It all started with Seth Godin’s post.

If you don’t have a resume, what do you have?

How about three extraordinary letters of recommendation from people the employer knows or respects?
Or a sophisticated project they can see or touch?
Or a reputation that precedes you?
Or a blog that is so compelling and insightful that they have no choice but to follow up?

Now it sounds sensible, and all, but there are some problems with this.

1) Resumes are required. I know that they are not really used, only to go over the checklist, but they are required. No CV/resume, no interview. Plain and simple.

2) My sophisticated projects can’t be seen or touched. I mean, they could be, if you bought the softwares.

3) Blog – well, to be honest, around here, Hungary, Central/Eastern Europe, blogs are seen mostly as the playground of teenagers. Blogs are not serious. Sorry. Maybe in a few years.

Some people support this view on resume’s, Zoltán Erdős, Bob Warfield, Deb Owen, some support with caution – if I read it right – like Dan Schwabel, and some disagree for one reason or other like Just a Guy, so there is no consensus here even among the blogging people.

My take on this?

Well, I think they all have valid points. We all know that it always worked like this. You sent your CV (or resume) because it was a must, but your best chance was knowing someone who could assure the HR guys that you are not a psychotic killer, you are fast learning and all.

The only thing we have as a new thing is the internet, where you can do the same groundwork, with blogs and LinkedIn profiles and networking, but I don’t think we are there yet – which is a pity, because I am awful with resumes.

At the same time, the internet made it sort of permanent, and along your professional profile and insightful comments on JavaLobby, the would be employers will find your photos that shows you in a stupor, lying on the floor, surrounded with beer and vodka bottles. Or your rant against your current employer. Or your not so professional blog where you write down your most private and intim secrets, just forgot to create a separate mail account for this blog.

So far I always depended on my resume and then on the interview.

Now however I am trying to move to the UK, so LinkedIn, twitter, my blog and general net presence is my resume, simply ’cause I will be on a totally foreign playfield, having nothing else but a resume and some google results.

Ten years ago I would not have known what to do, where to look, now I can try to find people on the net, talk with them, “social networking” and all, and with twitter it’s faster than face to face.

Nota bene: no, I don’t use twitter to pitch myself, but knowing people who can tell you which is the best pub in town is a huuuge advantage.

And why the hype in the title?

I start to feel that people are too fast to push out the “do a blog” answer to everything these days.

I know I love blogs, I love twitter and all the net stuff that makes it easy to connect with people. But I know that around me, even in the IT profession, at least 60% of the people never heard of twitter or linkedin, and don’t take this whole blog/social media thing seriously.

They don’t read them, they don’t know them, they don’t use them.

We are not there yet.