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Customer service
Resumes and cover letters are the
foundation of your job search.
Competition in the job market is fierce. A corporate job opening attracts 250 resumes on average, and only four-to-six applicants will get called in for an interview.
A well-written resume and cover letter will get you noticed. Here you will find the latest resume research and cover letter statistics to prepare you for a 2022 job search.
Customizing your resume is key to landing a great interview.
The majority of hiring managers (61%) consider a customized resume the No. 1 tactic for applicants trying to boost their chance of getting a job. The others include:
Source: Careerbuilder
After all, your resume don't have much time to impress.
Recruiters spend an average of seven seconds reviewing a resume.
Source: TheLadders
You don't want your submission to come off as "too generic" and give recruiters a reason to dismiss you.
You are more likely to be rejected if your cover letter and resume have the following issues:
Source: CareerBuilder
Be careful. Recruiters have plenty of pet peeves.
They don’t want to see the following on your resume:
Source: New College of the Humanities
Plus, your resume and cover letter must pass the company's applicant tracking system (ATS).
About 98% of Fortune 500 companies use an ATS in their hiring process, which sorts through resumes before a human sees them.
Source: Jobscan
This is a big deal because ATS prevents about 75 percent of resumes from being seen by human eyes.
Source: Preptal
Don't lie, either. They'll catch you.
In 2017, 85% of HR professionals uncovered a lie or misrepresentation on a candidate’s resume or job application during the screening process — up from 66% 5 years prior.
Source: HireRight
And make sure to include both hard and soft skills on your resume
The description for a job opening contains an average of 21.8 skills, while resumes list only 13 skills on average.
Source: LiveCareer
Resumes fall short to roughly the same degree on both hard and soft skills, matching only 59 percent of hard skills and 62 percent of soft skills.
Source: LiveCareer
That’s not surprising: Only 47% of workers believe job descriptions reflect actual responsibilities.
Source: Jobvite
as well as a few terms from the 10 most
frequently cited skills in job ads
2
Communication skills
3
Scheduling
4
Written communication
5
Organizational skills
6
Problem-solving
7
Multitasking
8
Sales
9
Physical demand
10
Teamwork
Source: LiveCareer
Even when you do everything perfectly, some candidates of different ethnic backgrounds face implicit bias in the resume review process.
Studies have shown hiring managers respond more positively to resumes that lack ethnic details.
Source: Administrative Science Quarterly
And there are several implicit biases that could impact your ability to get the interview. People make assumptions based on
Age
(e.g., your date of graduation or first job)Sexual Orientation
(e.g., volunteer activities or memberships)Gender
(e.g., your name or university)
But there's plenty you can control, including:
- Dropping the occasional industry buzzword to appeal to the ATS (but not too many).
- Using concrete numbers to demonstrate your value.
- Applying on Mondays, not on Fridays.
- Not overusing “team player” or other highly collaborative descriptors.
- Using leadership-oriented words (e.g., communicated, coordinated, leadership, managed, organization).
- Not using personal pronouns in the employment section.
- Including a Key Skills section of 15-20 words.
- Applying in the first four days after a job is posted.
- Applying between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m.
Source: TalentWorks
The resume and cover letter research above will put you on the path to landing your next interview.
As these career statistics bear out, the one-size-fits-all resume is a myth. You can set yourself up for success by:
Keeping in mind
who will be viewing your resume and then tailoring it to a specific job.
Making sure you avoid
recruiter and hiring manager pet peeves.
Focusing on the aspects
of the job search you can control while taking steps to cleverly minimize those beyond your control.
You can also keep reading our 2022 employment and job search stats series, including stories on:
- How to appeal to hiring managers and recruiters at every step in your job search. You’ll learn how to answer interview questions, where to look for jobs and which phrases get on a recruiter’s nerves.
- Why surveys finding decades’ high job satisfaction fail to tell the whole story. The truth is more complicated, with low worker engagement and nearly half of employees unhappy with their pay.
- The story behind the record-low unemployment numbers. Job seekers say it’s easier than ever to find good work — and they’re feeling so emboldened they’re even ghosting companies.
About the Author
About the Author
Don Sjoerdsma
Career Advice Expert
Don is a senior content writer for BOLD. He conducts in-depth research and writes special reports on trends and issues that impact job seekers. With a proven track record in building cross-platform content plans in diverse sectors, Don has written extensively on topics related to careers and employment, including interviewing, resumes, cover letters and the job search. His work has appeared on Oprah.com, HuffPost, Yahoo! and LiveCareer. He holds an M.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University, where he specialized in media innovation, and is a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW).
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