CVs are dead!

Or so everyone keeps predicting. 

I might be somewhat biased, but I don’t think the CV is becoming obsolete anytime soon. 

For more than twenty years people have been predicting its demise. Every few years a new idea appears. Career passports, blockchain credentials, video CVs, application platforms that replace the CV. 

Yet the CV is still the universal currency of the job market. 

Why?  

Because the entire recruitment ecosystem runs on it. 

The CV is at the centre of how recruitment works.  

• Recruitment processes are built around it 

• Recruiter behaviour is built around it 

• HR systems are built around it 

• Candidates apply with a CV 

• Recruiters review a CV 

• Hiring managers ask to see the CV 

• Agencies send CVs to clients 

• HR platforms store and parse CVs 

• Even LinkedIn is essentially a digital version of one.  

Remove the CV and you would have to change how the whole hiring system operates. You would need to rebuild the whole stack: New systems, recruiter habits, hiring manager behaviour, candidate behaviour. 

In short, every employer and recruiter on the planet adopting something new at the same time. 

If CVs were such a problem, the obvious transition would be towards employer dictated data through applications forms, but even that hasn’t been widely adopted. 

I just don’t see it right now. 

What does need to change is how CVs are written. And AI isn’t the answer here. That’s caused more problems than it’s solved. 

Employers want to answer one simple question… 

Can this person do the job, and can they do it well? 

Not just skills and experience, but ability and track record.  

Can they deliver between 3X and 6X ROI on their remuneration? 

CVs remain the fastest way to make that judgement. 

So, I don’t think the CV is likely to become obsolete anytime soon, but it will evolve. 

What do you think? Let us know at [email protected]