In a world of digital footprints and the impact of credentialing and endorsement algorithms, a movement is forming: a call for human implications in schools, workplaces, and communities. This People Over Papers philosophy emphasizes lived experience, inner potential, character, and ability over the dry rigidity of a document, a degree, or a keyword-stuffed resume. It is a recognition of the most precious in every project: not the documentation collected, but the people we are and the relationships we cultivate.
The Rise of the Paper Paradigm
The phenomenon surrounding “papers” is relatively new. For centuries, mastery was proven through apprenticeship, mentorship, and the creation of tangible works. Blacksmiths were judged by the strength and craftsmanship of their iron, and carpenters were judged and critiqued by the integrity of their joints. Then came the societal industrialization, and thereafter, the industrialization of talent. With universities and certifying bodies as the primary opportunity gatekeepers. The resume became a passport, and the degree a legitimizing stamp. Meritocracy was an illusion as the system became more scalable, and walls were built, confounding the credential (map) for the individuality (territory).
The Cost of Credential Obsession
The cost of the paper paradigm is mind-boggling. Education is characterized by a relentless pursuit of grades and test scores, leading to a rather transactional process of credential accumulation for personal growth. Passion projects, creative explorations, and increased emotional intelligence are labeled “extracurricular” and considered less valuable than the A the transcript requires.
In businesses, the dependence on documents perpetuates identical processes. Automated Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) eliminate unorthodox candidates before recruiters review their papers. A self-taught programmer who excels, an entrepreneur who succeeds but doesn’t have an MBA, or a career-changer with transferable skills from a diverse set of life experiences, are often summarily dismissed for not including the correct keywords or the expected diploma. This creates “degree inflation,” where roles that once required a high school diploma now require a bachelor’s degree, not because the work has changed, but because the paper is relied on as a proven substitute for effort and intelligence. Companies lament a “skills gap,” while ignoring the many qualified candidates that are, in fact, unhealthily staring at the same filters they’ve created.
A Clarification: Not Anti-Intellectual
Choosing People Over Papers doesn’t mean anti-intellectual thinking. There is no saying that education and expertise are no longer of high value. Instead, it is about broadening the scope of where education and expertise can be located. It is a less fragmented, less inhumane, and, in the end, more functional method of constructing teams, organizations, and societies that can prosper in the face of complexity.
Putting Philosophy into Practice: Hiring
What does the phrase People Over Papers look like?
It starts with the hiring process. And it is already happening in more progressive organizations. These companies are engaging in skills-based hiring. These companies are using competency-based hiring instead of asking people to list degrees. Asking people “What can you do?” and more importantly, “How do you solve problems?” is crucial. These companies use work samples, structured portfolio reviews, and realistic job scenarios to assess candidates. They are also drawing on proven experience and other work and non-work domains, including military, volunteer, and leadership roles, the arts, caregiving, etc., to assess resilience and emotional and people-management skills. Employees have proven skills and experience and are granted significant management roles.
Existing interviewing techniques and methods. Interviewing is completed the other way, which is half practical. Unstructured interviewing is being replaced by formal approaches such as behavioral interviewing, situational interviewing, and others that assess personal traits such as grit, integrity, teamwork, collaboration, and specific intellectual curiosity. Potential and character traits are revealed more with questions like, “Tell me about a time when you failed and what you learned from that experience?” This includes the complete narrative of the individual’s journey. This goes further to include the challenges faced and the individual mindset put in place to overcome them.
Putting Philosophy into Practice: Education
In educational settings, having a “people over papers approach is based on mentorship and project-based learning methodologies. It supports teachers in being growth facilitators, not information depositors for high-stakes multiple-choice testing. It allows students to build a “portfolio of proof” — a compilation of real projects, artifacts, and solutions — that showcase their abilities in a much more sophisticated manner than a resume does. It also recognizes the worth of vocational and technical education as the noble and essential pathways that they are. It provides multiple options for a satisfactory and successful life.
The Core: Restoring Trust in Human Capacity
This philosophy is fundamentally about restoring trust in the human capacity. It invites managers, educators, and leaders to look a person in the eye (or over a video call), listen to their narrative, and evaluate their prospects based on intelligence and prudence. It understands that a document can explain what someone has done, in great detail, but minimally, and it cannot demonstrate who that person is, what they aspire to achieve, or what they are capable of if given the chance and means.
The Reward of Human Connection
Innovation, resilience, and community develop from human connection. They start from the trust earned by understanding staff as fully fleshed-out individuals with different interests, rather than lumping them into a pile of credentials. They begin with the flexibility that comes from abandoning the reliance on knowledge as the primary problem and valuing ease of problem-solving over expertise. They start with the diversity of thought that comes from avoiding the recruitment cycle from a single source. They begin from overlooked sources of recruitment.
While community innovation is essential, this process is complex. It requires good management and is far more time-consuming than sorting by points. It requires a distraction from biases to the problem’s complexity. It is a worthwhile effort. It enriches and retains staff, solves complex problems, supports the organization’s culture, supports a fair society with open opportunity, and leads to the expansion of recruitment sources.
Conclusion: Systems in Service of People
In the end, People Over Papers serves as a reminder about the nature of systems, processes, and paperwork: they are meant to serve people and be at the service of humanity, not the other way around. Absence of this vision and allowing systems to eclipse the people they serve, we end up missing the point: more than just a position to be filled or an admission to be granted, we are in the business to serve individuals and commemorate their kaleidoscopic and intertwined essence of experience, talent, passion, and outlook. People are more than a CV to be skimmed, they are a narrative to be immersed in. Success should not be the accumulation of paperwork, but the impact generated through lives touched and challenges faced in collaboration.
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