Similar to how a resume may be limiting for an employee trying to land a job, it can also be a constraining barometer for a client who is searching for their ideal future candidate. If that is the case, what is the solution? What else should a client look for in a potential employee? How do you go about determining whether a person would be a good fit if not by their resume?
Contemporaries, Inc. has some of the answers. Our team has gathered concrete suggestions geared towards showing how to see “beyond the resume” and, also, what exactly to look for before making a hiring decision. First off, a resume isn’t the most holistic representation of a potential successful match between a client and prospective employee. That is why it is important to “think outside of the box” (or “resume” in this case) and reconfigure and expand your hiring process for the better:
- While a resume is an important reflection or summary of an employee’s strengths, skills, and past employment history, remember it is only a snapshot in time.
- A resume can be doctored, tinkered, exaggerated, and homogenized. Often it is a relatively fair and honest assessment of one’s work history, but a healthy dose of skepticism is key.
- Similarly, some resumes can sometimes (albeit often accidentally) downplay the history of an individual’s contribution and value to a company.
- Simply put, some candidates just don’t look as good “on paper” because of their lack of resume building techniques. They may have all kinds of potential which a prospective employer will miss if a hiring decision is strictly based on a resume. This is similar to how some people can Wow viewers in person, but struggle with being photogenic in a picture or on TV.
- Re-train and remind yourself, as a client, that personality, work ethic, dedication, strong interpersonal skills, a community orientation, passion, etc., are invaluable skill sets and ones that may not be detected just from a resume, but rather through an interview, or while in action on the job.
- Finally, we are not telling you to overlook a resume. It is still a vital part of a larger process. However, with a staffing firm like Contemporaries, Inc. all the additional steps are taken before the client is ever presented with a potential job candidate.
In short, a resume is just one piece to a larger puzzle! It’s an important one, but nonetheless, at Contemporaries, Inc., we practice a more expansive and thorough process which extends well, “beyond the resume” thought process. We encourage our clients to keep an open mind about the limitations of the resume. Who knows, you may just overlook a potentially near perfect candidate.
In short, Contemporaries, Inc., uses years of expertise and experience to do what we do best – pair the most successful “match” between client and candidate in a less traditional but much more thoughtful method.