A technology entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience, Shankar specializes in starting and operating successful businesses in the recruitment and IT sectors. One of his greatest achievements is dResume, a next-generation resume that enhances machine and bot comprehension of user profiles. This innovation has been a significant catalyst in his quest to revolutionize recruitment through the use of technology.

As technology transforms the way we work, industries across sectors are experiencing a significant shift through automation and technology integration. The recruitment field is also becoming more efficient, reshaping careers and rendering some jobs obsolete.

In a recent interaction with Mandvi Singh, Managing Editor at siliconindia, Shankar shared his insights on ‘How Digital Profiles and Career Tech Are Reshaping the Job Market’.

How are digital profiles and career technology expanding opportunities for job seekers beyond geographical boundaries, and what impact does this have on global talent accessibility?

For accessibility of talent, it is very essential that jobseekers opt for digital profiles which gives seamless portability of resume across applications in the Recruitment industry and beyond. With structured jobs, today a job posted anywhere in the world is available to us through digital sources we regularly use, such as, the job board we regularly visit. This is exactly what will happen when digital first resume replaces conventional resume which is primarily designed for A4 print. With structured & interoperable resume, resume can be viewed from any ATS by any recruiter, anywhere in the world. Today, we at dResume are championing the cause of structured resume in every-way possible. This includes an open-source vocabulary & schema for resume – available at FluidResume.com.

In what ways are AI-powered algorithms revolutionizing candidate selection and how can companies ensure these systems are free from bias?

It is almost a decade since machines were active part of recruiting, particularly sourcing of candidates. It started with Screening & filtering resume for keywords. Today, after the wave of AI companies taking the world by storm, machines are much smarter than mere keyword identifiers. They comprehend the requirement and screen profiles accordingly. Almost every ATS & Job sites have incorporated AI tools in their recruitment process. Going forward, we are in for even more tasks that AI will excel at such as prediction of requirement & pre-screening of prospects for just-in-time hiring. Bias in system can be overcome by creating local agents to filter & moderate them. Another easy way to eliminate bias is by feeding resume data that are purely job related & personal information kept out of the machines decision making purview.

As technology transforms the way we work, industries across sectors are experiencing a significant shift through automation and technology integration.

With career tech platforms enabling continuous learning and upskilling, how can professionals strategically decide which skills to prioritize in an ever-changing job market?

Professionals need to be far-sighted and able to foresee the future of their specific industry & upskill themselves constantly to be in sync with the market. They should be able to effectively use AI agents and tools in their deliverables. What we need in the market along with career intelligence provider is a career predictor that gives insight on opportunities that will be available to persons with specific skillsets by extrapolating existing trends & hiring patterns. We at dResume are planning to offer this in our platform when we have sizable candidates for analytics.

What role do data analytics play in shaping recruitment strategies, and how can employers leverage insights from digital profiles to forecast long-term employee potential?

Data analytics will play a very crucial role in formulating future recruitment strategies. For in-depth analysis, accurate parameters and their values are very important. This is where Digital profiles will be a boon to analysts. Digital profiles, unlike document resume, are stored as dictionary values, i.e. key value pairs. So, instead of searching entire document for specific parameters based on keywords or indices, values against specific keys can be included in the analysis. This will help enhance quality of analysis. And Digital profiles will be an absolute asset for data analytics. With accurate data, companies can predict and prepare for the future & re-define onboarding plans to align with their long-term goals.

How are digital platforms driving the growth of the freelance and gig economy, and what strategies can independent workers use to stand out in an increasingly competitive landscape?

Unlike earlier, when freelancers had to search and acquire job works in their locality, the advent of digital platforms has flooded them with opportunities. For the right people, freelancing is more beneficial than regular jobs. This has created a very strong gig economy. With AI disrupting work across, freelancing and gig works will grow exponentially. In fact, I foresee complete organisations run with few employees and 100’s of gig workers, each master in very specific tasks collectively delivering great products and services. Platforms will evolve to accommodate such large unorganized work & streamline productivity. Independent workers, on their part have to definitely keep upskilling themselves to stay afloat & thrive in the market.

As the digital job market evolves, what steps can job seekers take to build and maintain a strong online presence that aligns with evolving industry demands?

First, they have to move on from traditional ‘Print First’ resume & adopt ‘Digital First’ resume. A digital first resume is structured, interoperable & responsive. Updating and sharing it among Recruiters & recruitment technology providers like job sites, recruitment software, applicant tracking system, HRIS / HRMS will be easy & in real-time. With recruiters viewing profile from various devices, a responsive resume will adapt to the viewers screen seamlessly. When data from a resume can be shared among machines without human intervention, probability of errors is largely eliminated.

Second, they should be active participants in their online professional communities, belong in their digital ‘tribe’ & be an effective contributor among peers. This will help technology index and profile them for their knowledge & strength.

What policies or initiatives can governments and educational institutions implement to equip future workforces with the digital skills necessary for long-term career success?

When on the one side, the computing world is converging by understanding us humans more by the day, it will also be vital for us to start understanding machines & their intelligence. Governments & Schools should equip us for the modern world that will be intertwined with machines. Government, on their part should enact laws on the usage of intelligent machines & also for makers of AI products & services. They have to create multilevel AI regulation framework – from individual level to country level. Schools, on their part have to impart a completely different set of social consciousness on the usage of these technologies in an ethical, socially acceptable & non-aggressive manner. With technology having the ability to go wild, it becomes the responsibility of Governments & Educational institutions to make us humans use them rightly.