Dentsu Webchutney decides to #PauseTheResume

The agency has launched a hiring program that selects candidates based on their browsing history.

Dentsu Webchutney, the digital agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has launched an innovative hiring program that selects candidates based on their browsing history. The agency has launched #PauseTheResume, a website that lets people upload voluntarily selected links of their browser history as an official way to kick-start their career with Dentsu Webchutney.

The age-old resume has always been the icebreaker between an employer and applicant. However, Dentsu Webchutney believes that what applicants deliberately put down on an official document doesn't necessarily give an understanding of their personality. Browser history contains a goldmine of information about his or her interests and passions - think news podcasts, pop-culture content, current affairs, even the right memes! This for an employee of a digital and social-led agency, forms a part of the candidate's overall internet IQ.

"For me, soft skills and overall personality matters more than a formal skillset in a workplace environment- especially for creative-led workplaces such as ours," says PG Aditiya, creative director - copy, Dentsu Webchutney. "More often than not, a resume is a web of glorified statements and words meant to sound right when strung together and that makes for the most boring first impression ever. Even though companies have evolved digitally, this technique has remained the same. Being a digital agency, we wanted to give our applicants a more interesting, internet-friendly way to kick-start the conversation," he adds.

The process is simple. All an interested applicant has to do is log on to the agency's website and upload up to one month of their browser history which contain the links to the websites visited and other basic details. Applicants are free to edit their browser history and remove links that they do not want to upload. Basis their submissions, they may be called for a formal interview.

"It is a little cheeky, we get that. But the truth is, we are what we internet. We've got over 300 entries already and there are candidates who have found fun ways to game the system. Those are exactly the kind of responses we were hoping for. Interview calls are going out as we speak. Pause the resume is just the start of how we're hoping to disrupt the entire process of finding the right creative talent," said Gautam Reghunath, senior vice president, Dentsu Webchutney.

Does this mean this is now the 'new' way of applying to the agency altogether? Reghunath clarifies, "Of course, not. Applicants can still send in their CVs / portfolios like they used to. This is for those who want to start the conversation just a little differently."