CVs don't work. So what does?
The dire state of the job market is good news for employers seeking to recruit and retain the best. Hiring demand for the class of 2026 is up 5.6% on last year, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers.
The difficult element for many employers is that the tool they use to filter good candidates from great ones is still the CV, and it is failing them. The same applies to the ‘written’ letter in an age where large language models do the heavy lifting, and software allows for hundreds of applications to be sent.
Organisations are flooded and they don’t have the systems to cope.
The CV was designed for a world where credentials were the signal. A degree from a good institution, a recognisable employment history and a sense of career trajectory ahead. That model worked when the ladder was stable and the pace of change was slow. Neither is true now.
Many of you reading this have moved past this point already. The Applicant Tracker System and assessment centres have been in place for some time. Not everyone uses them and are finding that their recruitment processes, such as they are, do not hold up in this market. Consider this blog a starting point for exploration rather than a definitive guide.
So what to do instead?
Here’s four aspects to consider.
TL;DR
CVs were built for a world that no longer exists. Gen Z candidates often demonstrate capability in ways a two-page document cannot capture. With 77% of UK employers now using skills-based assessments and many removing degree requirements, the direction of travel is clear. The organisations winning the Gen Z recruitment race are the ones rethinking what evidence actually looks like and updating their process accordingly.
1. The CV was never designed for Gen Z
Or the mid to late 20s for that matter.
The modern CV became commonplace in the mid-twentieth century. Degrees were rare, careers linear and employees arrived for their ‘first proper job’ with a broader range of ‘workplace experiences’. And of course no social media platform which could act as an alternative.
Gen Z candidates are arriving at application processes that stil; ask them to compress a non-linear set of experiences into a format that rewards linearity. They may have built an app, run a social media account with a five-figure following, completed all manner of online certifications, volunteered as a mental health first aider, freelanced as a copywriter…and all concurrently.
A couple of bullet points under ‘other interests’ is not going to cover it. The issue gets a lot worse when the job market means that a role which might have had ten to twenty applicants in the past now gets a thousand.
The CV can still be a starting point, but not a decision-making framework or sole filter. Past performance may not predict future performance very well, if at all. This 2018 study showed the correlation at 0.06. Pretty much negligible.
Most UK employers now use skills tests to evaluate candidates, and the same number say those tests outperform CVs in predicting job success. Half of UK businesses have already removed degree requirements from roles up a quarter on the previous year.
The market is moving. The question is whether your hiring process is moving with it.
2. Skills-based hiring is no longer a trend
For decades, the experience on your CV was the default starting point for hiring. Where you studied, which companies you worked for and how many years you spent doing it were seen as the key filters. That is starting to change.
Skills-based hiring evaluates candidates on what they can demonstrably do, rather than where they have been. It uses work samples, structured tasks, competency-based questions and assessments tied to the actual requirements of the role.
The approach is not new, but the pace of adoption is accelerating sharply. Among employers participating in NACE's Job Outlook 2026 survey, 70% report using skills-based hiring, up from 65% last year.
It also makes sense to Gen Z, as I’ve written elsewhere. They have acquired skills through routes traditional hiring processes were not built to recognise such as self-directed online learning, community projects, content creation, side hustles and freelancing.
A skills-based lens does not just level the playing field. It opens access to capabilities your competitors are missing because their shortlisting criteria still require a specific job title from a recognisable employer.
All of this requires investment. That means time spent in redesigning job descriptions, building (or buying) relevant assessments and training hiring managers in what to look for.
It is not cheap. But then what is the cost of a bad (or average) hire? That investment pays back quickly in better-matched hires, lower early attrition and a more diverse candidate pipeline.
3. The value of the portfolio
If skills-based hiring is what you want, then a portfolio of evidence can help both sides get what they want. Although other generations are catching up with Gen Z (one of many examples in the multigenerational workplace), they are often better equipped to provide than their predecessors.
The challenge for organisations is knowing what to ask for and how to evaluate it fairly.
Portfolio evidence used to be a creative industries thing. A candidate for a marketing role might share a social media account they have built from scratch or a video showreel. The art director, brand designer and so on.
But now a candidate for a data analyst position might walk you through a personal project they completed using publicly available datasets. A candidate for a project management role might describe a community initiative they led, complete with timelines, stakeholder management challenges and outcomes.
In each case, the evidence is real, verifiable and directly relevant to the role. It is also a lot more powerful than the bullet point stating ‘strong communication skills’ (like WHAT shouted the employer) on a CV.
