What is the future of the resume, as we know it?

Maybe I am feeling like an anti-establishment today but how can you tell what a person is really like by a piece of paper? If you are ain HR can you really tell who a person is by looking at their resume? Companies spend thousands of dollars to hire the right workforce for their company. Why do they rely on these pieces of paper to tell them who is qualified and who is not qualified to work at their company.

Your resume is sometimes the only message you get to send a perspective employer. Does your resume really convey who you are? How can it? I believe there is far more to you as a person than a one page 8.5 x 11 piece of white resume paper could ever capture.

As I grow in this profession I am becoming more and more convinced that a resume just doesn’t cut it any more. So what can you do? How can you prove to a company that you are valuable and have the skills they are seeking?

• If you are unemployed try and find short term consulting projects with companies you would like to work for in a full time capacity. If you act as a consultant you may be unemployed without healthcare benefits but at least you will be earning some money. This is a great source of networking. Consulting will keep your skills sharp as well.
• If you are a student try to land an internship at a company. Some companies are hiring up to 50 percent of their interns full time. Students may also be able to work with a professor or teacher to land a short term project like a consultant as well.
• Write professional articles about your profession and post them on your web site and submit them to free article sites like Search Warp or Article Marketer. There are hundreds of these sites available for you to submit content. Again, this props you up as an expert.
• Create a podcast about your profession. Interview professionals in your field. This can be a great source of networking. It will also make you look like an expert in your field if you can produce a high quality podcast.

The point to all of this musing is to make the point that a simple resume is not enough in the 21st century. No matter how much resume help you receive you may need to do more than submit an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper to a company to get your foot in the door. Your resume may have been written by one of the leading resume writers on the planet but it still may not be enough.

I predict that in 10 years resumes will not be as important as they once were. What will be important is personal contacts and communication vehicles that better portray who you really are rather relying on a piece of paper.