For decades, the resume has been the gatekeeper of hiring. One or two pages decide whether a candidate gets a chance. But more companies are starting to question whether resumes actually reveal the qualities that matter most. If the goal is to hire innovative thinkers and problem solvers, why rely on bullet points that often just list past titles and schools?
A growing number of employers are experimenting with alternatives to resumes — and the results are surprising.
The Limits of Resumes
Resumes favor people who are good at self-promotion and those with conventional career paths. That means plenty of capable, creative people never make it past the first screen. A brilliant coder without a degree, a marketer who learned on the job, or someone who pivoted careers might never get noticed.
Resumes also tell you very little about how someone will perform in your environment. You don’t see how they think, how they solve problems, or how they work under pressure. You just see where they’ve been.
What Happens When You Remove the Resume
Imagine this: instead of asking for a resume, you invite candidates to solve a real problem your company faces. Give them 24 hours to design a marketing campaign idea, write a short piece of code, or propose a product improvement. You don’t care how polished the answer is — you care about the approach.
This is exactly what some forward-thinking companies are doing. They’ve found that when you take away the filter of past job titles and schools, you uncover talent that would otherwise slip through.
Real-World Examples
Here are a few companies that have successfully adopted this approach. By sharing their experiences, we can see the real impact of moving beyond resumes and how it transforms their recruitment process.
- Google’s shift: For years, Google was known for obsessing over GPAs and prestigious universities. Eventually, they admitted the correlation between those metrics and actual performance was weak. Now, they focus much more on problem-solving interviews and real-world tests.
- Ernst & Young UK: EY announced in 2015 that they would remove degree requirements for many roles, citing research that academic scores didn’t always predict workplace success. They introduced a “strengths assessment” instead to evaluate how candidates think and behave.
- GitHub hiring: In tech, companies like GitHub have often cared more about what you’ve built than what your resume says. A strong portfolio of code contributions or a practical take-home project speaks louder than listing past job titles.
Why This Works
Practical challenges test for skills that actually matter on the job. They reveal how someone approaches ambiguity, whether they can think creatively, and how they structure solutions. They also give candidates a more level playing field. Someone without a polished resume but with strong ability suddenly has a shot.
Is This Approach Right for Every Company?
Not all roles lend themselves to dropping resumes completely. For regulated fields like medicine or law, formal credentials matter. But for many knowledge-based jobs — especially in tech, marketing, design, and product — resumes are often less useful than a real-world test.
A hybrid approach works best: keep resumes for context, but make the first filter a demonstration of skill. This way, you reduce bias and increase your chances of finding hidden talent.
What to Try If You Want to Pilot This
Thinking of trying this approach? Start by identifying which roles could benefit most from skill-based assessments. Then, design practical challenges that reflect real tasks. Collaborate with your team to ensure the tasks are relevant and fair. Finally, provide clear instructions and feedback to create a positive candidate experience.
- Replace resume submissions with a short challenge related to the role.
- Keep it manageable — a task that can be done in a few hours.
- Evaluate process as much as outcome. Did the candidate think clearly? Did they find creative angles?
- Consider anonymity in early rounds, so reviewers focus on the work, not the name.
In the End
Resumes have been around for centuries and they aren’t disappearing anytime soon. Most companies will stick with them because they’re easy and familiar. But for certain roles, especially where creativity and problem-solving matter more than credentials, testing candidates with real challenges can surface talent you’d never see otherwise. It may always be a niche approach, but for the right company, it’s a niche worth trying.
