HR Statistics 2021: Over 50 Essential HR, Recruitment and Job Finding Facts

Knowing the most up-to-date HR statistics for 2021 is a great way to optimize your job searching techniques.

Sending out a resume is a game of numbers as you probably already know. Yet, peering into the data of job search statistics can give you some pretty valuable insights into the best ways to target your job search and get hired quickly.

Hunting all this information down online is time-consuming and if you’re job hunting that’s going to slow you down. That’s time that could be better spent building your resume after all.

Luckily we’re here to lend you a helping hand. We’ve collated over 50 of the most useful human resource and job search statistics for 2021 that you can use to find your next job fast.

1. The Most Important Job Finding Statistics for 2021

It’s important to stay up to speed with current trends when you make your move on the job market. Right now that means that you need to make sure you need to remember the following:

• Recruiters spend only 7.4 seconds skim-reading resumes (Ladders)
• 77% of employers use LinkedIn to find qualified candidates (Jobvite)
• 39% of hiring managers spend less than a minute reading a resume and 23% only spend under 30 seconds looking over a document! (CareerBuilder)
• Candidates in the last year have been able to find a job within 1-3 months on average. (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
• Every corporate job attracts around 250 applications of which only 4-6 candidates will be called into an interview and 1 will get the position. (Glassdoor)
• Applicants in a job are 10.25% likely to get an interview compared to 7.2% for those unemployed for more than 6 months. (Rand Ghayad, Job Market Paper)
• 45% of job applicants use their mobile devices to search for jobs. (Glassdoor)

2. Statistics to Guide Your Resume Writing

Resumes have changed a lot over time. As technologies and tools advance for both making and sending in your application it’s essential to make sure you know what employers are looking for from candidates. Right now that means taking account of these facts:

• Resumes are currently averaging around 489 words in length and 380 words is around the cutoff point for a single page document. (Zety)
• Resumes over 600 words long perform 43% worse. (TalentWorks)
• Recruiters consider the following resume mistakes instant deal breakers:
  • • • Spelling and grammar errors (77%)
      • Unprofessional email addresses (35%)
      • No quantifiable results (34%)
      • Long wordy paragraphs (25%)
      • Generic and not tailored for the post being advertised (18%)
      • Resumes longer than 2 pages (17%)
      • No cover letter (10%)

(CareerBuilder)

• 59% of recruiters keep in touch with candidates that express interest in their company and send them a resume. (Jobvite)
• 75% of employers have spotted lies on a resume. (CareerBuilder)
• Resumes should be formatted to have margins of 0.7 inches and the text should be no smaller than size 11. (TalentWorks)
• Only 25% of resumes submitted are reviewed by a human recruiter. The other 75% get discarded by ATS. (Cleverism)
• Resumes with professional photos get rejected 88% of the time. (CultivatedCulture)
• Jobs that you’ve had that lasted under 6 months in total can be safely removed from your resume. (Glassdoor)
• The three most important soft skills to include in your resume are:
  • • • Communication (11%)
      • Leadership (9%)
      • Time management (8%)

(Zety)

• On the other hand, the three most important hard skills for a resume are:
  • • • Microsoft Office (12%)
      • Project Management (6%)
      • Microsoft Excel (6%)

(Zety)

3. Essential Job Search Statistics

Understanding the job market is going to be vital to ensure your resume reaches its target. This shifts and changes over time and at the moment it’s essential to know the following:

• The 5 things employees want to know before they apply are:
  • • • What is the salary?
      • What are the benefits?
      • What does the company do?
      • Why is it worthwhile working for the company?
      • What is the company’s ethos and mission?

(Glassdoor)

• 98% of Fortune 500 companies use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to filter out ineffective resumes. (Jobscan)
• 82% of recruiters estimate it takes 3 or more weeks to get a job offer. (MRINetwork)
• Just under 50% of Americans claimed to be open to a new job opportunity in mid-2020. (Jobvite)
• 60% of Americans also have had a gap in their employment at some stage in their career (Monster)
• 87% of recruiters check references during the hiring process (SHRM)

4. Statistics to Understand the HR and Recruitment World in 2021

Recruiters are always adapting to new realities and technologies. At the moment that means you’re likely to come across trends such as the following:

• The average cost per hire expenses for companies is around $4,100. (SHRM Human Capital Benchmarking Report)
• 77% of CEOs are worried about the availability of essential skills for their company, especially in the case of soft skills. (PWC)
• 87% of recruiters use LinkedIn to find talent and vet candidates with another 43% using Facebook and another 22% using Twitter. (Jobvite)
• 55% of employers expect to reduce headcounts as a result of automation and new technologies. (PWC)
• 38% of recruiters rank internal hires as the highest quality candidates. (Jobvite)
• It’s been estimated by some recruiters that 70% – 80% of jobs aren’t published but are found only through networking (CNBC)
• Recruiters won’t contact you if they find any of the following on your social media profiles:
  • • • Posting inappropriate content and photos (39%)
      • Signs that you frequently drink or use drugs (38%)
      • Discriminatory comments about race, gender, or religion (32%)
      • Negative comments about their company or a fellow employee (30%)