The key for hiring managers is to structure the evaluation of portfolio evidence the same way you would structure any assessment: with clear criteria, applied consistently, reviewed by more than one person. Make the criteria available to candidates and be clear how you will be rigorous and fair. As the quality of portfolios develops, so should the criteria.
Unstructured portfolio review introduces its own biases. A candidate who presents confidently and attractively is not necessarily the strongest candidate. Build the rubric before you open the submissions.
4. LinkedIn profiles and digital presence as hiring signals
Gen Z has grown up understanding that their digital presence can be a professional asset. Many will have built a LinkedIn profile before their first job, curated their presence on other platforms (with an awareness of professional implications others might miss) and developed a personal brand that their CV cannot begin to reflect.
In effect, the profile IS the portfolio, particularly if a candidate has a thoughtful selection of featured posts. An active account will still need a sense of portfolio to guide a hiring manager through it.
A candidate's LinkedIn profile shows who they have connected with, what content they engage with, what recommendations they have received and, increasingly, what they have published. A 22-year-old who has been writing thoughtful commentary on their industry for two years has demonstrated something a CV cannot. It demonstrates sustained interest, the ability to form and articulate an opinion and awareness of the broader professional conversation.
This does not mean social media screening is without risk. There are significant legal and ethical considerations around what information you gather, how you gather it and what weight you give it.
I’ll make this bit stand out - your process needs to be consistent and transparent.
If you are reviewing LinkedIn profiles for some candidates, you should review them for all. But used carefully, digital presence can provide genuine insight going way beyond the vanilla CV.
Remember that
The CV is a tool that was not designed for the range of experiences Gen Z brings to the market. It is a starting point, not a decision-making framework.
Skills-based hiring is not a trend. It is the established direction of travel, with the majority of UK employers now using assessments alongside or instead of CV-led shortlisting.
Portfolio evidence, video introductions and trial tasks all provide more reliable signals of Gen Z candidate capability than an unevidenced credential list. They require investment in design and evaluation criteria to work fairly.
FAQ
1. Are CVs going away entirely? Not immediately and probably not completely. But their role is changing. The CV is increasingly a starting point, a document that gets a candidate into consideration, rather than the primary basis for a hiring decision. Even then it can have significant weaknesses, particularly in a crowded market. The organisations moving fastest are those that have built skills-based assessment into their process alongside CV review, rather than treating the CV as the only signal that matters.
2. All this stuff costs, why should I invest in stacks of candidates I will never hire? How much more value do you get out of an exceptional candidate rather than a good one. 10%? 50% 150? You are investing in a process to improve the quality of your staff. What’s more you can gain reputationally for having a strong process, and your future employees may be the candidates who don’t quite make it this time.
3. How do you assess portfolio evidence fairly? The same way you assess any evidence: with clear criteria, applied consistently, reviewed by more than one person and tied directly to the competencies required for the role. Build your evaluation rubric before you open the submissions, and train your hiring managers to use it. Unstructured portfolio review introduces exactly the biases you are trying to move away from.
4. Is removing degree requirements legal and practicable in the UK? Legal, definitely. Degree requirements are not a protected characteristic, and removing them does not create legal risk. Practical, increasingly yes. This is particularly as the evidence that degree classification predicts job performance is weak for most roles. The challenge is rebuilding your screening criteria around demonstrable competencies. That requires investment in assessment design but delivers better outcomes.
5. How do you improve employer brand for Gen Z candidates without sounding inauthentic? Stop stating your values without showing evidence of them. Employee testimonials from real people, visible leadership on professional networks, honest content about what working at your organisation actually involves — all of these land better with Gen Z than polished careers page copy. The standard is simple: would someone who already works for you read this and recognise it as true?
Alex Atherton is a Gen Z speaker and generational workplace speaker who helps organisations navigate multigenerational workplace challenges. Author of The Snowflake Myth, he specialises in Gen Z recruitment and retention and leadership development.
How can I help you?
Talks, workshops and seminars — I am an award-winning speaker. My talks include recruiting and retaining Gen Z, understanding Gen Z, overcoming the challenges of the multigenerational workplace plus those relevant to the topics below. Speaker showreel here.
My book The Snowflake Myth is out now — to receive a free chapter please click here.
One to one coaching programmes for senior leaders
Team coaching programmes — working IN a team is not the same as working AS a team and yet they are often treated as if they are the same. I help teams move from the former to the latter and generate huge shifts in productivity and outcomes.
