Death of the CV

Will the demise of the CV also lead to the demise of the traditional firm as we know it?

Matteo Cellini
October 23, 2024

In partnership with

A few years back, I wrote on how CVs were dead (and how DAOs and the blockchain would have taken over). This 500-year old piece of digital paper (invented by my fellow countryman Leonardo Da Vinci) has been the main vehicle for recruiters and hiring managers to screen candidates, based on a) the ‘pedigree’ or prestige of the companies and experience b) the capability of the candidate to actually showcase and storytell their skills. This may have worked in a much more linear job market; relatively small number of applicants, evident and sizeable differences. As it happens with all ‘markets’ (yes, remember that the job market is like any other - buyers and sellers in this case are people and their skills) globalization and competition started to put this method to the test. In the meantime, DAOs (decentralizied autonomous organizations) kind of faded in popularity with their unfortunate ‘dependance’ on the Crypto market (plus some structural problems like anonymity, and such) and AI took the world by storm.

So, is the CV dead - and what might replace it?

Let's dive into how Web3 and AI are reshaping the job market, from application processes to the very concept of professional identity.

1. 🤖 The Rise of AI in Job Applications

Thought that tailoring your CV for each application was the gold standard? Now AI has entered the chat, and it's changing everything…not always for the better.

AI-Powered Job Applications: The New Normal

According to the Microsoft Work Trend Index 2024, AI usage in the workplace has nearly doubled in just six months, with a staggering 75% of global workers now using AI tools. For job seekers, this translates into a new era of "personalized mass apply."

📊 AI-assisted applications are becoming ubiquitous
🚀 Job seekers can now apply to hundreds of positions with personalized applications in record time
🎯 The quality and relevance of applications have improved, thanks to AI's ability to tailor content to job descriptions

A few examples:

AI Apply - AI generated CV, cover letter, followup email and auto-applications

Simplify Jobs - All of the above, plus tracking for your job applications

The results? If one motivated job seeker could make 100 applications per week, AI tools now enable to submit thousands.

Andy also wrote a list of 20 AI tools to help in job search which you should definitely check out.

Are AI-fuelled applications a good thing?

💥 The job market is experiencing a "DDoS attack" of applications in some cases
🌊 Employers are overwhelmed by the flood of applications
⏱️ Job postings are becoming ephemeral, sometimes lasting mere hours before being taken down due to application overload

This story is also tied to an increasingly ‘cool’ job market, and averages of 200-400+ applications for each job. Pathrise mentions a 20% increase year on year, but that’s just a global average.

Just check out some dedicated sub-Reddits where job seekers post Sankey diagrams of their journey - monstrous numbers of required applications, lots of ‘ghosting’ and so on:

2. 🔍 Employers' Response: Fighting AI with AI

Faced with this deluge of AI-enhanced applications, employers are turning to AI themselves to manage the influx. But is it working?

AI-Powered CV Review and Candidate Summaries

🧠 AI is now better at reading CVs than humans, especially at scale
📈 Major ATS providers are integrating AI CV review as a standard feature
🔄 Employers are shifting from reading CVs to reviewing AI-generated candidate summaries

However, the claim that AI reads CVs better than humans overlooks crucial nuances in the hiring process. As one hiring manager points out in a dedicated thread:

"I still receive ALL applications submitted. I prioritize resumes with higher scores but usually end up reviewing every resume received." This human touch is essential because, as another recruiter notes, "If you have the type of experience and skills needed for the job and have a professional looking resume with little to no spelling and grammar errors, I'll at least have a recruiter contact you for more information."

Furthermore, the increasing use of AI in applications has led to new challenges. One HR professional observes, "Now that AI is in the picture, the candidates who previously were too lazy or not skilled enough to write a compelling resume and cover letter are using AI to do so--which means now NO well constructed resumes and cover letters stand out."

The Privacy Paradox & Contrasting views on AI

Every time I sent my CV in my past job searches, I felt like I was giving away two things: privacy, and my data.

According to a Pew Research Center study:

🧠 Awareness gap: 61% of Americans have heard nothing at all about AI being used by employers in the hiring process. This is huge.
👎 Opposition to AI: 41% oppose employers using AI to review job applications, while only 28% favor it. For final hiring decisions, 71% oppose using AI.
🤖 vs 👤 Human touch: The most common reason (44%) for not wanting to apply is concern that AI would miss the "human factor" in evaluating candidates.
🎯 Potential for fairness: 47% believe AI would do a better job than humans at treating all applicants in the same way.
🚫 Reluctance to apply: 66% of Americans say they would not want to apply for a job where AI is used to help make hiring decisions.
🏳️‍🌈 Bias concerns: 79% of Americans say bias and unfair treatment based on race or ethnicity is a problem in hiring. Among those who see it as a problem, 53% believe increased use of AI in hiring would help reduce this bias.

