Resumes are dying – this is what’s replacing them

There’s a quiet reset under way in how we apply for jobs, and it’s mostly going unnoticed. Two shifts are happening simultaneously: job applicants are increasingly using shortcuts to remove the drudgery of updating their CVs, and employers are drowning in the deluge of slop.

It’s never been easier to create a CV. All it takes is a few sweet words gently whispered into a computer program, and out comes a resume that makes you sound like the unicorn employee every employer has been searching for.

Or at least, that’s what you think. When your one-page resume says you are a “results-driven leader” who has “led a cross-functional team” with “expertise in stakeholder management”, there’s not much left to differentiate you from the “results-driven leader” next door.

At the receiving end, employers are being deluged with AI-created job applications that are overflowing their inboxes. They now have little choice but to turn to software to interpret them at their end. It’s robots talking to robots, with little human interaction in between.

It’s been estimated that about 80 per cent of Australian employers use some version of Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to scan, filter, and rank resumes. These programs help them search for keywords, then filter and rank resumes so that humans can review just the best ones.

But when AI can generate impressive-sounding CVs in seconds, and automation can reject them in minutes, what’s even the point of a resume?

One HR-leader told me to not even think about attaching a cover letter either, as that’s the first thing that gets deleted.

It used to be a chore to have to dust off and update your resume every few years, trying hard to find fresh combinations of words to describe the repetitive tasks you did at work and make them appear more heroic. But within that struggle, there was still something individual about the attempts.

Now, as one recruiter told me, they advise their candidates to stuff as many relevant keywords into their AI-produced resumes in a blatant effort to game the Applicant Tracking Systems.

You should ideally have multiple versions of your CV, one that’s keyword-heavy to upload and sail past any automatic filtering, and another with more human-sounding language to attach to emails that are more likely to be read. One HR leader told me not to even think about attaching a cover letter, as that’s the first thing that gets deleted.

But while CVs might shrink in influence, they are not completely dead yet and remain a semi-useful tool to help the filtering process before a human takes over.

As they morph into their new screening purpose, the more important factors are everything that sit around it, which you have less ability to completely control, like the results of skills-based tests, references, coverage of your work and, well, anything you’ve ever done on the internet.

Once you’ve successfully made it through the filter, your LinkedIn will be scoured, every Google mention analysed and AI searches will locate all your public history before you’ve even logged into your first video interview.

So if you really want that new job, spend just enough time ensuring your bullet points will get you past the filter, then focus on the things a robot can’t fake.

Ensure good references who can vouch for your abilities, stay updated with the latest news on your industry, and scale up the skills you will be tested on.

Because you’re going to need more than just generated words on a one-pager to stand out in this new world of work.

Tim Duggan is author of Work Backwards: The Revolutionary Method to Work Smarter and Live Better. He writes a regular newsletter at timduggan.substack.com

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