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Resume Statistics 2022 (Analysis of 133,000 Documents)

Create Your Resume Now

Our customers have been hired by:

resume statistics

Is your resume up to par? How does it compare to other resumes from your industry? We’re here to help you find out.

After countless hours spent with our data science team, a couple weeks’ worth of sleepless nights, and a few double espressos too many—

We’re proud to present our hottest piece of state-of-the-art resume data so far.

We’ve analyzed data from over 133 thousand documents created in our builder. We wanted to see what candidates across the most popular professions write about their job histories, career objectives, and skills. 

Plus, we aimed to find out how today’s job seekers approach their job hunt. What are the keywords they use to describe their expertise? How long are their resumes? How many different versions of a resume each user creates?

The data we’re presenting concerns three key characteristics of resumes created by candidates in different fields.

Key resume features analyzed

1. Sections used

What “typical” resume sections (Personal Information, Resume Objective/Resume Summary, Work History, Education, Skills, Certifications, Languages, Software, etc.) candidates in a given field use.

2. The most common skills

The lists of the most common skills feature singular skill items entered in the “Skills,” “Software,” or “Certifications” sections. 

3. The most important resume keywords

Finally, we analyzed all words used by candidates on their resumes to and applied the TF*IDF (short for term frequency—inverse document frequency) statistic to identify the most profession-relevant keywords used by candidates in a given field. We ran separate analyses for nouns, verbs, and adjectives.

The data presented below is divided into general data extracted from all downloaded resumes and specific data from resumes for 10 most common professions.

What we learned about all resumes (and how you can use it to boost your job search)

First, let’s discuss what an average resume for a job created in 2022 looks like. (Spoiler alert: job seekers tend to make fundamental mistakes you can avoid to outperform most of your competition with little effort).

Resume length

  • Average resume length: 489 words (standard deviation of 310 words)
  • Median resume length: 369 words

Distribution (limited to resumes no longer than 1000 words):

resume statistics

For a typical resume created in our builder, about 380 words is the single-page cut off point. The data clearly shows that an average user tries to keep her resume one page long.

Is this the ideal strategy, though? Nope, not at all.

Contrary to the popular belief, nowadays recruiters prefer two-page resumes. Data shows that recruiters are 2.9x more likely to pick a candidate with a two-page resume for managerial roles and 1.4x more likely for entry-level positions.

What’s more, 77% of employers say seasoned workers should NOT use a single-page resume.

The takeaway is simple: in 2022 and beyond, to boost your chances of scoring an interview, you should use a two-page resume. Especially if you’re an experienced professional. First of all, that’s what recruiters expect. Secondly, that’s what your competitors are not doing.

But this was not the worst resume sin we’ve discovered. Here’s the biggest, most common mistake most job seekers make:

How many resumes per user?

  • Average: 1.73 resume per user
  • Median: 1 resume per user

The statistics above are particularly worrying: the most effective job-hunting strategy is to customize each resume to match the requirements from the job ad (63% of recruiters want to receive resumes tailored to the open position). To do so, it’s advised to create a new resume for each job application. Yet—most users prefer to create one generic resume and send it with all job applications. Here’s why it’s such a grave mistake:

  • On average, 10% of job applications result in interview invites. 
  • Out of those who land the interview, 20% are offered the job. 
  • Depending on the study, the job application success rate is between 2% and 3.4%. 
  • This means that, on average, you need to send between 30 and 50 resumes to get hired.

resume statistics

That said—

Certain job seekers do create multiple resumes to fit the needs of various employers. Some take it to extreme: we’ve seen 17 users with over 100 resumes created. Our first thought? They’re using our tool to run their own resume-writing business and create documents for *their* clients. We checked. Not the case. All those resumes were written by users for their personal use—they just made minor tweaks and alterations in key skills and job duties described.

The user with the most resumes created 339 of them. Is this the exact approach we’re looking for when saying “tailor your resume to match the job ad?” Maybe not. Is it more effective than spamming the same resume around 300+ companies? A non-scientific guess: at least 10x more effective.

So far, it’s not looking too good, right? Let’s dive into the actual contents of a typical resume.

What resume sections do job seekers use?

