Legal Research

"Is the Resume Dead?"

Posted by Bert Webb: "As someone who interviews, checks references and makes hiring recommendations, I seriously have begun to ask myself why people bother to send resumes.  Years ago, before the Internet, advanced HR departments and a surplus of workers (You have seen the recent unemployment figures, right?), resumes may have been the best way to determine if an applicant is right for the job, but no more.  Further, any manager, recruiter, or supervisor who uses a resume for anything more than a pre-screener should have his or her credentials questioned as well, for doing so increases the chance that the wrong applicant will be hired and opens the organization up to lawsuits.

Everyone Lies

The first reason I refuse to depend on resumes is the simple assertion that, to paraphrase Dr. Gregory House on Fox's television series, "House":  everyone lies.

"The percentage of people who lie to potential employers is substantial, says Sunny Bates, CEO of New York-based executive recruitment firm Sunny Bates Associates. She estimates that 40% of all résumés aren't altogether aboveboard.

And this game of employment Russian roulette is getting riskier and riskier. Almost 40% of human resources professionals surveyed last year by the Society for Human Resource Management reported they've increased the amount of time they spend checking references over the past three years"

--Forbes.com: Most Common Resume Lies

Call me cynical, but I'd say the other 60% just didn't get caught.  With the economy going the way that it is, spurring a rise in unemployment, the temptation to lie on a resume increases.

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Source: Open Loops, No date listed

Full post as published by Stark County Law Library Blawg on May 05, 2009 (boomark / email).