In this e-age with social networking and video conferencing it brings about a good question - have these new trends rendered resumes old school and dead? I mean think about it, Facebook and Twitter have such vast networks of interconnected people to connect with in a moments notice, so why go through dozens if not hundreds of resumes to find a good fit candidate when it's easier to get a feel for a person via their Facebook profile or Twitter page? On top of that recruiters and hiring managers know that candidates generally come with personal references from people they know and/or have worked with before. Can a resume alone do that?

Let's face it social is powerful and from the looks of it, here to stay. While the verdict is still out on the value of resumes, my guess is that they will still be around but not used in the way they once were. The role of the resume from here on out will likely be a supportive role versus the star of the show. As social continues to outpace any other source for staffing and recruiting, more and more hiring decisions will be made in social circles with resumes simply providing support for hiring decisions already decided. In short, resumes will simply confirm hiring decisions. The exception to this rule is if/when the resume shows something vastly different than from the perspective of the hiring decision makers i.e. falsely claiming to have credentiasl and education, etc. So as long as there are no big issues with a persons resume, the gut feeling of the hiring manager and/or recruiter will prevail. That's one persons opinion anyway. Even if the resume isn't dead (yet), one thing is sure, resumes aren't going to continue as the front runner for hiring decisions over the next five years. Who needs a stale piece of paper when you have a virtual interview profile via a YouTube video and realtime job leads via any number of social networks?

The suspense is over; the iPad2 is scheduled to hit AT&T stores come March 11, 2011. Now it’s a nice gizmo and all, but will the iPad2 help you with finding a job? That may be a bit of a stretch but the iPad2 does have lots of nice snazzy features like HDMI and FaceTime enhancements to work with the iPhone 4 and all but job search…not sure about that one. Now here’s a twist, though, the the iPad2 might very well help during your job hunt. Have you ever considered or been invited to a virtual video interview? Well, if you are an Apple follower, you already know that Apple has been touting video conferencing as a big feature for the iPad since day one. That hasn’t changed with the release of the iPad2. In fact, with the iPad2, Apple is putting even more emphasis on the video conferencing feature given the FaceTime compatibility with iPhone4 and iPod Touch.

So for those on the job hunt, it’s certainly plausible that the iPad2 could help with your job search. Do you interact with recruiters? Now with the iPad2 video conferencing feature you could set up initial meetings and screening via video conferencing as opposed to having to do face to face visit for every single recruiter you may come across. Thus keeping your job search costs low and maximizing your time. What about employers? This video conferencing concept is nothing new as some of your Fortune 500 employers tend to use video conferencing for interviewing candidates, especially non-local candidates. A lot of times it’s simply more practical to schedule a virtual interview via video conferencing rather than fly a candidate in and absorb the costs -- simply for a prospect. Leave it to iPad2 to start a new trend with job searching and interviewing. All-hail Jobs (Steve Jobs that is). So, will the iPad2 help you with finding a job? It certainly can. Perhaps, it’s like anything else…it depends on how you use it – in this case how you use the iPad2.