Comedy is at its best when it is able to take a small societal quirk, put it under a microscope, and reflect a magnified version back to us in a way that points out the ridiculousness of it all.  Tragedy comes when we realize that the ridiculousness is so wide spread, we shouldn't be laughing. 

CBS's often hilarious series "how i met your mother" managed to bring us one of those comic tragedies this week with the episode "The Possimbible" in which the characters explore the ins and outs of resumes, identity, and giving Corporate America what it wants. 

There's always a debate as to whether television reflects or shapes reality.  This episode should put that argument to rest.  There is no way the writers could have known that by the time this episode aired, hundreds of thousands of Americans would be unemployed and struggling with exactly the same issue as the episode’s premise:  figuring out how to best stand out in the crowd. 

I encourage you to watch the episode in its entirety to make sure you catch all its brilliance.  But for those of you frustrated by the recruiting and hiring processes of big business, I've summed up Barney's particularly profound insights here. To get the full affect, check out Barney's video resume at the end of this post.  I've watched it at least 10 times and I laugh every time.

How to succeed and stand out in a sea of applicants

• Create the appearance of being a bold risk-taker, but don't ever actually do anything
• Invent and use your own words to show creativity and vision
• Refuse to interview for a position
• Scoff at any first job offer
• Use a video resume
• Image is everything.  Look sharp and say a lot without saying anything.
• Be awesome

For me, the comedy of this episode is in its demonstration of the yet-to-be-tapped potential for video resumes, and in the examples of how people play games with their written resumes.  The tragedy is in its showcasing the pervasiveness of manipulative "personal brand positioning" as a means of being recognized. It truly has become an art form to create a resume that has the "right" buzzwords so a computer program finds you and spits you out onto a stack with 20 or so lucky others.  Forget the value of your accomplishments; if you don't know the current lingo you will continue to fly solo. 

If you are a recruiter, this should give you pause.  Particularly, I imagine, as you are most likely currently caught up in a tsunami of resumes.  The key to sourcing the right talent can no longer be relegated to a software program.  It requires the entirely human ability of recognizing authenticity.  Every resume has a voice; are you able to find it?

And what does this mean for hiring managers?  How about the ability to identify the real criteria for what is required to bring value to both the organization and the role?  I once listened to a COO announce to a gathering of over 200 of his company's managers that his sole criterion for selecting the right person for a critical EVP role was "Someone I'd like to sit down and have a beer with."  I am not making that up.  I cringed.  He was 100% serious.  What message is that sending?  There are a lot of people I'd like to sit down and have a beer with, Neil Patrick Harris (aka Barney Stinson) for starters, but that doesn't mean I am going to put him in charge of any aspect of my business.  (Sorry Neil; the first one's on me!)

This episode points out what anyone who has applied for a job over the past three years knows:  companies seem to be confusing the value of having the right skills and attitudes with the value of saying the right words.  Persona and first impressions beat out ability and desire. 

The current state of business is shouting at us that the process for identifying employees who will be valuable contributors needs to change.   The facade of success needs to be dismantled.  We need to get back to identifying and rewarding behaviors that aren't self-serving – that lead to long-term success…to looking at actions, not words. 

Otherwise we are doing nothing more than continuing to breed the traits that brought us to this point in the first place – traits that at best will produce nothing better than (as Barney might say...wait for it….) awesomocrity.