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Tuesday, February 20, 2007

The future of the resume database

Sometime in the next 5 to 10 years the majority of recruiters and HR managers will not be paying monster or careerbuilder to access millions of resumes.

The next generation of job seekers won't be posting their resumes on job boards. They'll be creating digital profiles of themselves on sites like ZoomInfo, Jigsaw, LinkedIn, & Jobster. The majority of it will be free to use for the companies that seek them.

Even blogs have become another form of resumes. Just look at these peeps that blog for jobs.

The digital profile sites are much more powerful than a resume database and they allow job seekers to raise their awareness in the job market. Why would you cut and past your resume when you can create a blog or tag yourself as a "Superstar" as you can on Jobster? The next generation of job seekers would rather be found online rather than pounding the pavement.

The internet, particularly the blogosphere, is now the world's resume database.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You may be right that electronic resumes will work for some jobs -- I imagine particular "commodity" jobs / entry-level jobs.

However, consider Neal Stephenson's novel "The Diamond Age." In that novel, the entire world lives through digital media. However, the inner cadre of people who rule the world still get their news on a printed newspaper. It can't be forged (because it's on actual metal type), and is very expensive, and is hand-delivered. Thus the insider's information uses an archaic form of technology.

I think much will be the same for many key jobs. For certain jobs, a gorgeous resume printed on nice paper is going to send a message. Jobster, because it's look-and-feel is one-size-fits-all, will be good for people who don't care very much about individualizing themselves.

The middle ground will be hand-made resumes on personal blogs, not hosted by a meatmarket like Jobster.

C.M Russell said...

Thanks for the comments john. I was referring more to resume databases & how recruiters source people than actual resumes but your point is taken. I do think you can individualize yourself online. Blogs work best but even jobster has some interesting features to make you stand out.

Anonymous said...

Hi Chris I know it is obvious what you have pointed out, the funny thing is it really had not dawned on me until I read your post.

Having used the likes of Monster and Totaljobs over the years, these new forms particularly linkedin jobster are much more informative than cv databases.

Although it still hasn't caught on in the UK yet it will not be long I am sure.

Anonymous said...

Hey john, you mean like Emurse? Sorry CM, couldn't resist.

And as usual, a solid post ;)