A vast majority of the users whose resumes we analyzed included the 5 main sections:

Standard, “must-have” resume sections:

  • Personal Information: 99.85% of resumes
  • Work Experience: 98.33%
  • Education: 97.25%
  • Skills: 89.81%
  • Summary or Objective: 88.75%

Solid! What’s particularly heart-warming from a career expert’s perspective is how common the “Skills” section, as well as the heading statement (Summary or Objective) are.

See, recruiters want to learn about your skills. In fact, not using a list of professional skills can hurt a resume as much as one year of unemployment. When it comes to the heading statement, despite the controversy, it’s best practice to use one—just don’t make it read like the old-school “career aim,” and focus it more on what you can bring to the table.

Also, contemporary job seekers don’t stop at “standard” resume sections. Most of them use at least one “additional” resume section to show they have an extra string in their bow. 

The bottom line for you: in order to stand out from the crowd, use at least one or, ideally, a few additional sections in your resume to back up your qualifications).

Below you’ll see the most popular additional resume sections.

Additional sections:

  • Any additional section: 66%
  • Languages: 31%
  • Certificates: 27%
  • Additional Activities: 21%
  • Interests: 19%
  • Software: 18%
  • References: 16%
  • Courses: 11%
  • Licenses: 5.5%
  • Publications: 5.3%
  • Conferences: 4.7%
  • Legal Clause: 4.7%*

*In some countries, personal data processing regulations oblige job seekers to give prospective employers consent to having their data processed during recruitment.

Don’t have the time to get certified? Attend industry conferences and brag about it on a resume. Only 4.7% of job seekers list conference participation yet every recruiter will be interested to learn more about conferences you took part in (yes, you can list conferences in which you participated without giving a talk).

resume statistics

Finally, let’s look into the most common skills job seekers list on resumes. 

Why is it important to you? Think about it this way: demand generates supply. If certain skills are used on resumes more often than others, it probably has something to do with recruiters expecting to see those skills.

I’m not saying you should stuff your resume with whatever skills you see below. But if you feel you have those skills, do mention a few. Pay close attention to soft skills (“people” skills in particular) and don’t neglect basic software skills such as MS Office—you’d think proficiency in Microsoft’s products is implied and not worth mentioning on a resume yet it’s the gold standard and not listing it might make your job application look suspicious.

Top 10 most common “soft” skills listed in resumes

  1. Communication: 11% of resumes
  2. Leadership: 9%
  3. Time Management: 8%
  4. Problem Solving: 7%
  5. Customer Service: 5%
  6. Teamwork: 5%
  7. Adaptability: 4.3%
  8. Organization: 2%
  9. Creativity: 1.7%
  10. Conflict Resolution: 1.6%

resume statistics

Top 10 most common “hard” skills listed in resumes

  1. Microsoft Office: 12% of resumes
  2. Project Management: 6%
  3. Microsoft Excel: 6%
  4. Python: 3.8%
  5. Salesforce: 3.6%
  6. Java: 3%
  7. SQL: 2.9%
  8. Microsoft Word: 2.7%
  9. JavaScript: 2.4%
  10. Public Speaking: 1.9%

resume statistics

Top 10 most common foreign languages listed in resumes

  1. Spanish: 5.7% of resumes
  2. French: 4.1%
  3. Arabic: 3.6%
  4. Hindi: 2.9%
  5. German: 2.8%
  6. Russian: 1.5%
  7. Italian: 1.2%
  8. Portuguese: 1%
  9. Mandarin: 0.9%
  10. Tamil: 0.8%

Most Common Professions

  1. Software Engineer
  2. Administrative Assistant
  3. Project Manager
  4. Mechanical Engineer
  5. Customer Service
  6. Business Analyst
  7. Data Scientist
  8. Civil Engineer
  9. Accountant
  10. Product Manager

1. Software Engineer: 1720 resumes analyzed

Sections used

Standard, “must-have” resume sections:

  • Personal information: 99.7% of resumes
  • Work Experience: 99%
  • Education: 98%
  • Skills: 92%
  • Summary or Objective: 86%

Additional sections:

  • Any additional section: 70%
  • Languages*: 34%
  • (Additional) Activities: 29%
  • Software: 24%
  • Certificates: 22%
  • Interests: 21% 
  • Courses: 10%
  • References: 10%
  • Publications: 6%
  • Legal Clause: 6%
  • Conferences: 3%
  • Licenses: 2%

*The section “Languages” was used by candidates to describe either foreign languages or programming languages.

