“Isn't your CV impressive? Great, we don't really read them anyway!” / What recruiters are looking for in the age of AI

At a time when any artificial intelligence engine can generate a flawless resume and cover letter in seconds, many recruiters are looking for new ways to select their employees. “CV has been downgraded,” says an analysis from Business Insider.

“Isn't your CV impressive? Great, we don't really read them anyway!”. This is what a job ad from Expensify looks like, looking for engineers. The company says it doesn't have time to sift through the hundreds of applications it receives and invites applicants to answer five questions to be considered.

“We don't ask for resumes, nor do we expect one,” says another ad for a software engineer position at Automattic, the company that owns WordPress.com and Tumblr.

E-commerce platform Gumroad asks software engineers who want to apply for a job to send an email explaining why they want to work there and what they've built so far. If selected, they participate in a paid trial period of four to six weeks.

“The CV is almost worthless because they all sound the same”

Research has long shown that an impressive resume, with high education and outstanding achievements, does not guarantee success in a new job, neither for the employee nor for the employer, writes Business Insider.

“In the age of AI content, the resume is almost worthless because it all sounds the same,” Michelle Volberg, founder and CEO of recruiting firm Twill, told the publication.

Lately, at least in tech, there's been a new trend: Some companies are choosing to extend paid trial periods of up to a month to evaluate candidates, Volberg noted.

Some focus more on actual, demonstrated real-time skills rather than whether someone worked at a Big Tech company or graduated from a top university.

Competencies demonstrated, not listed

A survey by the US Employers Association found that 70 percent of employers say they use competency-based recruiting, which prioritizes practical skills and aptitudes over degrees and years of experience.

A resume can still be used to identify and track a candidate, says Michelle Volberg, but AI-generated resumes are no longer impressing recruiters.

Business Insider's analysis also notes a trend for employers to move away from employment platforms, choosing instead to search for candidates on LinkedIn or within their own networks.

The engineers who “couldn't build anything”

“You can't tell from CVs if people are good at what they do. I've always believed that you need to see people's work to hire someone, not just what they say they've done,” said Bolun Li, founder of mobility app Vamo.

He recounts that when he was working at his first start-up during college, he only hired engineers with “perfect” resumes from Duke University, where he was also a student, but noted that the new hires “couldn't build anything.”

For Vamo, he looked for software engineers on GitHub, a platform where developers can create their own projects with the help of automations and AI tools.

He followed engineers who had done similar projects and that's how Alex Vasquez ended up working for him. The 23-year-old, a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Lowell, had applied for many jobs but was put off by automated selection systems.

Bolun Li says he hasn't even seen Alex's resume.

How LinkedIn is Adapting

Demonstrating skills, rather than simply listing them, could become the new norm, even outside of technical fields, says JT O'Donnell, founder of career advice platform Work It Daily.

The specialist says that the LinkedIn platform can play a very important role and advises candidates to promote their projects and ideas there. He says videos will become essential on the platform, for demonstrating skills but also for confirming that applicants are real people.

In fact, LinkedIn recently announced a new feature where users can verify their skills listed on their profile. The platform has partnered with AI tools like Descript, Lovable, and Replit to confirm a person's competency based on how they actually use these tools.

A resume is “still a useful signal, but only one of them. Employers want next-level detail—the projects you've worked on, the skills you've acquired, the context and breadth of your experience,” LinkedIn product manager Pat Whelan told Business Insider.