CV Archives - Everpool Recruitment

How much can you learn about someone from a CV? These documents might offer a brief insight into a Retail candidate’s previous roles or credentials, but they don’t show you how competent a candidate will be, or how well they’ll mesh with your company’s culture.

These days, they may not even tell you if your candidate has the skills they’ll need to thrive in a specific role. After all, with innovations in AI and technology happening constantly, a degree in a particular topic doesn’t necessarily guarantee a candidate’s future success.

That’s why 72% of hiring managers prefer skill-based hiring over CV assessments.

Ultimately, hiring the right talent has become much harder. Economic pressures, rising operational costs, and what’s now called a “bifurcated labour market” are making it even more difficult. Some sectors struggle to fill roles, while others face an oversupply of candidates. It’s a confusing, frustrating landscape for both employers and job seekers.

That’s why a skills-based approach is so valuable. In 2025, organisations that shift their focus to examining real capabilities rather than credentials will be better positioned to adapt, innovate, and grow.

The Limitations of Traditional CV-Based Hiring

It’s estimated that around 60% of companies use CV screening in the hiring process. That’s nothing new – Retail employers have relied on these documents for decades, typically using software to immediately “narrow” candidate pools based on specific credentials.

Unfortunately, this approach doesn’t work. Often, your hiring team or automated system will automatically ignore candidates who could be ideal for a role just because they haven’t listed a particular skill or credential.

One Harvard Business Review report found that around 61% of employers reject qualified candidates because they don’t meet “degree” requirements. However, someone without a degree could still be incredibly valuable for a role if they have the right skills.

Plus, it’s worth remembering that roles change faster than educational paths evolve. Today’s candidates don’t always have degrees in things like “data science” or machine learning, but they could have transferrable skills that align with those roles.

Beyond that, traditional hiring methods have inherent biases. Hiring teams have a habit of inadvertently favouring candidates from specific backgrounds or people with a certain amount of experience.

An obvious example is how immigrants in Canada are regularly rejected for roles because they have “no Canadian experience.” Unfortunately, AI can sometimes make this bias problem worse. Although AI screening tools save hiring teams time, they can also prioritise candidates based on the existing CVs and employee data they’re trained on.

What is Skills-Based Hiring?

Many experts believe skills-based hiring is the future of recruitment. This strategy focuses on a candidate’s competencies—both technical and interpersonal—over traditional things like previous job titles or degrees.

The idea is that instead of trying to estimate whether a person will be effective in a role based on what they’ve accomplished in the past, you look at what they can do now and what kind of potential they’ll have in the future.

Skills-based hiring encourages a careful evaluation of all types of skills:

Hard Skills: These are measurable, Retail job-specific abilities acquired through education or training, such as proficiency in a programming language or expertise in data analysis.
Soft Skills: These encompass interpersonal attributes like communication, teamwork, and adaptability, which are crucial for effective collaboration and leadership.
Transferable Skills: Skills applicable across various roles and industries, such as problem-solving or critical thinking, allow individuals to adapt to different job functions.

So, why is this approach so valuable? Skills-based hiring opens doors for a broader range of candidates by focusing on actual abilities rather than formal qualifications. It allows you to overcome the biases in traditional hiring practices and offer opportunities to individuals from diverse backgrounds.

This doesn’t just improve DEI metrics – it means you gain access to more valuable talent, at a time when 87% of global companies are experiencing skill gaps.

Benefits of Skills-Based Hiring for Employers

Studies from McKinsey show that skills-based hiring is incredibly valuable. It expands your talent pool, creates a more resilient workforce (through diversity), and accelerates the hiring cycle. When you focus on skills first, you get:

Access to a Broader Talent Pool

Companies can tap into a more extensive and diverse candidate base by prioritising competencies over traditional credentials. Some studies suggest skills-based hiring can expand the talent pool by up to ten times. In the Retail landscape where access to talent is limited, this greatly impacts your ability to fill skill gaps fast.