Top 15 most common skills

Unsurprisingly, the most common skills on software engineers’ resumes are almost entirely related to programming languages, presentation languages, or software systems. (With the exception of “English”—though it’s a language too!)

  1. Java: used on 530 resumes (31%)
  2. Python: 450 resumes (26%)
  3. JavaScript: 427 (25%)
  4. SQL: 297 (17%)
  5. C#: 256 (15%)
  6. C++ (only listed as a separate entry): 194 (11%)
  7. Git: 188 (11%)
  8. HTML: 170 (10%)
  9. Node.js: 147 (9%)
  10. CSS: 143 (8%)
  11. PHP: 126 (7%)
  12. C: 125 (7%)
  13. MySQL: 122 (7%)
  14. Docker: 120 (7%)
  15. AWS (or “Amazon Web Services”): 110 (6%)

Top software engineering skills

Most important resume keywords: nouns, adjectives, and verbs

Nouns

Keyword rank

Single-word noun

Two-word compound noun

1

Java

software engineer

2

Javascript

computer science

3

Python

HTML CSS

4

software

node js

5

SQL

SQL server

6

development

ASP.NET

7

system

software engineering

8

HTML

data structure

9

application

software development

10

Web

web development

Adjectives

Keyword rank

Single-word adjective

Two-word compound adjective

1

new

front end

2

English

web-based

3

technical

large scale

4

various

real-time

5

mobile

new technical

6

angular

responsible new

7

different

higher secondary

8

web

internal/external

9

multiple

cross-functional

10

visual

technical new

Verbs

  1. using
  2. programming
  3. based
  4. developed
  5. worked
  6. testing
  7. learning
  8. designed
  9. implemented
  10. solving

2. Administrative Assistant: 1381 resumes analyzed

Sections used

Standard, “must-have” resume sections:

  • Personal Information: 99.9%
  • Work Experience: 99%
  • Education: 97%
  • Skills: 96%
  • Summary or Objective: 93%

Additional resume sections:

  • Any additional section: 37%
  • Languages: 16%
  • References: 12%
  • Software: 10%
  • Interests: 9%
  • Certificates: 8%
  • Additional Activities: 8%
  • Courses: 4%
  • Licenses: 2%
  • Legal Clause: 2%
  • Conferences: 1%
  • Publications: 0.6%

Top 15 most common skills

  1. Communication: 196 resumes (14%)
  2. Salesforce: 190 (14%)
  3. Time Management: 187 (13%)
  4. Microsoft Office: 186 (13%)
  5. Customer Service: 155 (11%)
  6. Problem Solving: 132 (10%)
  7. Organization: 126 (9%)
  8. Microsoft Excel: 114 (8%)
  9. Teamwork: 96 (7%)
  10. Microsoft Word: 95 (7%)
  11. Leadership: 91 (7%)
  12. Adaptability: 90 (7%)
  13. Computer Skills: 88 (6%)
  14. Multitasking: 78 (6%)
  15. Ability to Work Under Pressure: 55 (4%)

Top administrative assistant skills

Most important resume keywords: nouns, adjectives, verbs

Nouns

Keyword rank

Single-word noun

Two-word compound noun

1

skill

customer service

2

management

time management

3

customer

Microsoft Office

4

communication

communication skill

5

office

Microsoft Word

6

service

administrative assistant

7

Microsoft

year experience

8

assistant

high school

9

time

computer skill

10

Excel

data entry

Adjectives

Keyword rank

Single-word adjective

Two-word compound adjective

1

administrative

email administrative

2

new

proven email

3

high

retail-proven

4

excellent

payable/receivable

5

daily

fast-paced

6

strong

excellent verbal

7

professional

administrative multiple

8

social

corporate appointment

9

general

general appointment

10

various

internal/external

Verbs

  1. trained
  2. solving
  3. including
  4. working
  5. looking
  6. leverage
  7. maintained
  8. scheduling
  9. handling
  10. managed

3. Project Manager: 886 resumes analyzed

Sections used

Standard, “must-have” resume sections:

  • Personal Information: 99.9% of resumes
  • Work Experience: 99.9%
  • Education: 97%
  • Summary or Objective: 94%
  • Skills: 93%

Additional resume sections:

