The CV is a dead model, long live the blog and the Tom Raftery Global Microbrand

I mentioned previously that Tom Raftery is looking for a job via his blog.

Some of the people that responded were complaining that he hadn’t his CV online and that he hadn’t references for previous jobs and that he hadn’t mentioned every niggly detail that a CV demands. So I went off on a bit of a rant but I think I’ll expand on why I think you don’t need to have a CV if you job hunt via your blog. It’s the old way of doing business and thinking in a analog way compared to the new way of communicating and working with people. The Hughtrain method I suppose.

You don’t need the CV because you already have your foot in the door. You are sharing the conversation space with an employer already via your blog. You don’t need to go through the horseshit of “So tell me about yourself?” You don’t need to answer the silly questions that are just asked to find out are you telling the truth about your abilities and that you’re not a nutter. The recruiting process can cut all that out if you are involved in the environment you want a job in. References? Again to make sure you’re not telling porkies and are not a nutter. Outside validation. Your employer should be already in that conversation and seeing what’s happening. You should be known to them. A company should always be looking at new ways of thinking and should always be looking to recruit great people that can make their company better. If that company isn’t doing it, should you care?

Look at Google snapping up small companies. They don’t look for CVs, they see what the companies do and just buy the company to get the people. Many other larger tech companies are doing this too. The shining stars are recruited via what they do, they communicate via their work not via a word document. Stormhoke is a global microbrand, Englishcut is a global microbrand, Tom Raftery is his own global microbrand. You don’t have to have a cv for wine, why have one for Tom?

If you’re medicore at what you do and want to work in a company where everyone sits in cubicle doing the same thing the way it’s always done and must always be done then sure polish up your cv, if you can’t stand out from the crowd then use more bold in that cv and a nice subtle watermark. Passionate people at the top of their game don’t need a cv.

But maybe I’m being arrogant with one concrete job offer because of this blog and one suggestion that I interview for a company. Politely declined both and I’ll not disclose who. They know who they are as do I. 🙂

9 Responses to “The CV is a dead model, long live the blog and the Tom Raftery Global Microbrand”

  1. James says:

    Well said, and I’m glad to see this trend developing, But aside from yourself and Tom, how many bloggers in Ireland do you think can afford the luxury of ignoring the potential job offers from companies that insist on ticking boxes (degree/3 years experience)?

    Until such a time that your average taxi driver is listening to Irish podcasts in the morning, I would still advise any unemployed blogger to slap up a ‘seeking employment’ flag – this is my degree; this is my work experience; here is my blog. Sitting back and letting your global microbrand work its magic is fine, but adding just a couple of lines to your site that will open up a lot more opportunities. They might be from more traditional or less tech savvy companies, but you’re free to reject them, and at least you won’t be stuck on the dole.

  2. NewIreland says:

    ok so if you blog is gold you don’t need a CV, but considering that a) most blogs aren’t and b) large corporations have dedicated tick the box recruitment departments it is advisible to have a CV, albeit as a PDF to convey that it is not part of the conversational flow of the blog.

  3. […] That’s how I’m feeling at the moment. The guy just talks consistent sense when it comes to the internet. His latest post outlines why Tom Raftery doesn’t need a CV and he’s right. If you look at the things that Tom has done with his blog and podleaders.com then you know what he’s about and the level of experience he has. Of course Damien makes the point better so go read his post. […]

  4. Damien says:

    James: For a company looking and searching for someone in the tech blog O’Sphere or the PR blog O’Sphere or the niche blog O’Sphere you don’t need to stick your CV online. The same way you don’t need to scan in your business card and stick it online. (Unless you have cartoons drawn on the back of them.) 🙂 I really do think CVs are redundant if you are blogging in a niche area you want a job in it.

    I guess the idea is that they’re already in this conversation/unconference thing we have going on here. It’s like the tech talk circuit, over time you’ll get to know the regulars and start to know the bright sparks and the ones that stand out in good ways. You want them to be on your team. For example when Microsoft hired Niall Kennedy, did they ask him for a CV? I would bet all the people on his team and his new managers knew him from the RSS/feed community already and saw his work. No need to ask him his hobbies or describe his best qualities or what he doesn’t like about his current job.

