Replacing Resumes With Social Media?

When it comes to job hunting, technology continues to change the way we do things. The day of printing out our resumes continues to be reduced by electronically submitting them through various channels. Now, recent articles show that another major change in resume production may be just around the corner, for some career fields at least. Will social media performance replace the traditional resume? Some say yes.

“Out: resumes. In: tweets” is the opening comment in a recent article by USA Today writer Bruce Horovitz. Reports have it that some marketing companies are pushing past the typical resume path and focusing on a candidate’s tweets. The chief marketing officer at the tech company Enterasys Networks, who are in the process of hiring a six-figure senior social media strategist, boldly says, “The paper résumé is dead.” He refuses to even look at résumés, and continues, "The Web is your résumé. Social networks are your mass references."

Other factors include just how influential you are in the social media world. This is usually determined based on the candidates rankings from sites such as Klout and Kred. Without meeting a minimum required score on these networks, a candidate would not even qualify for some positions. Justin Flitter responds to this idea, saying, “I appreciate that it's good to start with base level measurement like Klout, Kred and Peerindex etc but listening with intent could help filter out the fakers and help you learn more about each candidate.” He goes on to provide a checklist of other considerations:

• Influence and engagement rates - how many reactions does the person get per post?
• Are they a thought leader sharing lots of resources and insights or a conversationalist or both i.e. What's their style online?
• Are they engaged in conversations and topics relevant to your business/market/customer base. i.e. Are they naturally interested??
• Could they get followers [people they know on and offline] to vouch for them or act as referees?
• How clever are they at answering questions or finding resources to back up their opinions? How resourceful are they??
   

While this is something that only a select few companies in certain career fields are starting to employ, it could be the beginning of a new chapter in job finding. So, start now, and not only make sure your social media presence is professional and presentable for your job market, but begin seeking to be influential enough in your circles that you can drive up your scores. It may pay off in future job searches.

Image courtesy of Arztsamui  - Freedigitalphotos.net