  • Any additional section: 70%
  • Certificates: 36%
  • Languages: 31%
  • Software: 24% 
  • Additional Activities: 16%
  • Interests: 15%
  • Courses: 12%
  • References: 11%
  • Legal Clause: 5%
  • Licenses: 5%
  • Publications: 4%
  • Conferences: 3%

Top 15 most common skills

  1. Project Management: 187 (21%)
  2. Communication: 160 (18%)
  3. Leadership: 151 (17%)
  4. Microsoft Office: 146 (16%)
  5. Microsoft Project: 110 (12%)
  6. Problem Solving: 105 (12%)
  7. Time Management: 89 (10%)
  8. Risk Management: 68 (8%)
  9. Strategic Planning: 51 (6%)
  10. PMP Certification: 51 (6%)
  11. Salesforce: 42 (5%)
  12. Team Management: 42 (5%)
  13. Organization: 39 (4%)
  14. Negotiation: 38 (4%)
  15. Adaptability: 37 (4%)

Top project manager skills

Most important resume keywords: nouns, adjectives, verbs

Nouns

Keyword rank

Single-word noun

Two-word compound noun

1

project

project management

2

management

Microsoft Office

3

team

project manager

4

communication

time management

5

Microsoft

Microsoft Project

6

business

risk management

7

leadership

communication skill

8

skill

management professional

9

manager

process improvement

10

office

customer service

Adjectives

Keyword rank

Single-word adjective

Two-word compound adjective

1

new

cross-functional

2

English

internal/external

3

technical

large-scale

4

multiple

weekly-monthly

5

various

on-site

6

responsible

responsible new

7

internal

on time

8

high

long-term

9

professional

excellent verbal

10

effective

technical new

Verbs

  1. including
  2. managing
  3. solving
  4. planning
  5. working
  6. ensure
  7. using
  8. scheduling
  9. leading
  10. testing

4. Mechanical Engineer: 831 resumes analyzed

Sections used

Standard, “must-have” resume sections:

  • Personal Information: 99.9%
  • Education: 99.6%
  • Work Experience: 98%
  • Skills: 94%
  • Summary or Objective: 91%

Additional resume sections:

  • Any additional section: 85%
  • Languages: 49%
  • Software: 43%
  • Certificates: 37%
  • Additional Activities: 32%
  • Interests: 31%
  • References: 22%
  • Courses: 22%
  • Publications: 10%
  • Licenses: 9%
  • Conferences: 7%
  • Legal Clause: 6%

Top 15 most common skills

  1. SolidWorks: 260 (31%)
  2. Microsoft Office: 252 (30%)
  3. AutoCAD: 223 (27%)
  4. MATLAB: 179 (22%)
  5. Teamwork: 139 (17%)
  6. Leadership: 123 (15%)
  7. Communication: 115 (14%)
  8. Problem Solving: 113 (14%)
  9. ANSYS: 102 (12%)
  10. Project Management: 93 (11%)
  11. Time Management: 82 (10%)
  12. Microsoft Excel: 72 (9%)
  13. Adaptability: 41 (5%)
  14. Autodesk Inventor: 41 (5%)
  15. Microsoft Project: 40 (5%)

Top mechanical engineering skills

Most important resume keywords: nouns, adjectives, verbs

Nouns

Keyword rank

Single-word noun

Two-word compound noun

1

SolidWorks

Microsoft Office

2

engineering

project management

3

design

mechanical engineering

4

project

time management

5

management

communication skill

6

AutoCAD

mechanical engineer

7

skill

Autodesk Inventor

8

office

CATIA V5

9

mechanical

Team player

10

MATLAB

bachelor science

Adjectives

Keyword rank

Single-word adjective

Two-word compound adjective

1

English

true best

2

mechanical

higher secondary

3

technical

mechanical electrical

4

new

full-time

5

high

on-site

6

various

mechanical technical

7

different

cross-functional

8

Spanish

new technical

9

strong

technical mechanical

10

good

internal/external

Verbs

  1. using
  2. solving
  3. working
  4. engineering
  5. designed
  6. testing
  7. programming
  8. manufacturing
  9. including
  10. completed

5. Customer Service Representative: 649 resumes analyzed

Sections used

Standard, “must-have” resume sections:

  • Personal Information: 100%
  • Work Experience: 99%
  • Education: 96%
  • Summary or Objective: 95%
  • Skills: 94%

Additional resume sections:

