3: Is Your Resumé Up to Par?

When you’re applying for a job, your resume gets mixed in with hundreds — and sometimes even thousands — of other resumes.

If you’re not getting called for interviews, it might be because your resume isn’t up to par with the competition.

If you’re not a recruiter, you probably haven’t seen too many resumes other than your own. That makes it hard to know what you’re doing right and what you need to work on. Lucky for you, online resume builder Zety analyzed more than 670,000 resumes to find out what the ideal resume should look like in 2021, what components it must include, and what you should definitely leave out.

The Average Resume Length Is Roughly 500 Words

The Zety analysis found that the average resume length is 439 words, while the median length is 406 words. To put these numbers into perspective, a one-page resume is typically 380 words or less.

Gone are the days when you are expected to cram your entire resume onto a single page. In fact, Zety found that recruiters actually prefer a two-page resume.

“Statistically, recruiters are 2.9 times more likely to choose a candidate with a two-page resume for management jobs and 1.4 times more likely for entry-level employment if the applicant has a two-page resume,” Zety’s research found. “Furthermore, 77% of employers believe that seasoned professionals seem less experienced when utilizing a one-page resume.”

Job Seekers Usually Send the Same Resume for Every Job Listing

The median number of resumes created by job seekers is one — the average is 1.4 — but this is a major mistake. Most recruiters — 63% — want to receive resumes tailored to the open position. That means that you should create one master resume and tweak it for every application you send, so no two jobs openings will receive the same application.

There Are 5 Must-Have Resume Sections

There are five sections your resume should have — and if you’re missing one of these, you’re in the minority. These are the big five sections along with the percentage of resumes that include them:

  • Personal information: 99%
  • Education: 99%
  • Work experience: 97%
  • Skills: 95%
  • Summary or objective: 95% 

Why You Need a ‘Skills’ Section

According to Zety data, not including a list of professional skills can hurt a resume as much as a year of unemployment. The skills section makes it easy for recruiters to see if your skill set matches what’s needed to do the job right off the bat.

The Most Common Soft Skills To List on Your Resume

Your “skills” section shouldn’t just include software and applications you are adept at using — it should also include soft skills. These are the most common soft skills found across the analyzed resumes:

  1. Communications: 14% 
  2. Customer Service: 9%
  3. Project Management: 7%
  4. Time Management: 6%
  5. Leadership: 5%
  6. Problem Resolution: 5%
  7. Problem-Solving: 5%
  8. Team Management: 5%
  9. Quick Learning: 4%
  10. Teamwork: 4%

You don’t need to include all of these skills, but Zety recommends including a few that apply to you.