The Top Problems Related to Using Resumes for Hiring

1. Resumes are at best, self-reported descriptions of historical events.

The very definition of a resume highlights its fundamental weakness. Rather than providing information that you really need to hire someone (examples of a candidate’s actual work or a description of what they could do in your job), resumes are merely self-reported narrative descriptions of the candidates’ past work. The bias and selective memory of the candidate frequently results in a less-than-accurate description of what actually occurred. Obviously, because resumes are essentially job histories, they do not tell you anything about the person’s character, how they would act in your job, and their future potential.

2. Resumes frequently contain untruths and half-truths.

The next-most-serious problem with resumes is that if you rely on them, you are likely making decisions based on falsehoods. Everyone that has researched them agrees, in fact, that as many as 80% of resumes contain misleading statements. And on average, 53% contain actual lies (The biggest offenders are college students, where 92% of them admit to lying on their resume). And because references are not usually checked until the end of the hiring process, many candidates will likely move forward based on this false information. Those who are 100% honest may actually be penalized (or even screened out) because recruiters and hiring managers often “discount” what they find on resumes by as much as 30%, to take into account the expected “half-truth” percentage. Individuals in science, the law, or finance would simply laugh at any process that consciously makes decisions based on reports that are known to be so exaggerated.

3. Negative information is omitted.

In addition to inaccuracies, resumes have many omissions. The most significant omission is that resumes almost universally contain no negative or non-positive information. Even though everyone has made errors and bad decisions in almost every job, they will certainly not be prominently found in any resume. If someone has been convicted, flunked out of school, had a bad performance appraisal, gotten fired, or failed on a project, it will almost never be found in the resume. Even though this information may be found out later, many early stage recruiting decisions will have already been made based on this incomplete information.

4. Resumes do not cover the future or your firm.

Resumes are 100% historical, so at their very best they only cover what you have done in the past at other firms. However, those making the hiring decision need to project into the future. They need to know how you will act in this job TODAY and at this company when you are faced with this firm’s current and future problems. But unfortunately, resumes do not include forecasts or projections on how you would act differently in this job and working environment.

5. Requiring an updated resume will restrict applications.

Most companies absolutely require an updated resume in order to apply for a position or become an employee referral. But most employed individuals (the so-called passives) do not have an updated resume readily available. So, requiring one in order to be considered for a position will eliminate many top potential candidates who simply can’t find the time in their busy schedule to update their resume. To further compound the problem, some individuals feel that updating their resume is an act of disloyalty, so they won’t take that action until they have made the final determination to leave (meaning they won’t apply for your job until they have updated their resume). And even those who have decided to leave may be leery that providing a resume may put their current job unnecessarily at risk if their boss were to find out.

+ Resumes contain no statement of accuracy.

Resumes are not an official document. In fact, resumes are not signed, and they contain no statement from the candidate attesting to their accuracy and completeness.

+ The information is not verified by the firm where they worked.

As an employee leaves a firm, their manager or HR department will not likely ever see their resume, no less approve the content that is provided by the exiting employee. This means that an employee can say almost whatever they want without fear of contradiction. And because it’s common practice to limit job references to dates of employment, the flawed reference process will, in many cases, make it impossible to verify the actual content for a particular job. And unlike job application forms, resumes do not even contain a statement authorizing a firm to check an individual’s references.

+ Applicants are not told what information to include.

Even if an applicant wanted to include all of the needed information, unlike an application form, hiring firms do not provide direction to them as to what information they need included in a resume in order to make a hiring decision. As a result, resumes are written 100% from the candidate’s perspective and candidates are forced to guess what information to include and exclude for each job.

+ Resumes do not include information on all key assessment criteria.

Candidates are generally assessed on four criteria: 1) are they qualified? 2) are they available? 3) are they interested? and 4) do they fit? Because most resumes are really simply job histories, they thus only address the first criterion … are they qualified? But resumes do not contain information relative to the candidate’s current interest in this job, their relative availability for a new job, or their fit. To make matters worse, resumes generally do not cover other critical differentiating criteria, including the candidate’s expectations, goals, motivators, energy, or innovativeness. Although this information might be in the cover letter, many recruiters never bother to read them. If you ask candidates a simple question — Does your resume accurately reflect what you are capable of doing? – the answer is almost always no.

+ Many candidates are unaware of the powerful impact of keywords.

Some applicants have become key word experts. As a result, their resumes score higher when assessed by the ATS system, even though their skills and experience are identical to other applicants. If the applicant doesn’t fully understand the importance of using keywords in their resume and as result, they take a casual approach toward including them, their resume will automatically be ranked lower. The keyword problem can be further compounded if the individual applying comes from another industry, where completely different words are used (even though their words might mean the same thing, the ATS or the recruiter might miss them). Individuals who submit shorter resumes because of bad career advice may also suffer a keyword deficit.

+ The candidate’s job results may be impossible to verify.

Many candidates fail to include the results and quantify their accomplishments, making the quality of their work difficult to assess. Others include results and numbers that may be exaggerated. Unfortunately, in most cases, it is simply impossible for the resume reader to verify the accuracy of these numbers. To further compound the problem, with so many firms merging and going out of business, verification of any resume facts may not be possible because the firm no longer exists.

+ The candidate’s contribution may also be exaggerated.

From the writer’s perspective, a resume is essentially a “brag sheet,” so in addition to including business results, resume writers routinely try to expand their role or contribution to the results of a project or task. Even though the individual may have been part of the team, it’s impossible using the resume alone to accurately ascertain the actual role that this individual played in the task or accomplishment.

+ Illegal and inappropriate information may be included.

Not every applicant is an HR expert, so some will inadvertently include illegal or inappropriate information (i.e., their picture, their age, hobbies, personal information, etc.). Using this information will cause legal difficulties but expunging it may be difficult and time-consuming.