It's interesting to see how there are contrasting opinions and views on how AI could be removing some human biases, whilst on the other hand there is reluctance to feel evaluated by a machine. This paradox highlights the complex relationship between technology and human decision-making in the hiring process. And we're just at the beginning…

3. 🌐 The Future of Professional Profiles

So, as AI becomes more prevalent in hiring, we're seeing/needing the emergence of new forms of professional identity verification. This shift is driven by the need for more reliable, comprehensive, and AI-compatible ways to represent professional credentials and experiences.

Here's how this is unfolding:

1. 🏰 "Walled Cities" with Idiosyncratic Records

Platforms like LinkedIn, Indeed, and niche job boards are becoming "walled cities" with their own verification processes.These platforms are developing unique ways to verify that users are human and establish their professional credibility. Internal reputation systems (think karma scores) are becoming as important as traditional qualifications.

2. 🔗 Blockchain-Based "Talent Passports"

Blockchain technology offers transparency, validity, and identity verification in the hiring space. "Talent passports" could allow professionals to carry verified credentials across platforms. These passports might become the new standard for establishing professional identity in a world where traditional CVs are no longer trusted. Check out the interview with Velocity Labs’ founder I did a while ago. (Web3: The Internet of Careers)

An example is Talent Protocol, who have a system for managing professional reputation online. They are calling it a "passport to the onchain era of the internet". This means it uses blockchain technology to store information about your skills and experience in a secure and verifiable way.

Some of the key features:

Talent Passports: These are like online resumes that store verifiable information about your skills and experience.
Builder Score: This is a score that Talent Protocol calculates based on the information in your Talent Passport. It is designed to help people find each other with similar skills and interests.
$TAL Token: This is a token that will be used to pay for access to Talent Protocol's features.

3. 🧬 Comprehensive Skill Profiles

AI-powered skill assessments are creating more dynamic and detailed skill profiles. Continuous learning tracking platforms monitor and verify ongoing professional development.

Examples:

Degreed - One of the main platforms that helps enterprises track, manage, and verify educational credentials. It allows users to create a digital portfolio of their skills and experiences, making it easier for them to showcase their qualifications to potential employers or educational institutions.
Runn.io, iMocha - Smaller platforms purely focused on the skills piece

4. 🤝 Enhanced Reputation Systems + Proof of Work

Peer endorsements are evolving beyond simple recommendations to include more weight and verification processes. Project-based portfolios are showcasing and verifying completed work, potentially replacing traditional resumes for certain roles (think of Behance for designers - a platform where they showcase their work). In many cases this is not applicable, so ‘proof of work’ (another blockchain-based idea) may turn into ‘work trials’ (essentially short programs where candidates actually do a real-life business case, or become part of the company for a time-boxed period) but there’s a lot of controversy with regards to their efficacy.

Last, but not least - some companies are trying to rethink referrals from the ground up, like getCredible for example - an app that looks to get anonymous ratings in your network in exchange for a referral fee if the person gets hired.

5. 🧠 Skill Profiling

AI-driven personality assessments analyze communication patterns and other data to create comprehensive profiles, and virtual reality assessments test soft skills and situational judgment in simulated work scenarios. However, the most ‘real’ type of skill profiling we have today is that one by companies like TestGorilla, who get ‘experts’ to compile time based tests that should verify skills instead of judgment based on the CV.

The CV is not Dead - It’s a matter of Time

With all these changes, we have to ask: Is it still a CV if a human didn't write it, and a human isn't reading it?

Traditional CVs will continue to exist but will lose their central role in hiring
AI-generated and AI-read documents are fundamentally different from traditional CVs
The focus is shifting from standardization to interoperability of professional records

Changes like this one always take time, but AI may have sped up the CV’s death by accelerating the amount of spam.

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The new game for Job Seekers:

Focus on building a strong, verifiable online presence across multiple platforms
Develop AI literacy to effectively use these tools in your job search
Don't neglect human networking—authentic connections will become even more valuable

For Employers:

Invest in AI-powered hiring tools to manage the increased volume of applications
Develop new methods for assessing soft skills and cultural fit that AI might miss
HR - develop and nurture alternative pools of future talent
Stay informed about the legal and ethical implications of AI in hiring

The Human Element in an AI World

In this brave new world, our professional identity will be more than a document. It will be a living, verified, and constantly updating digital representation of our skills, experiences, and potential. That said, the human element will become more important - but not because we like to think of it being ‘important’, more simply because it will be the only way to cut through the huge amounts of noise that is hitting the job market like an avalanche.

One of the Five Pathways we mentioned in our article towards a possible Golden Age of Work, was “Decentralised work infrastructure for effective work-matching”. With searchable, verifiable CVs no longer trapped in “Walled Cities”, we open up a world where we get much more efficient work-matching. Total disruption of the current recruitment industry as it stands - who not only own the Walled Cities - but charge us entry to pay a visit!

With our new verifiable professional wallets, we might speculate that this will enable large-scale work-matching platforms. Think Upwork, but with lower matching fees and more verification. Swathes of skill-sets will not need recruiters at all. For employers, making it easier and cheaper to hire, will mean we will not need to have thousands of employees on our books.

So will the death of the CV lead to the death of the traditional firm as we know it?