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As someone hacking on a linkedin alternative as a side project to solve my own talent search problems, she's captured a lot of the rationale. Amazing. It's not

As someone hacking on a linkedin alternative as a side project to solve my own talent search problems, she's captured a lot of the rationale. Amazing. It's not just linkedin, the whole concept of a resume was to facilitate an unskilled middle manager who could manage labor in a commoditized way. Today, hiring managers know what they want, and talent competes globally. Teenagers especially understand that the difference between them and their parents is they are entering into a global talent market with a steep distribution curve. Growing up with social media threw them into the world of elite competition that previously only ivy league students were exposed to (thanks, Zuck). Resumes can't capture the differentiation they need to compete and leverage their real skills. The infrastructure around resumes was all about legitimizing that broker role for recruiters and enabling generalist HR managers, where those roles could be replaced by tech tomorrow, (or like 3-4 weeks, suppose I should launch).

dangus 7y ago
If hiring managers know what they want, how do they find the person that has what they want? Would that be...a distilled list of relevant skills and experience? How is a resume (digital or paper) not that? What exactly is your proposed alternative? Also, you speak to global competition as if that’s a universal trait of most jobs. That doesn’t really line up to reality. Many or most jobs can’t be performed remotely, and many or most jobs located far away have local equivalents (i.e. it’s not worth moving hundreds of miles away to drive a bus or put up drywall).
- motohagiography 7y ago
  The signalling piece is what's missing and what I think I've solved. My exact proposed alternative will just have to get launched and see if it flies. Global competition for most jobs is very much a reality. I live in a country that spans an entire continent, as do americans. Many people cross continents and borders to get construction and trade jobs, which include driving heavy vehicles and hanging drywall, and the solution covers them as well. Exciting times.
downerending 7y ago
I don't get this "resumes are so yesterday" thinking at all. They are a crucial tool for me in the hiring process. I can sift a pile of 20-30 resumes in maybe 10 minutes and determine with near certainty the 20% or so that are even worth contacting. Plus the resume is an excellent jumping-off point for further conversation. Being able to write a reasonable essay may not differentiate you, but not being able to sure does.
- reificator 7y ago
  > I can sift a pile of 20-30 resumes in maybe 10 minutes and determine with near certainty the 20% or so that are even worth contacting. Devil's Advocate: Do you contact the bottom 80%? When you encounter a dud in the top 20%, do you consider that a potential failure in filtering, or do you say "thank god we filtered out the other 80% who must be worse than this candidate!" It sounds to me like a process rife with feedback loops.
  - downerending 7y ago
    It hasn't been my role to handle contacts. I hope the org is sending out "position has been filled" courtesy letters, but as a candidate, I usually don't care unless it's a position I was particularly hopeful about. To clarify, I don't consider anyone a "dud". I'll happily work with someone at any skill level as long as they want to learn and aren't a jerk. By "not worth contacting", I just mean that they're clearly dominated by the top 20% of the candidates, in terms of likely success in the role. Is there noise in all of this? Sure. Am I a genius? Yes, but not when it comes to hiring. ;-) I've been crapped on plenty by the hiring process (esp those FAANG weenies), so I try to be kind to everyone.
    - reificator 7y ago
      I'm not talking about contacting people to tell them you didn't hire them. I'm saying, you're taking 20%, claiming it's the top 20%, and saying they're the ones who will be successful in the role. But if you're only ever talking to that "top 20%", then you don't know whether they're really the best.
soulofmischief 7y ago
Resumes can't capture the differentiation they need to compete and leverage their real skills. This is a salient observation. The discussion mostly focuses on employer->employee mismatch, but this statement illustrates how the employee is also losing out (and in effect, all employers): Hidden skills, uncaptured by a traditional resume and hiring process, are never leveraged. Mostly soft skills, I imagine, but the most important qualities to me as a hiring manager (communication, honesty, ability to learn new things with eagerness) aren't signals which can be derived with this process. We need a platform which highlights these skills in an indirect way, giving value to its users beyond acting as a professional virtue beacon.
- fhennig 7y ago
  But stuff like that is incredibly difficult to measure. I think the current approach would be that you get qualities like that verified by others and through a web of trust these verifications might mean something to a potential employer. But this is something that's on LinkedIn already, isn't it?

dangus 7y ago

If hiring managers know what they want, how do they find the person that has what they want? Would that be...a distilled list of relevant skills and experience? How is a resume (digital or paper) not that? What exactly is your proposed alternative? Also, you speak to global competition as if that’s a universal trait of most jobs. That doesn’t really line up to reality. Many or most jobs can’t be performed remotely, and many or most jobs located far away have local equivalents (i.e. it’s not worth moving hundreds of miles away to drive a bus or put up drywall).

motohagiography 7y ago
The signalling piece is what's missing and what I think I've solved. My exact proposed alternative will just have to get launched and see if it flies. Global competition for most jobs is very much a reality. I live in a country that spans an entire continent, as do americans. Many people cross continents and borders to get construction and trade jobs, which include driving heavy vehicles and hanging drywall, and the solution covers them as well. Exciting times.

downerending 7y ago

I don't get this "resumes are so yesterday" thinking at all. They are a crucial tool for me in the hiring process. I can sift a pile of 20-30 resumes in maybe 10 minutes and determine with near certainty the 20% or so that are even worth contacting. Plus the resume is an excellent jumping-off point for further conversation. Being able to write a reasonable essay may not differentiate you, but not being able to sure does.

reificator 7y ago
> I can sift a pile of 20-30 resumes in maybe 10 minutes and determine with near certainty the 20% or so that are even worth contacting. Devil's Advocate: Do you contact the bottom 80%? When you encounter a dud in the top 20%, do you consider that a potential failure in filtering, or do you say "thank god we filtered out the other 80% who must be worse than this candidate!" It sounds to me like a process rife with feedback loops.
- downerending 7y ago
  It hasn't been my role to handle contacts. I hope the org is sending out "position has been filled" courtesy letters, but as a candidate, I usually don't care unless it's a position I was particularly hopeful about. To clarify, I don't consider anyone a "dud". I'll happily work with someone at any skill level as long as they want to learn and aren't a jerk. By "not worth contacting", I just mean that they're clearly dominated by the top 20% of the candidates, in terms of likely success in the role. Is there noise in all of this? Sure. Am I a genius? Yes, but not when it comes to hiring. ;-) I've been crapped on plenty by the hiring process (esp those FAANG weenies), so I try to be kind to everyone.
  - reificator 7y ago
    I'm not talking about contacting people to tell them you didn't hire them. I'm saying, you're taking 20%, claiming it's the top 20%, and saying they're the ones who will be successful in the role. But if you're only ever talking to that "top 20%", then you don't know whether they're really the best.

soulofmischief 7y ago

Resumes can't capture the differentiation they need to compete and leverage their real skills. This is a salient observation. The discussion mostly focuses on employer->employee mismatch, but this statement illustrates how the employee is also losing out (and in effect, all employers): Hidden skills, uncaptured by a traditional resume and hiring process, are never leveraged. Mostly soft skills, I imagine, but the most important qualities to me as a hiring manager (communication, honesty, ability to learn new things with eagerness) aren't signals which can be derived with this process. We need a platform which highlights these skills in an indirect way, giving value to its users beyond acting as a professional virtue beacon.

fhennig 7y ago
But stuff like that is incredibly difficult to measure. I think the current approach would be that you get qualities like that verified by others and through a web of trust these verifications might mean something to a potential employer. But this is something that's on LinkedIn already, isn't it?