I always write posts based on my own personal experience: first as candidate / employee, second as recruiter (both within a corporation, when I used to work for one of them and within my own company Pinktrotters).
As employee, I always cared a lot about updating my CV and writing very detailed cover letters. Lots of time spent into presenting very well written information about myself and the reasons why I wanted to join a certain company and to cover a certain role.
I can tell all the time spent doing it was useless.
Why?
Because not even one company really cared about my SKILLS, about my potential, my real inner power and strengths
I was certainly not happy in my previous role in Finance, it was certainly not a type of job where I could exceeding the expectations of my managers. This was happening because I was not made for that job. I do not have the right skills to exceed in a Finance job.
For 2 long years I applied for an embarrassing long list of jobs in Marketing, Brand Management, Business Development, in Creative sectors, as whatever but not Finance!!
Apparently nobody cared about my skills, but about what was written on my CV: for more than 5 years I worked in Finance and I was designated to stay in that role forever!
I created my own job, creating a brand from zero, starting from nothing, with no marketing experience, no competences in digital marketing or whatever it takes to work in that field.
The success of its implementation is the proof that all the companies & managers who refused my CV and did not even spend 5 minutes talking to me in person and identifying my real skills were kind of wrong...
So, how do I select candidates as employer now?
I still ask for a CV, but I only spend 30 seconds giving a quick look at the following information: date of birth, nationality, latest job role, languages spoken, hobbies.
I know that in some countries, asking for date of birth and nationality information is not politically correct; in my own company it is.
I prefer to hear in person (if possible) all other details. The physical presence, tone of voice, ambition and proactivity of a candidate usually emerge much better in a confidential situation like having a coffee than in an office space in a face to face meeting.
It does not take much longer to understand the basic skills of a person and the potential. It probably also takes a bit of intuition.
If a candidate tells you what he/she really likes and is passionate about, that is the answer of what he/she should be focusing at, no matter what he/she did before and most of all what he/she studied!
It seems simple, it's certainly not.
However, in my opinion, it's a good way of starting.