Aim High, There's Plenty of Room

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The CV is dead, or is it? Apparently 54% of employers believe the CV will be replaced by social networking, so I wanted to ask, how would this work. An easy place to start is Linkedin, the business social networking site (as deemed by Wikipedia!)

As of yet, I do not believe my Linked in has contributed to my career, however as it is open to anyone who types my name into Google, who knows whether my employers have looked at it or not! Linkedin does offer brilliant opportunities to share your careers, network with potential employers/employees and other exciting stuff. I have barely scraped the surface of the opportunities that Linkedin offers. This is evident through looking at my profile! If this was a replacement for my CV, one could say it’s essentially useless, almost empty, and rather uninteresting. Is this truly how I want to represent myself online?! Pop onto this page and I hope find it significantly better representation of myself. I have reasons for my lack of sharing in detail on Linkedin, they are complicated but the general idea is that I would rather someone popped onto my blog and got a real idea of me as an online entity.

Enough about me, Linkedin is having a growing importance in the world of recruitment. If you apply for a job, do expect to be searched online, and be prepared, either by being essentially anonymous or more likely, having a positive representation of your personality, life and achievements. I have also seen requests for a link to your Linkedin profile as part of job applications. In these applications they have also requested a copy of your CV, so while the CV may not yet be dead I believe that this represents the adoption of Linkedin.

Linkedin is great, show the world your jobs, your achievements, your recommendations. It’s easy and accessible, it keeps you to relatively rigid structure while allowing your personality to shine. It is more difficult to lie, which is good for employers, and should not be a problem to employees who should not be lying anyway!

There are disadvantages, if you are currently employed your employer may feel nervous about you having a profile. As social media policies join staff handbooks you may even find that you are prohibited from naming your employer, or talking about your work online. If it appears that you are actively seeking an alternative job an employer may not take too kindly to this either, demonstrated by the case of John Flexman. Generally these can be avoided if you take the time to understand your company’s policy on Linkedin, any doubts, then ask HR.

I think we are still a while away from the death of the CV, but I do think Linkedin is a great tool for recruitment and will continue to experience growth. It is important for us to understand the implications of this and be prepared.

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