Today I thought I would share some interesting statistics about job searches. The following statistics come from a variety of sources, including Glassdoor, Jobvite, and CareerBuilder.
While Jobvite lists career sites (27%) and job boards (19%) as the most frequently used source for applicants, that leaves over half of recruiters and hiring managers using other sources, such as referrals, internal hires, and agencies. Do not make the mistake of thinking that a savvy, immediate boss will be the one reading your resume—instead, prepare your resume so that anyone, including an Applicant Tracking System (ATS), can understand the value you bring to a company.
An ATS will discard well over 50% of the resumes it processes. The ATS searches for keywords and selects the resumes where they appear for further review by hiring managers and recruiters. You should study job postings and advertisements carefully for keywords—skills and knowledge the company is looking for—and use those words honestly in your resume.
Online sites have a strong influence on hiring. Most hiring managers and recruiters (73%-87%, depending on the site) have searched social media for candidates; and almost all candidates (over 79%) use social media to search for jobs. To stay ahead of the competition and attract hiring managers and recruiters, you should strengthen your LinkedIn and other professional profiles and keep your posts on sites like Facebook and Instagram strictly professional.
According to CareerBuilder, 41% of employers use text messages to schedule an interview. Make sure your contact information is clear, professional, and correct. A small error in your email address—or the inability of a company to tell if you meant 1 or l (one or el), 0 or O (zero or oh) might mean you never hear from them. The best email address uses your full name.
According to the 2017 Jobvite Recruiting Funnel Benchmark Report, the time between recruiting and hiring and is tightening: down to 39 days from 43 days in 2015. So keep those resumes flowing even if you feel you have a great chance at a job. If you haven’t heard from a company in over a month, they have probably filled the position.
According to a council of Human Resource executives from Fortune 100 companies, you increase your chances of being hired by 80% if you have networked to the job. You must pass the ATS for these jobs since according to several sources, over 99% of jobs listed by Fortune 500 companies are screened by ATS systems. Those statistics all show the high value still placed on resumes and the importance of professional social media profiles.
My job as a professional resume writer is to make sure your resume and social media profiles are not only well-written but capable of rising to the top in any search by hiring managers, recruiters, or ATS. Contact me today.