(Careerbuilder)

5. Stats to Know Before Going to An Interview

The interview step of a hiring process can feel tricky to figure out. Styles often change, especially since many companies went remote as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

Right now, this means you need to be ready for these current trends:

• 61% of employees say their experience of the job differed from the expectations created during the interview process. (Gallup)
• 63% of companies conduct remote interviews since the COVID-19 pandemic started. (Robert Half)
• A lack of online presence means 40% of companies won’t consider you for an interview. (CareerBuilder)
• For 50% of companies, it takes 3 interviews before you’ll be given a job offer. (MRINetwork)

6. What Do The Numbers Tell Us about Millennial and GenZ Employees

There’s been a lot of changes in the last few years as one generation starts to make way for another. Once the children of tomorrow, millennials are now the mainstream, with younger Gen Z on the rise.

These are what researchers have found about these two generational groups:

• It is expected that Millennials will make up 75% of the overall workforce by 2025. (Gallup)
• Only 29% of Millennials report feeling engaged at work. (Gallup)
• Millennials tend to change jobs about 4 times during their first decade of employment. (LinkedIn)
• Millennials express a preference for jobs that offer them the following benefits:
  • • • The ability to work from home (38%)
      • A clear career path (32%)
      • The chance to use modern technology (23%)
      • Company perks (17%)
      • Open floor plans (14%)

(MRINetwork)

• Around 38% of Millennials plan to leave their jobs within 2 years of starting. (Deloitte)

What About Gen Z?

• Gen Z is expected to bring around 60 million job seekers into the employment market over the next 10-15 years. (CSP.edu)
• Gen Z will also add around 82 million consumers to the US population before the end of the 2020s. (Business Insider Intelligence)
• Around 56% of Gen Z will learn new skills if they will lead to higher pay. (LinkedIn)

• 40% of Gen Z want daily communication with their bosses. (CSP.edu)
• 70% of Gen Z state that health insurance is a “must-have” with a job. (CSP.edu)

7. How Technology is Shaping the Job Market

Most companies these days use online recruitment and social media as a major part of their hiring strategy. New and innovative technological responses are common in today’s job market, as demonstrated by the following findings:

• Job searchers will use around 7.6 job sites to find their next position. (Glassdoor)
• About 72% of recruiters view social media typos negatively. (Jobvite)
• Candidates looking for jobs on their mobile devices report searching for jobs in bed. (Jobvite)
• 41% of companies have plans to schedule job interviews via text message. (CareerBuilder)
• 29% of recruiters are investing in company career websites and another 29% are putting resources into hiring via social media. (Jobvite)
• 59% of recruiters use search engines to look up info on applicants (CareerBuilder)

8. How Does Diversity Affect the Modern Job Market According to Research?

Employment diversity is still a hot-button issue and remains a significant consideration for recruiters. At the moment the following trends are holding true:

• 87% of employers activelypromote diversity in their workplaces. (PWC)
• 48% of Gen Z describe themselves as ethnically or racially diverse. (Pew Research Center)
• 70% of stay-at-home moms eventually return to work. (NBC)
• Companies with the most gender diversity are 15% more likely to have high financial performance. (McKinsey)
• Meanwhile, businesses with the highest racial and ethnic diversity are 35% more likely to earn above the national industry median for their sector. (McKinsey)
• 58% of employees actively avoid companies where there is a known gender pay gap. (Glassdoor)

9. What Do Statistics Tell Us About Grads in the Job Market?

Getting that first job out of college is a major step for most job searchers. Graduates are still very much in favor for employers but there are some important numbers to be aware of when taking that first leap:

• 80% of graduates target jobs that will offer them a sense of purpose. (Gallup)
• Under 50% of college grads reported finding purposeful work. (Gallup)
• 78% of grads in 2017 took part in an apprenticeship or internship. (Accenture)
• Around 35% of job openings in 2020 required a bachelor’s degree with a further 30% asking for at least an associate’s degree and 36% requiring no more than a high school diploma. (Georgetown University)
• About 25% of Gen Z students will start job searching before their junior year. (Yello)
• 95% of employers give hiring preference to college graduates with skills that can contribute to innovation in their companies. (AACU)

It’s sensible to have a clear of the landscape of the job market when you start to apply for jobs. Knowing what employers expect from candidates and what to focus on when designing your resume template can help you get hired much faster.