PERHAPS it was only a matter of time. In the age of e-recruitment, online networking and virtual careers fairs, our old chum the CV has been found lacking and so it must be “revolutionised”.

Out goes the old two-page, career-highlight history and in comes the virtual resumé, an online document that at first glance looks like the traditional form but allows for “enrichment” through videos, graphs, charts and work samples.

You can now perform on your CV, long before any face-to-face interview – a feature that some recruiters predict will shorten the recruitment process – and your details can be expanded and collapsed at the touch of a button to suit varying attention spans.

“The traditional resumé is a powerful but broken tool,” claimed Clint Heiden, chief executive of VisualCV, the American firm that devoted a year to developing the technology.

Some are rather taken with Heiden’s updated version. But others argue that there is nothing revolutionary about the new product – pitched as a recruitment and networking tool as well as a business card – and that it is not that different from other Web 2.0 products. Heiden counters that other products can do one or some of the things his CV does, but not all.

There is fierce competition to harness Web 2.0 technology for recruitment and networking purposes – with great riches awaiting those who come up with products that catch on.

Whether the new CV will succeed, only time will tell. However, for many recruitment specialists, it is the impact that the product’s networking features might have on the executive-search market that is of far more interest.

The Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC), which represents the world’s biggest headhunting companies, has announced it will use VisualCV technology for presenting candidate information to its member firms.

The global executive-search company Heidrick & Struggles has made a surprise investment of $5m (£2.5m) in the technology, becoming the first big executive-search firm to invest in internet networking.

Heidrick is to have its own private “walled garden” on the VisualCV platform where senior executives who may be in the market for a new job can engage with client firms, knowing that privacy is guaranteed.

Rival companies have cast doubt on Heidrick’s cyberspace venture, insisting this was just not the way that top executives did things. Top-level candidates, and employers, they warned, wanted the personal attention traditionally offered by headhunting firms, not profiles, video clips and instant messaging.

In this race to come up with technological solutions to recruitment problems, Heidrick admitted that it was impossible to tell exactly which innovations would appeal to candidates and companies. That means there is a risk involved in its latest investment, but the firm added that those who did not have their eyes on the horizon and were not prepared to take a punt were also taking a risk.

Tashi Lassalle, Heidrick’s vice-president of strategic development, said that when Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, many did not appreciate the potential of the technology.

“There will always be sceptical people, but we’re very excited,” she said. “We believe in this enough to have made a significant investment. Some are arguing that at the highest levels, peers don’t want to engage online. But the World Economic Forum is building a social network for the 10,000 most powerful people in the world. We can’t be sure that it will work, but the signs are there. We are creating a private community where membership is by invitation only. It’s for very senior people, the kind who would never respond to a job ad.”

Lassalle said Heidrick’s networking venture was partly driven by the discovery that the virtual interaction that some competitors thought so distasteful to high-flyers was already taking place – without any input from executive headhunters. Candidates were already pursuing employers using networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn, and Heidrick felt it had to have a presence in this new recruitment arena or risk losing business.

“There’s no point in going into denial,” said Lassalle. “We decided to create a platform of our own in virtual space. It’s about protecting our business and recognising that something very powerful is happening around the internet. We see it as a positive new way to engage.”

Discretion has been central to the executive-search business for decades and Heidrick – and the AESC – have been looking for some time for a suitably secure place on the internet in which to do business. And both agree that is what the new CV product provides.

The AESC has not signed up for a “walled garden”, however. Its president, Peter Felix, said it was considering it, but for now was happy to have found a technological solution that allowed candidates to present their credentials over the internet.

“While this could shorten the selection process, it could never replace face to face,” said Felix. “We won’t get to a situation where we’re doing everything by resumé. These are very early days but you have to take technology in your stride.”

Felix said that the success of technology depended on how people used it and he was keen to see how candidates and firms coped with the new virtual CV. “We don’t think the video element in the CV will be for everyone at first,” he admitted. “Quite frankly, it will be some time before ordinary users will consider putting up video clips – not everyone knows how to upload a video. There could bea generational difference.”

And that is the problem for executive recruiters: trying to stay ahead of the game and predicting the communication preferences of coming generations.

Today’s middle-aged chief executives might not feel comfortable posting a video of their latest conference triumph on their CV, but the next one might. And today’s batch might also not feel at home engaging with each other on the internet, but what about the next? Felix said there would obviously be differences of opinion. “But we’re seeing a generational shift,” he added. “And who knows what will appeal to the next generation?”

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