In search of imperfection

The perfect résumé does exist, and it’s boring the hell out of everyone

WHEN I WAS growing up and trying to land a job, it would not be uncommon to spend hours tinkering with a résumé. And not even entirely on the content: format, spacing, word choice, overall layout all felt like important knobs to turn and fiddle with as you tried to craft a CV that would land at the top of a hiring manager’s pile.

Click here to view this article in the London Inc. Worklife newsletter

There were no (or few) robots involved in the process, and you knew you were making something that was going to at least receive a quick scan from human eyes, and thus a lot of care was put into what the résumé looked like. It was very important that not a single word be out of place.

It was so 2011 of me. Fast forward 15 years and, as far as recruiters are concerned, the perfect resume is easily achieved. Each résumé can, with a single prompt, be optimized and maximized, tailored specifically to the job you are applying for and presenting you as a near perfect fit for the job at hand. And it has become a nightmare for those in the hiring world.

“It’s almost impossible to identify the signal from the noise,” said Anthony Cheung, chief content and culture officer at AmplifyME, speaking to Bloomberg. It used to be that you could stand out with a great résumé. Now, in a sea of great, even perfect, résumés, what’s a jobseeker to do?  

The perfect résumé problem is pushing people on both sides of the hiring equation to change how they’re doing things. On the hiring side, it means a greater push towards tests, in-person assessments and a strong reliance on referrals, Cheung told Bloomberg. “That’s creating demand for more performance-based assessment, where employers can observe what someone can actually do rather than relying solely on a CV or application.”  

On the jobseeker side, there’s a different reaction building: the realization that you can go off-book on a résumé in a new way, since that stands out as a marker of humanness, rather than unprofessionalism.

One Wall Street Journal report spoke to a law office partner who is seeing résumés with all sorts of odd skills included, like the ability to whip up “restaurant-quality scrambled eggs” or build birdhouses. “This is somebody I’d like to be in the trenches with at three o’clock in the morning on a deadline,” said partner Kate Reder Sheikh. Other examples abound: one anonymous résumé reviewer said they once saw a CV that listed ‘olive oil’ as an interest.

Story Continues Below

Recruiters seem to be receiving this kind of whimsy well, which might be useful information in your next job hunt. “There’s only so many times you can talk about what’s going on with open versus close models in AI,” said technology principal at EY, Fred Cibelli, speaking to the WSJ. He said the olive oil interest would get a good reception from him.

The bottom line? If you’re writing or reviewing résumés, it’s time to get away from the 2011 thinking. The perfect résumé does exist, and it’s boring the hell out of everyone. “AI is pushing out résumés that all look the same,” observed recruiter Richard King. “Let’s bring the human back.” Kieran Delamont