
Few people will argue against the opinion that a CV is a one-dimensional document, that I like to think of as a business card, but rarely, if ever, will a CV tell you everything that you need to know about someone, before hiring them.
And yet more than 50% of hires in the UK ever go much beyond the CV, before moving onto a telephone interview and then to a face to face meeting.
Time for change
Deloitte, in its 2019 Global Human Capital Trends Survey, showed over 70% of employers cited recruitment as a critical business issue, and if you go back a few years to the last CIPD survey of over 1000 business owners, over 90% stated that the recruitment of staff was the most critical issue influencing effective growth within the organisation.
So it is slightly disturbing that so many recruiting businesses, fail to apply the right level of due diligence.
Recent surveys indicate that current national attrition rates are massively up and are, of course being affected by the current record low unemployment rates we are experiencing, but there is also a lot of evidence to prove that there is a direct correlation between employment longevity & new hire productivity, and the quality of due diligence performed during the applicant screening process.
Collecting the right information
Here is a selection of the most common forms of due diligence that can be delivered as part of your assessment process:
– Industry and Job Knowledge Tests
– Competency-Based Assessments
– Skills Assessments
– Gamification or Task Orientated Tests
– Cognitive Ability Tests
– Critical Thinking Test
– Creative Thinking and Problem-Solving
– Numerical Reasoning
– Aptitude Tests
– Cultural Alignment Profiling
– Behavioural Alignment Profiling
– Emotional Intelligence
– Team Fit
– Personality Profiling
– Presentation and Communication Profiling
– Background and Reference Checks
In reality, it is impossible to consider running too many of these tasks, which is why consideration needs to be given on a per role basis as to what due diligence is most appropriate to the position being recruited for, in order to provide an effective holistic assessment of the prospective employee.
The traditional CV should at best form part of a well thought out set of screening tasks and references that contribute towards the interview selection process.
Better screening can also remove the need for multiple on-site interviews, which, in my experience are often costly and unnecessary.
Decisions at face to face meetings are also often heavily driven by gut feelings, so it makes sense to do the formal groundwork before-hand.
By adopting a good talent attraction and recruitment management system as the centrepiece to your recruitment strategy, will also contribute towards applying better practices as it makes it easier and more effective to issue and draw conclusions that assist in making the best hiring decisions.
Smart Recruit Online offers an award-winning talent attraction software that will streamline and revolutionise your recruitment strategy. We offer a customisable software platform integrated with multiple selection and screening tools, enabling you to make well-informed recruitment decisions.
To find out what we can to for your recruitment strategy, book a demo by clicking here.
