99+ Must-Know Resume Statistics To Get You Hired in 2024

12 Key Resume Statistics

Let’s start with some key resume statistics. 

These resume statistics provide valuable insights into current HR trends in today’s job market that can help job seekers make informed decisions about their job hunt:

1. A single corporate job opening gets an average of 250 applications. (Glassdoor)
2. Over 80% of resumes don’t make it past the first screening and only 1 in 10 get to a hiring manager. (Workopolis)
3. Less than 3% of sent resumes result in a job interview. (Team Stage)
4. Up to 90% of employers, including most Fortune 500 companies, use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to manage candidate applications. (Forbes)
5. Only 25% of resumes make it past the ATS and in front of a human recruiter! This means that 75% of resumes don’t qualify because of formatting, content, or lack of keywords. (Gitnux)
6. The average time a hiring manager spends looking at a resume is 7 seconds, so your resume needs to make a very quick impression.
7. The ideal length of a resume is between 475 and 600 words. (Forbes)
8. Resumes outside the ideal word count are seen as less hireable 43% of the time. (Forbes)
9. Yet over 77% of resumes don’t fit in the recommended range! (Forbes)
10. The average resume only lists about half of the keywords used in the job description. Consider this a reminder to compare your resume to the job ad and include all the relevant keywords. (Forbes)
11. Based on this data, the majority of resumes job-seekers send out don’t meet the average recruiter’s criteria.
12. But it’s not all dark! Research finds that around 68% of candidates who use a professional resume writing service get a job within 90 days of sending out their resume. (The Motley Fool)

22 Resume Formatting Statistics

Resume formatting plays an extremely important role in what kind of first impression you make as a candidate. If the first thing the hiring manager sees is a messy and crowded resume, chances are they won’t feel compelled to read the contents. 

The following resume formatting statistics prove just how important resume formatting is and show you how to format yours to make the right first impression:

1. According to Novoresume’s Job-Seekers survey, 60.6% of job-seekers have a resume that’s one page.
2. Two-page resumes are common for 29.7% of candidates.
3. Meanwhile, less than 10% of people have a resume that’s 3 pages or more.
4. Single-page resumes are especially recommended for students who have less professional experience. (Reed)
5. However, this doesn’t mean that you should rule out two-page resumes entirely. 77% of employers agree that more experienced candidates should have a two-page resume. (Zippia)
6. Research shows that candidates with two-page resumes may be up to 2.9 times as likely to get hired than applicants that submit one-page resumes. (Zippia)
7. So don’t cram everything into one page if you have relevant information that could provide value to your application. Two pages might not ruin your candidacy, especially if you’re at a senior level. (Business Insider)
8. Always keep the information you list on your resume relevant. A resume is meant to provide a brief introduction to your professional life, while a CV or LinkedIn profile can house all the details. (Business Insider)
9. And when it comes to your European CV, a survey found that 91% of recruiters agree that two pages are the ideal length for it. (Reed)
10. Applicant tracking systems reject most resumes due to bad formatting. Thankfully, there are plenty of good sources teaching you how to write an ATS-friendly resume.
11. The best format for your resume is a PDF file since it allows your resume to be readable by most ATS software and keeps your resume layout from changing when opened on different operating systems. (Indeed)
12. Recruiters suggest keeping your resume formatting as clear as possible. This means using black font color, bullet points instead of blocks of paragraphs, and a separate skills section to optimize readability. (Business Insider)
13. The most common sections to include on a resume are contact information, work experience, education, skills, and a resume summary or objective.
14. For nearly 70% of recruiters, the most important section of your resume is your past work experience.
15. Research shows that 54% of candidates don’t tailor their resume to the job description, which can considerably lower their odds of getting called in for an interview. (Career Builder)
16. According to a study, one of the easiest ways to catch a hiring manager’s attention is by having a resume summary of about 15 words at the top of your resume.
17. But don’t rely too heavily on a summary statement. Making your resume objective or resume summary too long or using cliches will have a negative impact on a recruiter about 29% of the time. (Finances Online)
18. Most hiring managers recommend the reverse chronological resume format because it’s the most popular format globally and because it lists your most recent professional experience first. (Indeed)
19. A crucial detail that employers want to see but that most resumes are missing is quantifiable achievements, with 34% of recruiters stating that a lack of result statements is a dealbreaker. (Forbes)
20. Recruiters overwhelmingly recommend using action verbs and leadership-related words in your application. Replace passive words like “helped” or “assisted” with the bolder “managed” and “led”. (Finances Online)
21. Try to avoid using too much industry jargon and focus on leveraging keywords instead. There’s always a chance the person reviewing your resume isn’t an expert in the field, just part of the HR department weeding through applications. (Business Insider)
22. Always follow the resume guidelines typical for the country you’re applying in. For example, over 80% of applications in the USA are rejected because the candidate includes their photo. (Team Stage)

20 Job-Hunting and Resume Statistics

Observing current job market trends will help you get a better idea of what works and what doesn’t. 