    Your traditional, non tech-savy company is not going to be scanning websites for CVs are they? They’re not in this blog conversation. You’d already have your CV registered with job sites and probably have sent your cv into them via the traditional jobs@oldStyleCompany.com email address. It wouldn’t be worth their time to leave their cosy world to venture on to the web and seek out CVs on websites. You’d need some kind of CV snagging bot for that. It wouldn’t make much sense to invest in so many resources like that.

    When that company comes to the realisation (thought some will never do so) that there’s an online community for their niche market and they join and participate in this community, they won’t need to ask for CVs surely? That’s how I see job seeking in the blog world. Your blog shows your performance.

  5. Damien says:

    k so if you blog is gold you don’t need a CV, but considering that a) most blogs aren’t and b) large corporations have dedicated tick the box recruitment departments it is advisible to have a CV

    David: In regards to a, if your blog isn’t gold then you don’t deserve a job if you are seeking one via that medium. Tom is blogging about blogging and RSS and podcasting and he knows all three and is passionate about all three and his blog totally reflects that. If his blog wasn’t gold then he’s just not passionate about the area he wants work in. Granted I know this ignores the fact that a *lot* of people hate their jobs, the areas they work in and have experience in. Pick another area that you are passionate about and start blogging about it and engage with the audience in this area and see can you get a job out of it. Maybe I’m just looking through rose tinted glasses and am being quite naive.

  6. James says:

    “David: In regards to a, if your blog isn’t gold then you don’t deserve a job if you are seeking one via that medium. ”
    A top Linux guy might have brutal writing skills, for example, but I’ll agree with you on this one – most people blog about what they’re passionate about, and thats probably where they should be getting their job offers from too. A good example of this was a woman on one of the other sites related to this conversation who got a job in the fashion industry because of her fashion blog.

    “Your traditional, non tech-savy company is not going to be scanning websites for CVs are they?”
    I know that this isn’t always true, because six months ago my brother had some technical recs going that he was having trouble filling in Ireland. He asked me to get some candidates, because I work in IT so he knew I knew people. So I mentioned it to all the best people I know in real life, and on IRC, and on boards.ie, and I surely would have considered any blogger that fit the description. If my brother was looking for a resident podcaster, I would have gone straight for Tom Raftery regardless of his CV. But he was looking for sys admins with 5+ years experience.

    Turns out that Tom Raftery is a sys admin too. But if he would consider a job as a sys admin, he could just put his CV into Monster.com? Assume he’s not the best candidate on paper, only four years experience, but his blog indicates that he clearly knows his stuff and has great communication skills. If I had come across his CV on Monster, I might have ignore it because it doesn’t fit my criteria, whereas, accompanied by his expert blog, as you rightly said he’s already in the interview, and he lets me know that I’m not wasting my brother’s time if I send him in, despite being slightly under-qualified on paper.

    I know I’m clutching at straws here, but I just can’t see why you’re so opposed to a CV page? It is a flag that says you are considering employment, it highlights other strengths that might not be apparent, it can get you offers, and it might even have given Tom the edge over an tImeall for the resident podcaster job, if it came down to the wire.

  7. Simon McGarr says:

    “it might even have given Tom the edge over an tImeall for the resident podcaster job, if it came down to the wire.”

    I think this ignores the wide disparity in the two podcasts. FLIRT FM have traditionally had a committment to providing programming in Irish.

    They’re not as interested in interviews, be they excellent interviews, with CEOs etc.

  8. Paul Browne says:

    I think this will work in two ways:

    Platinum Bloggers like Tom can get a job offer direct (and good for him!)

    The rest of us can still benefit – you get the interview by traditional route , then the (potential) employer can check you out before you come in the door. It gets past the ‘why-should-I-Believe-a-word-you-say-on-your-CV’ problem.

    More on this topic on my O’Reilly blog
    http://www.oreillynet.com/onjava/blog/2006/02/are_blogs_the_new_cv.html