Are CVs losing their power? How skills-based hiring is quietly reshaping the UAE job market

Dubai: If you have been applying for roles, sending out dozens of CVs and hearing nothing back, it may feel as though recruiters are not even glancing at your application.

While that perception is understandable, the reality is more nuanced. Across global labour markets, employers are gradually rethinking how they assess talent and traditional résumés are no longer the sole deciding factor.

In recent years, skills-based hiring has gained momentum, challenging the long-standing dominance of CVs. A 2023 study found that more than 70 per cent of respondents believed skills-based hiring to be more effective than relying on résumés alone, according to a report by TestGorilla.

The question, however, is whether this shift is fully taking hold in the UAE.

Skills-based hiring is growing but unevenly

According to Dmitry Zaytsev, founder of Dandelion Civilization, the UAE is indeed moving towards skills-based hiring, though not uniformly across all sectors.

“You see it fastest in roles where output is visible and speed matters,” Zaytsev explains. “This includes technology, growth, client-facing teams, and modern service businesses.”

In these areas, employers are increasingly relying on work samples, short practical tasks, structured interviews and scenario-based assessments.

The aim is to understand how candidates think, solve problems and operate in real-world conditions, rather than where they have worked previously.

The CV is still relevant but its role has changed

Despite this shift, Zaytsev is clear that CVs have not disappeared. Instead, their function has evolved.

“CVs are still relevant, but mostly as an administrative document, not a hiring signal,” he says. “They help confirm basic facts and provide a timeline, but they are a weak predictor of performance.”

This limitation is particularly pronounced in the UAE, where the labour market is highly international. The same job title can represent vastly different responsibilities, expectations and standards depending on the country, company size and organisational maturity.

“In many cases, what someone actually owned day-to-day matters far more than the title on their CV,” Zaytsev adds.

Why employers trust CVs less than before

One of the biggest drivers behind the move towards skills-based assessment is trust or rather, the erosion of it.

“The bigger shift is not that employers are suddenly against CVs,” Zaytsev explains. “It is that CVs are becoming easier to manufacture and harder to trust.”

With AI tools now widely available, candidates can effortlessly polish language, restructure experience and optimise CVs for keywords. At the same time, employers use AI-powered Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to scan those same keywords. When both sides are optimising for identical templates, the process rewards presentation rather than capability.

The result is a hiring process that increasingly values evidence over claims.

From identity signals to behaviour-based evidence

According to Zaytsev, the future of hiring will be split. CVs will remain as a front page, necessary for compliance and context but hiring decisions will hinge on evidence.

“What a person can produce, how they decide under constraints, how they learn, and how they collaborate,” he says. “Hiring is moving from identity-based signals to behaviour-based signals.”

While many employers are already reporting strong results from these approaches, it does not mean CVs are disappearing overnight.

The reality of hiring in the UAE: A hybrid model

Shazia Bharuchi, a UAE-based career guidance and development practitioner, offers a more grounded view of how recruitment actually functions on the ground in the UAE.

While many organisations reference skills-based hiring, she notes that ATS is primarily used as an initial screening tool not as a replacement for human judgement.

“Applicant Tracking Systems are typically used to manage volume and filter for basic role alignment through keywords,” Bharuchi explains. “CVs are very much reviewed by recruiters and hiring managers once candidates pass this stage.”

Why skills alone are not enough

Rather than pure skills-based hiring, Bharuchi says most organisations operate a hybrid model. Technical skills matter but so do broader indicators of professional maturity, including:

• Career trajectory and role scope

• Employer context and industry exposure

• Leadership and stakeholder management

• Demonstrated business impact

“Skills-based assessment tends to show up more strongly later in the process,” she says, “through interviews, case studies, presentations and leadership discussions, rather than replacing CV review altogether.”

The CV is evolving - not disappearing

While skills-based hiring is often positioned as CV-light or even CV-free, the reality in the UAE is more measured.

“So while skills-based hiring is often discussed as CV-light or CV-free, in the UAE the CV remains a critical tool,” Bharuchi says. “The emphasis is shifting towards articulating skills through outcomes, achievements and a coherent career story, rather than relying solely on titles or tenure.”

For jobseekers, this means the CV is no longer just a list of roles. It is a strategic document, one that must clearly demonstrate impact, capability and progression, while being supported by evidence throughout the hiring process.

In short, the CV is not dead. But it is no longer enough on its own.