Here’s what job-seekers and recruiters have to say about how resumes affect job hunting:

1. On average, a single job-seeker sends out 50 resumes before finding a job. (Zippia)
2. A Novoresume survey found that the majority of job-seekers, up to 37.5%, got employed within two months of searching.
3. On the other end, 12% of job-seekers took more than a year to find their next position.
4. Roughly 48.8% of job-seekers only make minor adjustments to their resume before sending in their applications for different jobs.
5. However, 32.9% create a brand new resume for each application.
6. Only 18.2% submit the same resume with every application.
7. Separate research by Gitnux has recently found that 60% of jobs are found through networking.
8. The same research also found that up to 70% of jobs are never posted publicly but instead filled by internal transfers or referrals.
9. Additionally, Gitnux found that the process of landing a job in 2023 takes an average of 5 months.
10. Meanwhile, about 52% of recruiters say that the average hiring time after an interview is 3 weeks.
11. But recruiters rarely need more than 8 seconds to decide if a candidate is appropriate for the position.
12. The Job-Seekers survey also found that during their job search, 41.5% of people spend less than 2 hours per day looking and applying for positions.
13. However, 40.3% of people spend between two and four hours doing the same.
14. 84.7% of job-seekers apply to somewhere between one and six jobs per day.
15. LinkedIn overwhelmingly ranks at the top for the most preferred tool for finding a job in 2023! Up to 75.6% of job-seekers surveyed by Novoresume use the platform, followed by 66.6% going for online job boards and 64.4% directly using company websites.
16. Meanwhile, 56.7% of job seekers seek referrals from friends and acquaintances, which could help them tap into the hidden job market that networking provides.
17. And keep in mind that referred candidates are nearly four times as likely to get hired. (Zippia)
18. At this time, only about 12.8% look at offline job ads. The tools job-seekers and recruiters both use are almost always online. (Novoresume)
19. Applications that get sent before 10 AM have an almost 90% higher chance of getting noticed, while ones sent within the first week of the job vacancy being posted have a further 60% chance of making it in front of a recruiter. (Zippia)
20. And finally, out of 5579 people surveyed, the Job-Seekers survey found that at 44.4%, most job-seekers are currently working full time, while 36.4% are currently unemployed.

10 Resume Skills Statistics

After work experience, skills are the most important resume section for any candidate. Here are the top resume skill statistics to back this up:

1. Not listing your professional skills on your resume can look as bad as a one-year gap of employment. (Zippia)
2. In fact, 41% of recruiters look for skills on a resume first.
3. Job descriptions tend to list over 20 required skills on average but most resumes only include 13.
4. There’s a 20% increase in job postings that focus more on skills and responsibilities as opposed to qualifications, so skills are becoming even more important. (LinkedIn)
5. 91% of recruiters love seeing soft skills on resumes. (Finances Online)
6. A further 16% of recruiters believe they’re even more important than hard skills.
7. Over 40% of recruiters believe that candidates’ resumes lack much-needed soft skills. (Team Stage)
8. Some top contenders for soft skills are attention to detail, leadership, time management, adaptability, and communication in the workplace.
9. Don’t forget about hard skills though! Computer skills like Microsoft Office and Project Management are the most popular hard skills listed on resumes.
10. Over 85% of recruiters believe that candidates exaggerate the skills on the resume they send. (HRDive)

13 Cover Letter and Resume Statistics

Writing a cover letter is a must for any job application. Done right, a cover letter can provide the hiring manager with a more detailed view of you as a candidate and serve as a supplement to your resume.