Enhanced Diversity and Inclusion

Focusing on skills, rather than arbitrary things like degrees and prior experience, helps reduce biases in hiring, creating a more inclusive recruitment process. That means you end up with a more diverse team, more capable of innovating and sharing unique perspectives. Research shows diverse teams lead to more profitable companies—diverse companies are 70% more likely to capture new markets and 87% better at making decisions.

Better Retention and Reduced Turnover

A skills-focused approach can streamline hiring, resulting in significant cost and time savings. Organisations have reported up to a 91% faster hiring process and nearly a 90% reduction in hiring costs.

Moreover, candidates selected based on their competencies are more likely to excel in their roles, leading to higher job satisfaction and reduced turnover.

Practical Implementation: A Step-by-Step Guide

So, how can companies embrace the era of skills-based hiring?

Ultimately, it’s all about rethinking how you review candidates.

Step 1: Conduct a Skills Audit of Current Roles

Begin by analysing existing positions to identify the specific skills and competencies required for success. The important thing to remember here is to take a forward-thinking approach. Don’t just consider the skills team members need now.

Think about the skills relevant to your Retail roles in the future. According to the World Economic Forum, around 40% of the skills that today’s employers screen for might be obsolete by 2030.

Step 2: Update Your Job Descriptions

Stop listing things like “degree in [x]” or “[x] years of experience in [role]” on your job descriptions. Instead, focus on the skills you need. Clearly outline the essential competencies you’re looking for and why they matter, such as “knowledge of data analysis” or “excellent team collaboration skills”. This will help you attract a broader pool of candidates.

Step 3: Design Skill Assessments

Instead of validating whether Retail candidates have the right skills based on their credentials, put their competencies to the test. Create assessments that accurately evaluate each candidate’s reasoning skills, data knowledge, or cognitive abilities. This will show you whether your employees can leverage the abilities they have in the workplace.

Step 4: Implement Structured Interviewing Techniques

Structured interviewing is a great way to remove bias from the hiring process and gain a deeper insight into the potential of the people you meet. Create a list of specific questions that probe your candidate’s abilities, experiences, and behaviours. Consider using a scoring mechanism to evaluate everyone’s responses fairly.

Step 5: Leverage Technology Effectively

AI and automation can create problems in the Retail recruitment process, but they can also be helpful. Train your models to identify the key competencies linked to a role in candidate applications and assessments. Use predictive analysis tools for deeper insights into which candidates might have the most potential based on their abilities.

Step 6: Address the Need for Upskilling

As Retail roles continue to change, there’s a good chance you won’t find a candidate with the complete set of skills you’re looking for. With that in mind, ensure you have a plan for upskilling. Look for ways to build on impressive candidates by giving them access to new training resources, mentorship programs, and online courses.

Overcoming Common Challenges and Resistance

Although many companies are discovering the benefits of skills-based hiring, certain team members and employees might still resist a shift to a new strategy. Most hiring managers are used to focusing heavily on CVs and resumes.

The best way to address this issue is with education. Show your hiring managers clear evidence of the benefits of a skills-based approach, such as improved performance and diversity outcomes. Engage stakeholders through workshops and discussions that address their concerns.

During the transition period, gather as much data and feedback as possible. Highlight how skills-based strategies are reducing hiring costs or improving productivity.

Remember to focus on a comprehensive approach to assessing skills, too. While it’s important to find candidates with the right technical skills, it’s much easier to “teach” hard skills than to reshape a candidate to fit your company culture.

Skills-based hiring should incorporate evaluations of interpersonal skills and adaptability to maintain and enhance a cohesive workplace culture.

Rethinking Hiring for a More Resilient Workforce

Ultimately, for Retail companies, the case for skills-based hiring has never been stronger. In the years ahead, demand for these strategies will only grow. Thanks to the impact of AI and automation, the types of skills companies need in their employees are changing at an incredible pace.

Human skills, such as resilience and adaptability, are becoming increasingly important, and these competencies cannot be measured in degrees and certifications.

