Paper prejudice hits jobseekers

Employers are rejecting paper CVs in favour of electronic ones, according to a survey of over 400 recruiters, by jobsite reed.co.uk.

Seventy-eight percent of recruiters said that if they had to choose between two equal candidates, one with a paper CV and one with an electronic one, they would pick the electronic CV first every time. Whatís more, nearly two thirds (63%) said they would favour people with electronic CVs when selecting for interview.

Both practical and emotional reasons lie behind growing anti-paper prejudice. Recruiters say it is faster and more efficient to deal with electronic CVs, whether they arrive by email, through a companyís own website, or from an external Internet jobsite. Emotionally, recruiters say that how people send CVs affects how they are viewed. A third of recruiters jump to the conclusion that candidates with paper CVs are computer-illiterate and behind the times.

Increasingly, jobseekers favour this route if given the choice. Two out of every five recruiters say they now receive more than 90% of CVs electronically. While jobseekers need to remember that a few recruiters still favour paper CVs, and 15% say they do not receive any electronic ones at all, over 80% now receive more than one in ten CVs electronically.

Some employers even feel electronic CVs are better because they are more environmentally sound. Indeed reed.co.uk calculates that recruitment through Internet jobsites alone saves 100 million sheets of paper a year in the UK, which equates to over 8,000 trees.

There are regional variations in this prejudice. Unsurprisingly, London-based employers are the most reliant on technology, with 44% receiving over 90% of their CVs electronically, closely followed by the South-West with 42%. Most resistant to electronic applications are Yorkshire and the North-East.

Paul Rapacioli, director of reed.co.uk, comments:

This research explodes the myth that ''snail mail'' is best when sending CVs. Not only do most recruiters receive more than three quarters of all CVs electronically, it is actually the paper ones which are most likely to be binned.

Jobseekers should always send a paper CV if an employer requests one. However, if a choice is given, it seems that electronic CVs are most likely to make recruiters feel an applicant has the winning edge.