So, we did some digging and found these cover letter and resume statistics:

1. According to the Job-Seekers survey, more than 47.4% of applicants don’t include a cover letter with their application unless the employer specifically asks for one.
2. Meanwhile, 31.1% of job-seekers don’t submit cover letters at all, even though it’s always recommended to submit one.
3. The remaining 21.5% of those surveyed always submit cover letters with their job applications.
4. Of those who send cover letters, 35.4% make adjustments to them according to each job they apply to.
5. 34.1% prefer to tailor a completely new letter to each of their applications.
6. And an additional 30.5% of job-seekers just submit the same letter everywhere they apply.
7. 63% of recruiters say they would like to receive resumes tailored specifically to the job vacancy, which applies to the cover letters, too. (Zippia)
8. And a further 61% of recruiters say that a guaranteed way to make your application stand out is customization. This includes providing a cover letter, addressing the hiring manager by name, and providing a link to your portfolio, website, or relevant social media.
9. Nearly 40% of hiring managers say that cover letters make them pay more attention to an application. (Zippia)
10. 26% of recruiters believe that cover letters are important when making a hiring decision. (Zippia)
11. Almost 45% of recruiters say that not having a cover letter could get you rejected. 
12. Not listing any skills in your cover letter could hurt your chances of an interview by as much as 35%. (Team Stage)
13. And 70% of employers agree that the recommended length for cover letters is half a page.

10 Resume and Social Media Statistics

In the online age, social media’s role keeps growing and affecting the job market. 

We’ve found the following resume and social media statistics that show just how important an online presence is during a job hunt:

1. 90% of employers use some form of social media when looking to fill a vacancy.
2. A fully updated profile on LinkedIn is a necessary companion to your resume. Over 77% of recruiters use the platform when looking to hire. (Zippia)
3. Over 75.6% of job-seekers first head to LinkedIn to find a job. (Novoresume)
4. Less than 50% of resumes include a link to the candidate’s LinkedIn profile. (Forbes)
5. Every week, over 52 million people use LinkedIn to search for jobs. (Gitnux)
6. Meanwhile, the same Gitnux study found that 79% of job seekers use social media to find their next job, with LinkedIn being at the top, followed by Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
7. Additionally, over half of the employers have rejected candidates based on their social media profiles, even when the candidates had good resumes. Be cautious of what you post on social media, especially if you have your legal name attached to it.
8. Recruiters suggest putting more detail on your LinkedIn profile but keeping your resume short and relevant to the job you’re applying for. (Business Insider)
9. Up to 40% of recruiters may refuse to interview candidates without an online presence. (Career Builder)
10. Smartphones have outplayed computers when it comes to job searches, and social media has played its part. Thanks to the ease of use that smartphone apps provide, 50.2% of job-seekers have used their mobile device to look for job openings, compared to 48.2% of people who used computers as their first choice. (Novorésumé)

13 Resume Rejection Statistics

What are some red flags that employers look out for in candidates and how can you learn from them? 

We’ve gathered some helpful resume rejection statistics to help you avoid some common resume mistakes.

1. 1 out of 5 recruiters will reject a candidate in under 60 seconds and without finishing reading their resume. (The Undercover Recruiter)
2. And a further 25% will spend less than 30 seconds reviewing an applicant’s resume. (The Motley Fool)
3. Over 10% of job seekers have applied to 50+ jobs without hearing back. (Team Stage)
4. Nearly 80% of recruiters will reject a resume because of typos or grammar mistakes. This goes to show you can never proofread your resume enough. (The Motley Fool)
5. Cliches get resumes rejected by over 50% of recruiters. Saying you’re “a team player” or “hard worker” on your resume won’t necessarily land you an interview!
6. Overly-complicated design and layout choices, such as clashing fonts, lack of white space, cluttered images, or even emojis, can put off more than 40% of recruiters.
7. Don’t be too casual when writing your resume - statistics show that 84% of recruiters may reject a resume written in an informal tone.
8. Avoid writing about yourself in the third person (e.g: “John spent 3 years working as a data analyst until he was promoted.”) This makes over 40% of recruiters toss your application to the “No” pile. (Team Stage)
9. There’s also no point in adding personal pronouns on your resume, such as I, me, we, or mine, since recruiters already know you’re listing your own experience. (Business Insider)
10. Over 35% of people reading your resume will reject it if you have an unprofessional email address. Stick to some variation of the firstname_lastname@gmail.com email address format. (The Motley Fool)
11. Just under 50% of recruiters say that overly long resumes get candidates rejected, while 17% of hiring managers consider a resume longer than a single page to be a deal-breaker, so keep your resume relevant and no longer than two pages.
12. Far too many candidates lie on their resumes, with up to 72% of people admitting to it. The lies are most often related to education, followed by years of professional experience, time spent at a previous job, and skills. (Business Insider)
13. But 75% of hiring managers have caught a lie on a resume! And once the lie was caught, those candidates were not hired. (The Motley Fool)

Conclusion

And those are our 100 resume statistics to get you hired in 2024!

Hopefully, now that you know what some HR trends and popular opinions are, they can help you on your job hunt.

If you need anything else, our career blog is here to help!