As you’ll hear here – and on the likes of 60 Minutes - the hardcopy resume is swimming towards the top of the dead pool. It is on the same trajectory as the Blackberry: stolid corporations still love it - but consumers and progressive companies loathe it.
But until the world catches up – you still need to have a resume along with all your social media derivations (at least a Linked In Profile for professionals – other sites depending on your industry and job).
But now is the time for you to show the world – and your perspective employer – that you’re ahead of the curve. You need to show them you’re not doing your homework on the back of a shovel with Honest Abe and that you are relevant in the digital and social age.
It’s a thousand pages give or take a few
Earlier this year, on my trek along the job search process, I decided to go paperless and also green. For certain interviews, I printed zero copies of my resume and simply loaded a PDF of it onto my iPad.
As often happens, a number of interviewers would come to the meeting empty handed and ask, “do you have a copy of your resume”?
With one tap of the Home button, I closed whatever app I was using to take notes, opened my Kindle for iPad (with my resume already loaded), and flipped the iPad around and handed it to them and said, “here you go”.
Better still – you can click to your Linked In profile and show them a recommendation that underlines a point you had just been making in the interview. At that point – like the iPad itself, the interview becomes interactive and tactile. You can show them you are relevant online by showing them you online.
Epilogue: Let’s make this clear about these posts on the iPad and job searching: You do not need an iPad to get a job. If there is any reason that cash is king for you and your family, then be smart. But if it makes sense for you – and is a differentiator in your industry - it’s another tool in the bag. In other words, have style. There are always other ways to demonstrate your prowess during an interview.
Further – we all know results vary. Make sure you know the person on the other end of the table will appreciate this tactic (“you never open your mouth until you know what the shot is”).
Related and not so related links:
iPad Job Search Tips | Every Move a Picture (3Minus3)
3Minus3 Facebook site
”The resume will become an obsolete tool” (Trapped in Unemployment-60 Minutes)
”Style ain't the jeep U bought when U know your broke ass got bills” (Prince)
Paperback Writer (The Beatles)
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