Let’s be honest.
How many times have you skimmed through a stack of resumes, only to feel like you’re reading the same document over and over again?
Same buzzwords. Same templated formatting. Same vague job titles.
If you’ve been recruiting long enough, you already know this truth : a resume doesn’t tell the full story anymore.
In fact, sometimes it tells you nothing useful at all – especially if you’re hiring in fast-moving industries like tech, design, or digital marketing.
So, is the resume really dead?
Not completely. But it’s definitely on life support – and recruiters need to evolve.
Here’s how.
The Problem With Resumes Today
Resumes used to work because jobs were static. A role in 2005 looked the same in 2015. Today? Not even close.
Modern careers are weird and nonlinear. People switch industries, freelance, upskill online, work abroad, drop out of college and start companies. None of that fits neatly into a two-page document.
And let’s not forget : resumes are built to impress, not reflect. You’ll never see :
“Burned out after two back-to-back layoffs”
“Struggled with remote collaboration during COVID”
“Still figuring out what I love doing”
But those are real stories. Stories that affect how someone works, collaborates, and grows in your team.
What Resumes Miss (Especially in India)
Let’s talk context – because Indian hiring comes with its own quirks.
We’re a country obsessed with college names and job titles. But let me tell you, the IIT grad with a flashy CV might not outshine the tier-3 college student who built three profitable side projects and learned through sheer grit.
And what about career breaks?
Women returning to work post-maternity often get filtered out just because their resumes show a “gap.” But what about the resilience, multitasking, and time management that motherhood teaches?
A gap doesn’t equal a lack. But resumes make it look that way.
So, What Should We Be Looking At Instead?
Here’s where it gets interesting.
1. Skill-Based Hiring > Role-Based Filtering
Ask yourself this: are you hiring someone who did the job, or someone who can do the job?
Many recruiters still filter by past titles – “We need someone who was already a Product Manager.”
But that’s limiting. Try evaluating on actual capability. Can they :
Solve product problems?
Work with cross-functional teams?
Think strategically and execute tactically?
You can’t always find that on a resume. But you can test it.
2. Portfolios, Not Just Profiles
Especially for roles in design, writing, marketing, and tech – portfolios say more than PDFs ever will.
A designer’s Dribbble. A developer’s GitHub. A marketer’s campaign report. Even a Notion doc outlining a side project.
If someone went the extra mile to build, not just talk, that tells you a lot.
3. Project Simulations & Challenges
I once hired a copywriter not because of her resume (which was nothing fancy), but because her writing sample made me laugh and trust the product in three lines.
Give candidates a real-ish task – something close to what they’d face in the job. Doesn’t need to be a full project. Even a 1-hour task can show you:
How they think
How they communicate
How they problem-solve under constraints
Way more useful than “worked at XYZ from 2019–2022.”
4. Asynchronous Video Intros (Optional, Not Mandatory)
Now, this one’s tricky. Not everyone loves being on camera. But giving the option for candidates to send a short intro video can help you catch intangibles like :
Confidence
Communication skills
Personality fit
Just remember: not being comfortable on video doesn’t equal poor talent. Use this as a “nice to have,” not a filter.
5. Referrals and Community Signals
No, I’m not talking about those elite “invite-only” referral clubs.
I mean signals from communities – Slack groups, open-source contributions, LinkedIn posts where the candidate shares thoughtful takes, etc.
In today’s world, how someone shows up outside their job title often says more than what they write in a CV.
But What About ATS? And Hiring at Scale?
Yep. That’s the big elephant in the hiring room.
Most companies – especially in India – still run on legacy systems that require resumes to feed Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). You can’t just scrap resumes overnight.
Here’s a practical way forward:
Use resumes only as a starting point, not a filter.
Train your hiring managers to spot potential, not pedigree.
Pair resumes with richer sources — samples, simulations, portfolios, and live work tests.
Advocate internally for tech upgrades — there are great tools now that integrate skills-first hiring without killing your team’s bandwidth.
A Quick Real-Life Story
At a previous startup I worked with, we once rejected a candidate based on a mediocre resume.
A few weeks later, that same person applied again – this time, attaching a mock product strategy he built after downloading our app and using it for 3 days.
No fancy formatting. No Ivy League degree. Just raw insight and initiative.
The hiring manager was blown away. We hired him. Three months later, he was leading our most successful feature launch of the year.
Sometimes, the best candidates don’t look good on paper. But they show up differently when you let them.
Final Thoughts
Look, resumes aren’t completely useless. But they’re no longer the hero of hiring. Think of them like a trailer – not the full movie.
If you want to hire the best talent in 2025 and beyond, especially in India’s dynamic, diverse, and sometimes chaotic talent market – you need to go deeper.
Don’t just read what someone says about themselves. Look at what they do.
That’s where the real talent hides.
