Relying on Resumes: Sucker’s Play

photo by skipgo shannon

An amazing article in the Wall Street Journal (subscription req.) today profiled a Frenchman who’d managed to con his way into a tryout for an elite European ‘football’ club.

The brief summary is that he doctored his resume to show the he’d…”been climbing the ranks of European soccer, signing with a top-flight Paris club and training with a team in Argentina. He had an agent and a Web site that showed him scoring a goal for the English club Swindon Town. He’d even been chosen as an ambassador for Lance Armstrong’s charity.”

The problem was that none of it was true.

His reaction?  “If I lied a little bit on my CV, I am sorry…I am just like 99% of my friends in France, who say on their résumé they can speak fluent English.”

It’s amazing that we’re surprised when this happens.  We put a lot of stock into the resume and the supposed skills and accomplishments one brings.

The stats say that almost half the resumes floating around out there contain false information (actually 42.7% via ResumeDoctor, March 2006).

So why do we keep putting so much faith in resumes?

Because it’s easy.

Resumes are shortcuts to get us what we’re looking for.  It’s safe to hire the person with fantastic accomplishments.  It’s safe to find the person who talks a great game and has the self-proclaimed history to back it up.  Pedigrees, experiences and stated feats are cues to us for an individual’s ability to perform in our work environments.

Granted, the resume is likely still the best thing we have going for us.  But it’s outdated.

Like stocks, past performance is no indicator of future performance.  Especially if that past performance is falsified.

The reason the past doesn’t work is because new variables are added to the mix.  Your business is a new environment.  There are new politics at play.  The dynamics between teams is different.  And the way things get done is vastly different.

So what to do?

Look for themes in the resume instead.

Does the individual create new products or modify existing ones?  Are they focused on working with teams or working in a silo?  Are the accomplishments they focus on team accomplishments or individual?  Answers either way are fine, it’s all a matter of what your own culture is.  What’s makes your successful people tick?  What does the role require?

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