Switching your attention to skills over CVs will ensure you can more rapidly adapt to a changing market and access a wider range of talented professionals. It’s the key to faster, more effective, and more strategic hiring in a dynamic world.

Imagine this: you discover an incredible Office and Commercial career opportunity that aligns perfectly with your goals and priorities as an employee. But, as you prepare to apply for the role, you notice a problem: a glaring gap in your CV.

Maybe you spent a year or two “unemployed” while you dealt with personal priorities, or you struggled to find a new role for a while after leaving another job. Whatever the reason for the gap, you know you will most likely have to explain it to your potential employer.

The thought of explaining a gap in your work history can be daunting. You might assume it will paint you negatively or reduce your chances of getting a job offer. However, CV gaps are more common than you think, and they need not be a red flag to employers.

What matters is how you address the gap. Here, we’ll show you how to frame career gaps positively and ensure you take advantage of valuable opportunities.

Understanding CV Gaps

A CV gap is any period in an individual’s career history where they were unemployed. If this is you, you are not alone, as McKinsey found that 62% of all employees will have a gap at some point in their professional history.

Gaps can be caused by career transitions, such as when you decide to leave an old Office and Commercial role and don’t have a new opportunity lined up in advance. You might transition into a period of unemployment while pursuing personal development opportunities, taking ‘time out’ to travel the world or investing in your education.

Sometimes, CV gaps are because of family responsibilities (such as caring for children or relatives), health issues (physical or mental), and changes in priorities. For instance, you might leave a role to focus on a passion project or voluntary work.

There are plenty of instances where gaps in your career may not be something you could have predicted or prevented. Companies can close, lay off team members, and make employees redundant for various reasons, leading to unexpected career gaps.

The Importance of Transparency

Whether the gap in your Office and Commercial CV was caused by something inside your control or not, explaining it to a new employer can be anxiety-evoking. This is demonstrated by up to 53% of candidates in one study saying they’d feel more confident applying for roles if they didn’t have to disclose the reasons behind their career gaps.

Remember that having a gap in your work history doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have less chance of getting the role you want. LinkedIn found that 79% of managers will happily hire candidates regardless of career gaps.

When you confidently address the reason for the gap with your prospective employer, showing how it benefited you or contributed to your personal development, you’ll seem more proactive and trustworthy to them.

Being clear and transparent about your career gap sets a positive tone for building a relationship with your employer. It shows integrity and self-awareness and allows you to control the narrative surrounding your career history.

Reframing Career Transitions as Opportunities

Many Office and Commercial candidates are concerned that CV gaps would make them seem noncommittal, flaky, or unreliable. However, how a hiring manager or employer perceives a career gap depends on how you frame it.

Even if the reason for your employment gap didn’t directly contribute to your value as a candidate (like a year spent earning an unrelated certification), you could draw attention to how the gap benefited you.

Your unemployment period contributed to your adaptability and resilience, showing you how to adapt to new challenges and periods of potential uncertainty. You might have had a chance to try different interim roles, whether as a traditional employee, contractor, or volunteer, to help you uncover new insights and skills.

Think about how you can draw attention to the gap’s positive results, even if it only helped you progress through a period of self-discovery.

Crafting a Compelling CV

If you’re invited to an interview, you should have a chance to discuss your CV gap in more depth with your potential Office and Commercial employer. However, to improve your chances of getting to that stage, you must structure your CV correctly.

First, think about the format. Instead of using a chronological CV that lists all of your previous experiences in order, drawing more attention to gaps, highlight the experiences most relevant to the role you’re applying for in order of importance.

Begin your CV with a strong summary or profile section that encapsulates your professional identity, spotlighting your unique characteristics and the strengths you’ll bring to the potential employer. Instead of listing previous job titles, focus on tailoring your CV to draw attention to your achievements and accomplishments over the years.

If you notice a gap in your CV is pronounced, add bullet points explaining what you did during those periods. For instance, did you spend time volunteering, doing freelance work, seeking out courses, or travelling to expand your personal growth?