  • Any additional section: 37%
  • Languages: 15%
  • References: 15%
  • Certificates: 9%
  • Interests: 9%
  • Software: 8%
  • Additional Activities: 7%
  • Courses: 3%
  • Licenses: 1%
  • Legal Clause: 1%
  • Conferences: 0.3%
  • Publications: 0.15%

Top 15 most common skills

  1. Customer Service: 152 resumes (23%)
  2. Communication: 146 (22%)
  3. Time Management: 104 (16%)
  4. Problem Solving: 95 (15%)
  5. Teamwork: 89 (14%)
  6. Leadership: 64 (10%)
  7. Adaptability: 62 (10%)
  8. Microsoft Office: 61 (9%)
  9. Multitasking: 50 (8%)
  10. Organization: 52 (8%)
  11. Salesforce: 46 (7%)
  12. Microsoft Word: 43 (7%)
  13. Microsoft Excel: 41 (6%)
  14. Computer Skills: 34 (5%)
  15. Conflict Resolution: 33 (5%)

Top customer service skills

Most important resume keywords: nouns, adjectives, verbs

Nouns

Keyword rank

Single-word noun

Two-word compound noun

1

customer

customer service

2

service

time management

3

communication

communication skill

4

skill

Microsoft Office

5

management

high school

6

problem

service representative

7

time

Microsoft Word

8

Microsoft 

conflict resolution

9

sale

computer skill

10

school

years experience


Adjectives

Keyword rank

Single-word adjective

Two-word compound adjective

1

high

fast-paced

2

new

bilingual Spanish

3

excellent

internal/external

4

professional

excellent verbal

5

strong

full-time

6

English

excellent interpersonal

7

daily

responsible daily

8

Spanish

high new

9

positive

oriented professional

10

responsible

detail-oriented

Verbs

  1. solving
  2. work
  3. oriented
  4. providing
  5. handling
  6. maintaining
  7. including
  8. ensure
  9. organized
  10. completed

6. Business Analyst: 391 resumes analyzed

Sections used

Standard, “must-have” resume sections:

  • Personal Information: 100%
  • Work Experience: 100%
  • Education: 98%
  • Skills: 97%
  • Summary or Objective: 95%

Additional resume sections:

  • Any additional section: 73%
  • Certificates: 34%
  • Software: 34%
  • Languages: 28%
  • Additional Activities: 20%
  • Interests: 17%
  • Courses: 14%
  • References: 13%
  • Publications: 6%
  • Legal Clause: 6%
  • Conferences: 4%
  • Licenses: 2%

Top 15 most common skills

  1. SQL: 108 resumes (28%)
  2. Microsoft Excel: 73 (19%)
  3. Communication: 68 (17%)
  4. Problem Solving: 66 (17%)
  5. Project Management: 62 (16%)
  6. Microsoft Office: 53 (14%)
  7. Tableau: 41 (10%)
  8. Analytical (Thinking) Skills: 37 (9%)
  9. Microsoft Visio: 35 (9%)
  10. Python: 31 (8%)
  11. JIRA: 29 (7%)
  12. Business Analysis: 27 (7%)
  13. Process Improvement: 26 (7%)
  14. Teamwork: 23 (6%)
  15. Agile: 22 (6%)

Top business analyst skills

Most important resume keywords: nouns, adjectives, verbs

Nouns

Keyword rank

Single-word noun

Two-word compound noun

1

business

project management

2

management

business analyst

3

analysis

business analysis

4

project

microsoft office

5

data

communication skill

6

SQL

business process

7

skill

data analysis

8

Microsoft

Microsoft Excel

9

process

process improvement

10

requirement

time management

Adjectives

Keyword rank

Single-word adjective

Two-word compound adjective

1

new

cross-functional

2

technical

internal/external

3

English

functional technical

4

financial

strong analytical

5

functional

weekly/monthly

6

analytical

higher secondary

7

various

fast-paced

8

multiple

business strong

9

different

various new

10

effective

daily/weekly

Verbs

  1. using
  2. solving
  3. testing
  4. working
  5. including
  6. based
  7. ensure
  8. reporting
  9. gathering
  10. creating

7. Data Scientist: 377 resumes analyzed

Sections used

Standard, “must-have” resume sections:

  • Personal Information: 100%
  • Work Experience: 99.7%
  • Education: 99%
  • Skills: 96%
  • Summary or Objective: 89%

Additional resume sections:

