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This might look great on my CV.
It’s what people think before even starting what they might add on their CV. The way capitalism and companies have structured the process of recruiting and hiring people has created an addiction. A two page overview that should be supposed to tell who you are is what people are living for. Before even thinking of applying for a job, the first thought is about making a CV to describe what you have achieved and done in the past years.
This way of thinking has created a common thought in young generations that are worried about their Curriculum from the first day they step into University. Careers services are there, looking at students and trying to force them to do something in order to add it on their CV, simply because it looks good and makes you more employable.
CVs have also influenced the way we behave and how the next generations will perceive the meaning of the word “career”. People, especially students, have started doing things they don’t like for the only reason that it might add a skill they lack on their CV. The first massive example is volunteering, which is very big in the UK student community, where people would volunteer even for saving cats on trees. Although volunteering is a remarkable and notable action, most of the times people see it as a skill rather than a life experience.
A Curriculum Vitae should be just a tiny part of who you really are, because a piece of paper can’t describe a person. The things you have achieved in your life, such as volunteering, are life experiences that have formed and built the person you wanted to be. The focus should be on the person and not on what there is written on a two pages resume, because words and human interactions are the things that can really show who you have become.
I love seeing companies, such as Google, or even Universities, such as Oxford, that don’t care about the things you have done in the past. The general perception is that if you have made it to that point, you are smart enough and so there is no need to waste time in reading your resume. The next step is to interview you and understand what you can really do, because sometimes paper doesn’t reflect deeply the skills you have developed.
Google is one of those companies that run more than three interviews before accepting an applicant for an internship. If you are applying for a job position, you might even expect more than five interviews. It takes time before understanding a person and the personal background. The only way to do it is by putting the person in front of a board or a computer and see what skills can be brought in the company.
Even in this case, the trick is not in asking questions that can be easily learned from a textbook, but in asking questions that require a deep critical thinking. If we are recruiting someone, we should care about the way difficult situations and problem solving can be handled under pressure. The interview is the best situation to see them, because the applicant is obviously under pressure and the reactions to the problem faced are more valuable than any resume.
People shouldn’t be hired because they have a nice piece of paper that says “I have got a Master of Engineering in Computer Science”. There are thousands of people out there, without a degree, that can do better things in a faster way. That’s why the CV you receive from an applicant can be trashed, because the decision must be taken in a set of interviews, after having understood who is in front of you, deeply.