Addressing Gaps in Cover Letters and Interviews

Before you’re invited to an Office and Commercial interview, you can proactively use your cover letter to address a career gap. Don’t go too in-depth with your explanation in the cover letter, but briefly describe why you weren’t employed during this period, then redirect the focus back to the skills and experiences that make you suitable for the role.

When invited to an interview, prepare to provide a more in-depth explanation. Plan what you’re going to draw attention to in advance, focusing on:

What you learned during the period: Did you develop any new specific skills or learn more about the industry, your priorities, and your strengths and weaknesses?
Valuable experiences: What experiences did you have during the gap that contributed to your value as an employee? For instance, did you develop more resilience and grit?
Relevance to the role: Are there any experiences you had during the gap that are particularly relevant to the role? For instance, did travelling help you better understand the priorities of different Office and Commercial customers or clients?

Take note of your tone and body language while responding to interview questions about the gap. Maintain an open posture and make eye contact.

Committing to Continuous Professional Development

All the strategies above will help you frame CV gaps more positively when you’re applying for new roles. However, the best way to make explaining gaps feel less daunting is to proactively invest in constant professional development.

If you’re committed to continually improving your skills and abilities, particularly during unemployment, you’ll have a much easier time making gaps seem optimistic. During career transitions, look for ways to use your time effectively.

Take online courses and explore new certification opportunities. Learn about industry trends and experiment with the latest technology. Invest in networking and visit industry events. Consider freelance work, consulting, or voluntary Office and Commercial opportunities.

In your CV or cover letter, highlight these proactive personal development strategies and explain how they enhance your value as a candidate.

Don’t Fear the CV Gap

Gaps in a CV are becoming increasingly common, particularly as Office and Commercial employees pursue new priorities and explore non-linear paths to progression. Therefore, explaining periods of unemployment in your career history shouldn’t fill you with panic.

Rethink how you look at these gaps and present them to potential employers. Suppose you can frame your career gaps as periods that enabled you to improve your skills or personal growth. In that case, it helped you become a more valuable prospective employee, enhancing your chances of getting the role.

For years, companies in the Healthcare industry have relied heavily on CV screening to identify which candidates have the credentials and experience required to thrive in their organisation.

However, CV screening isn’t as effective as it appears.

The higher the number of applications received, the more time it takes to examine every CV That’s why many recruiting managers spend less than 7 seconds scanning through a CV.

Also, CVs aren’t always great indicators of a good job fit.

CVs, despite sharing academic data and work experience, provide little insight into genuine abilities, personality traits, and characteristics. The good news is that various screening techniques exist that Healthcare companies can use to improve the success of their recruitment efforts.

Here are some of the top options to consider.

1. Behavioural Interviewing Techniques

Behavioural/Behavioral interviews are a tested tool for Healthcare recruiting managers and
recruitment to assess a candidate’s “fit” for a role. In these interviews, which can be conducted in person, over the phone, or via video, interviewers ask candidates questions about their behaviour in past situations, similar to the situations they may encounter in their prospective role.

Candidates respond to questions often using the “STAR” (Situation, Task, Action, and Result) method, offering an overview of what they needed to accomplish, the challenges they had to overcome, and the goals they achieved. This form of interviewing provides a clear insight into how candidates reacted in real-life situations and specific results accomplished.

This helps recruiting managers make informed decisions about who to take to the next stage in the hiring process based on their proven skills, experience, and attributes.

2. Skill Assessments and Job Simulations

A CV offers limited insight into what a candidate can accomplish in a prospective role, and this is where skill testing can give you an unbiased, effective way to verify a candidate’s expertise.

With a straightforward online test, you can identify candidates with the right critical soft skills ( communication and problem-solving) and technical skills (mathematical or analytical). You can also use personality tests for insights into desirable traits (like proactivity).

