“I’ve got a pile of resumes that all look good. Now I have to work out who actually is.”
Sound familiar? It’s becoming a very real recruitment issue.
ABC News recently reported on the changing value of the traditional CV as AI becomes embedded in the job application process.
Research from Michael Page cited in the report found 67% of job seekers are using AI to tighten language, tailor resumes and summarise their skills.
And Michael Page’s David George described what employers and recruiters are now experiencing: candidates applying in greater numbers and resumes increasingly looking the same.
More recently, Michael Page Australia has advised employers that the important question is no longer simply whether AI has been used to produce a resume. It’s whether the application accurately represents the candidate’s actual experience, achievements and suitability.
And that’s where the time issue starts.
You advertise a role.
The applications come in.
Plenty appear to have the right experience, the right skills and the right background.
- Then you start screening.
- And screening.
- And then calling.
Because when resumes are polished and closely tailored to the vacancy, what’s written on the page can only tell you so much.
Someone has to get behind it.
- Did they actually do what the resume suggests?
- How much responsibility did they really have?
- What did they personally achieve?
- Do they understand the work at the level their application implies?
- And are they genuinely the person you want to progress?
- Any much more.
A 10 or 15 minute screening call doesn’t sound like much.
Until there are ten of them.
Add the initial resume reviews, follow-ups, notes and further interviews, and suddenly recruitment has consumed hours of someone’s week.
Usually someone whose time is already valuable elsewhere in the business.
- A business owner.
- A manager.
- Someone in HR with plenty of other priorities.
AI isn’t going away.
Used appropriately, it’s a valuable tool for candidates and employers alike.
But it does mean businesses may need to rethink what an effective recruitment process now involves.
The resume is increasingly just the beginning of the assessment – and no longer the answer.
So before your next vacancy goes live, there may be another question worth asking:
Who’s going to do all the work required to establish who’s really worth meeting?
And, perhaps more importantly:
What’s your plan to manage the time it takes?
Need some of that recruitment work taken off your desk?
You don’t necessarily have to outsource the whole process. We can manage individual stages – including screening, candidate calls and first-stage interviews – or manage the entire recruitment process.
Let’s talk about the best way to get the right help.