The Problem:
Inadequacy of the Conventional Curriculum Vitae as a Recruitment and Selection Tool
The Social Invention:
'It is on our failures' wrote Havelock Ellis 'that we base a new and different and better success'.
This idea came to me after a recent and unsuccessful job interview. Alongside my disappointment at not getting the position I was acutely aware that I had nothing to show for all my time and effort. Yet I had felt pleased and flattered even to make the shortlist and was informed that I had come very close.
The standard CV or resume has become formulaic and predictable, next to useless for most employers and an idealistic, 'utopian' fiction from the perspective of the applicant. The inclusion of a section entitled 'Near Misses and Failures' might provide a needed adjustment in the direction of honesty, balance and utility if it came to be more widely accepted.
