The 21st-century world has witnessed a paradigm shift in day to day aspects of our lives. We live in a globalized world where everything is available at the click of a button. In other words, almost everything has become digital from the communication process to shopping to dining and what not. Similarly, the way hiring takes place in an organization has also undergone a considerable amount of change. Bio-data has been replaced by traditional resumes and in the times to come it is believed that traditional resumes will no longer exist and employers will prefer a digital resume/digital portfolio as far as the hiring process is concerned. However, this is still being debated as to whether the latter will replace the former or both will exist simultaneously.

Traditional Resume is a single or a two-page document that covers the occupational history of an individual which is primarily his/her job duties. Such a resume can be created from scratch, used through a template, or made with the help of a professional service (Swenson). Although the recruiters, in general, ask to send such resumes electronically. However, it is advisable that a printed version shall always be carried during the interview. As per resume perk.com, the merits of TRs are:-
(i) Suitable for traditional industries such as government jobs, academia, law, etc.
(ii) The hard copy looks better for presentation purposes.
(iii) These resumes are easy to organize in a folder.

However, the demerits of having such resumes are:-
(i) Ineffective in certain industries such as- IT (Information Technology), creative industries.
(ii) Difficult to change information whenever required.
(iii) Recruiters would not look at resumes if they exceed more than two pages as he/she spends an average of six seconds in viewing a resume.

Digital Resume is a resume type that covers a wide range of information of an applicant in an integrated way under a single roof. This primarily not only covers a resume but also aspects like extra-curricular activities, awards along with an integrated blog, and a social media profile. They are not printed on paper in general as they look more appealing on an electronic device such as- smartphone, laptop, and PC (Swenson).
The advantage of DR over TR is as follows: -
(i) They offer flexibility in terms of formatting as well as visual appearance (resumeperk.com). For example- the addition of infographics, multimedia, pdf can be easily done.
(ii)Easily editable and shareable, Updates can be made anywhere and anytime without any hassles and can be shared simultaneously on multiple platforms like- WhatsApp, email, and other platforms.
(iii) There are no security issues as the user can secure it from any unauthorized access. Hence, it is secured and convenient.
(iv) No limitation of information as everything is integrated.

On the other hand, the limitations are:-
(i) These cannot be ATS (Applicant Tracking System) friendly. Many large companies use ATS therefore in such a case if fancy formatting is used it might be destroyed and the text might be not recognized by the system.
(ii) Some firms view DRs as unnecessary as they feel that such resumes do not belong to the category of resumes.

The moot question that lies in front of us is that which of the two is better and which will be useful for the future. In my opinion, both will co-exist for a short period of time. However, in the long run, since everything will be completely digitized the OR's will be the game-changer.

Resumeperk.com. n.d. Traditional Vs Online Resume: Choose The Best One | Resumeperk.Com. [online] Available at: http://resumeperk.com/blog/traditional-vs-online-resume-choose-the-best-one [Accessed 16 May 2020]. Swenson, L., n.d. Differences Between Web Resumes & Traditional Resumes. [online] Smallbusiness.chron.com. Available at: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/differences-between-resumes-traditional-resumes-40482.html [Accessed 16 May 2020].