The Future of Resumes

For the last century, resumes have looked pretty much the same.

We prioritize experience and achievement.
Where did you work and go to school and what did you accomplish in your time there?
Namedrop.
Bullet point.
Title. Promotion. New Title.

It’s helpful if an employer wants to see consistent performance or confirm a relatively linear career path.

But as we move into a more uncertain future of work, we are starting to value new things. We’re not just looking at loyalty and commitment, we’re looking beyond job experience, credibility, and GPAs.

People are having more non-linear career paths and moving into different industries, creating entirely new careers not once but several times throughout their lives.

We need resumes that include transition and points of inflection.

Bulletpoints of accomplishments can get redundant and reductive. With AI on the rise, just doing the job might not the most important thing to prove. Things are changing quickly.

We need resumes that show agility– an ability to learn and adapt.

More and more people are taking time off, too. Parental leave, mental health, time with family, sabbaticals. Extra-curricular experiences can show how our work integrates into our own personal values and talents.

We need resumes that explain gap time.

We’ve all written resumes before. We know the purpose is to tell our career story while making our accomplishments look good. In a world that is moving faster than we can update our LinkedIn profile, our bullet-pointed achievements may be secondary to telling a more complete picture of who we are inside and outside of work.

(You’re better than your GPA says, anyway)

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Caveday is a company aimed at improving your relationship to work. We write regular posts on Medium and send out monthly newsletters with productivity tips, life hacks, and recommendations. Sign up for the mailing list here.

Jake Kahana is a cofounder of Caveday. Sign up for his personal emails, called “The Email Refrigerator” here.