The "resume is dying" debate has been happening for years and I'm not totally buying it.
There is, without a doubt, more to landing a job than having a great resume. But, it's such an essential part of the process, that you'd be extremely foolish to not invest time in making it damn-near perfect.
I like to view my resume as marketing material. Just like McDonalds or Nike would advertise and advocate for their brand, your resume should also be accomplishing the same kind of personal brand awareness for yourself.
Your resumes main purpose is to catch the reader's attention, appeal to their underlying motivation and have them act on it by offering you an interview. This means one-size-fits-all resume templates are no longer relevant in today's job market (hence why many are suggesting to kill the standard CV).
Many candidates who take the standard approach to finding a new job by filling their resume with what they think is important and relevant, then crossing their fingers and hoping for a call back, will soon run into the tough realities of new, more creative competition.
When you have a relevant experience resume, it can help you distinguish yourself from other individuals in your industry and maximize your chances of kicking ass in your job search! Here's a few reasons why the CV is still very much relevant:
1. Larger companies still prefer resumes
The shear volume of resumes that large companies receive is pretty staggering. That means it's essentially impossible for anyone to manually sift through anything other than a traditional resume — especially at the beginning yes/no pile phase. There is no way recruiters could check a single person's LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter accounts, if they just received 500 applications for 1 job posting.
In this stage, companies are filtering out candidates based on non-negotiable requirements. Resumes still provide the easiest way to accomplish this.
2. Resumes are easier to track
Obviously, people are no longer sending in applications by snail mail. But, that doesn't mean that companies who are hiring are going completely paperless, either. Applicant tracking systems are still super common, and it's how the majority of companies still track applications and potential candidates.
Especially at larger firms, there's a high chance that your resume gets sent through some type of automation software that scans for keywords relevant to the job posting. This means they are still using resumes are their main input for data. Resumes are much easier for this process because they are quickly searchable and digestible compared to doing it manually.
3. A resume is an important part of your job hunting package
Having a great resume should be only a part of your overall job strategy. I don't believe you should rely on it solely to land jobs, but I think its a major investment you need to spend a lot of time on. Additionally, online links will only provide extra means of "proof" that employers are looking for.
The resume will not become any less relevant, it just means the candidates are being more creative and using nicely-design templates to stand out, or they are using other social platforms as ways to garner attention from recruiters and hiring managers.