To take skill-testing a step further, candidates can be asked to participate in a “job simulation,” where they are required to complete a task related to the responsibilities of their roles. Seeing candidates “in action” gives the recruiting manager an excellent opportunity to make informed decisions based on clear evidence of the candidate’s skills and abilities.

3. AI-Powered Screening Systems

For years, recruiting managers and companies in the Healthcare industry have used solutions like “Applicant Tracking Systems” to screen large numbers of candidates rapidly. In today’s world, these tools have become increasingly advanced with the addition of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

AI-powered systems, now used by around 79% of organisations worldwide, can accelerate the early stages of the screening process. AI solutions can be programmed to search for specific terms or references to certain skills in a CV or application. This saves companies hours of time they would otherwise spend reviewing CVs themselves.

However, it’s worth noting that AI-powered tools aren’t perfect. They can miss essential application details and generate biased results, which may rule out valuable candidates. It’s important to be cautious when implementing AI and automation and understand their limitations.

4. Video Screening Techniques

Over the years, video screening and preliminary interview sessions have become increasingly popular, replacing phone screening. With video conferencing solutions, Healthcare companies can engage in face-to-face conversations with clients wherever they are. This makes it easier for firms to assess a wider range of candidates, often from across the globe.

Video interviewing and screening also allow teams to learn more about their candidates based on their nonverbal cues, communication, and presentation skills.

Aside from the above, companies can also choose an asynchronous approach. Asynchronous video interviewing allows companies to record and send questions to candidates, who can respond with their recordings within a certain deadline. This can save hiring teams significant time during the initial interview stages.

5. Anti-Bias Screening Techniques

One of the biggest issues with relying on CVs for screening candidates is that it can lead to biased hiring decisions. With limited information, Healthcare hiring managers can unconsciously make decisions based on attributes like age and gender rather than skills.

To ensure you’re hiring diverse candidates to add to your teams, there should be a conscious focus on reducing bias in the screening process. This could include using:

Blind resumé screening: Using software or asking recruitment companies to remove details like age, gender, and location from CVs and applications.
Structured interviewing: Structured interviews, which involve asking every candidate the same questions in the same order, allow for a more objective comparison of candidates.
Diverse recruitment panels: Inviting various stakeholders to participate in the screening process can help companies make decisions based on varying perspectives.

It’s also advisable to provide everyone responsible for recruitment in the team with regular training to help them recognise signs of bias in hiring decisions.

6. Social Media Screening

Individuals use social media channels to communicate with friends and share their insights, passions, and accomplishments. While there are limitations to how much you can learn about someone from their social media profiles and online presence, social media screening can give the recruiting manager more insights into the Healthcare candidates.

It is said that around 90% of employers check a candidate’s online presence during the hiring process to learn about their personality, work ethic, and other factors. The important point to remember when using social media for screening is that bias can be an issue.

Companies must ensure their team members pay attention to only the most relevant information on a candidate’s social profiles, ignoring details like their outside hobbies, political views, or religious affiliations.

7. Cultural Fit and Value Alignment Assessments

A big issue with CV screening is that it provides little insight into a candidate’s values and personality or how they’ll mesh with existing company culture. Many people fail in their new role because of something connected to their attitude, personality, or values.

Conducting an effective interview, where you ask your Healthcare candidates about their priorities, goals, and expectations, can help you learn more about how well they’ll fit into your organisation. Personality assessments can also be useful alongside “trial work” periods, which allows you to see how your candidates interact with their colleagues.

Careful evaluation of what value a candidate will add to your company culture will help you to make better hiring decisions and increase talent retention rates.

Go Beyond the CV for Screening

Effective candidate screening ensures you make the best hiring decisions for your Healthcare company. However, CV screening can be flawed, offering limited insights into how effective someone might be in a particular role.

Advanced screening techniques, from skill tests to value alignment assessments, will ensure you make more informed, objective hiring choices. This can significantly reduce turnover rates for your business and improve your chances of building a diverse team.

Beyond the CV: Implementing Effective Skills-Based Hiring in Your Company

June 30, 2025