Dear Coach Wolfgang,

Is the resume a thing of the past?

Thanks for the question. Lately, I’ve been hearing people I respect dismiss the resume as an irrelevant tool in today’s electronic and online age. The argument says that all a candidate needs today is a LinkedIn profile. Let’s look at that statement. I think what this really means is that all a hiring manager or recruiter needs is enough information on social networks to determine if you should be invited for an interview or not.

I believe that times are changing and the resume isn’t relied on as heavily as it was in the past. I also feel that social networks are used quite a bit for candidate sourcing and screening. The most prominent example is how companies and recruiters use LinkedIn to find candidates.

It’s a social world and job seekers have to embrace the way social networks have changed job hunting.Regardless of changing times, however, a resume is still a table stake for professionals seeking a new job. The resume isn’t dead but it is no longer the lone tool used in the job application. LinkedIn is actually more important for two reasons:

• LinkedIn profiles are reviewed as much if not more than a resume.
• LinkedIn is used to find candidates and not showing up in a search can be considered a red flag.

So keep your resume up-to-date; by no means is it a thing of the past. More importantly, realize that the information on your resume needs to be available on social networks, particularly LinkedIn. A modern resume now takes a few different forms. What will the resume look like in 5 years? It will be interesting to find out.