  • Any additional section: 80%
  • Certificates: 36%
  • Additional Activities: 35%
  • Languages: 32%
  • Software: 28%
  • Interests: 20%
  • Publications: 19%
  • Courses: 15%
  • References: 10%
  • Conferences: 9%
  • Legal Clause: 6%
  • Licenses: 3%

Top 15 most common skills

  1. Python: 174 resumes (46%)
  2. SQL: 141 (37%)
  3. R: 129 (34%)
  4. Machine Learning: 125 (33%)
  5. Statistics: 64 (17%)
  6. Tableau: 60 (16%)
  7. Data Visualization: 53 (14%)
  8. Spark: 37 (10%)
  9. Microsoft Excel: 31 (8%)
  10. SAS: 31 (8%)
  11. Deep Learning: 30 (8%)
  12. Java: 27 (7%)
  13. Data Analysis: 26 (7%)
  14. Problem Solving: 26 (7%)
  15. Natural Language Processing: 21 (6%)

Top data science skills

Most important resume keywords: nouns, adjectives, verbs

Nouns

Keyword rank

Single-word noun

Two-word compound noun

1

data

machine learning

2

Python

data science

3

machine

data visualization

4

SQL

deep learning

5

learning

data analysis

6

analysis

data scientist

7

science

big data

8

university

data mining

9

statistic

language processing

10

visualization

scikit-learn


Adjectives

Keyword rank

Single-word adjective

Two-word compound adjective

1

statistical

data driven

2

English

statistical predictive

3

predictive

convolutional neural

4

new

large-scale

5

various

cross-functional

6

different

internal/external

7

natural

predictive statistical

8

technical

demonstrated valuable

9

deep

quantitative qualitative

10

neural

random forest

Verbs

  1. learning
  2. using
  3. based
  4. programming
  5. developed
  6. solving
  7. worked
  8. modeling
  9. working
  10. created

8. Civil Engineer: 356 resumes analyzed

Sections used

Standard, “must-have” resume sections:

  • Personal Information: 99.7%
  • Education: 99.7%
  • Work Experience: 97%
  • Skills: 92%
  • Summary or Objective: 90%

Additional resume sections:

  • Any additional section: 86%
  • Languages: 63%
  • Software: 42%
  • Certificates: 39%
  • Courses: 28%
  • Additional Activities: 26%
  • Interests: 24%
  • References: 24%
  • Licenses: 14%
  • Conferences: 6%
  • Publications: 6%
  • Legal Clause: 6%

Top 15 most common skills

  1. AutoCAD: 156 (44%)
  2. Microsoft Office: 84 (24%)
  3. Leadership: 49 (14%)
  4. Communication: 46 (13%)
  5. Project Management: 44 (12%)
  6. Revit: 44 (12%)
  7. Primavera: 38 (11%)
  8. Microsoft Excel: 37 (10%)
  9. Teamwork: 34 (10%)
  10. Microsoft Project: 33 (9%)
  11. SAP2000: 29 (8%)
  12. Problem Solving: 27 (8%)
  13. Time Management: 21 (6%)
  14. ETABS: 18 (5%)
  15. Adaptability: 12 (3%)

Top civil engineering skills

Most important resume keywords: nouns, adjectives, verbs

Nouns

Keyword rank

Single-word noun

Two-word compound noun

1

project

Microsoft Office

2

AutoCAD

project management

3

management

civil engineering

4

engineering

civil engineer

5

civil

communication skills

6

engineer

Primavera P6

7

skill

time management

8

office

site engineer

9

construction

Microsoft Excel

10

design

Microsoft Project

Adjectives

Keyword rank

Single-word adjective

Two-word compound adjective

1

English

on-site

2

technical

autonomous high

3

civil

English good

4

structural

weekly/monthly

5

good

residential/commercial

6

new

higher secondary

7

concrete

daily/weekly

8

high

structural concrete

9

Spanish

daily/monthly

10

different

civil structural

Verbs

  1. work
  2. using
  3. solving
  4. including
  5. engineering
  6. completed
  7. drawing
  8. surveying
  9. planning
  10. ensure

9. Accountant: 344 resumes analyzed

Sections used

Standard, “must-have” resume sections:

  • Personal Information: 100%
  • Education: 99%
  • Work Experience: 98%
  • Skills: 97%
  • Summary or Objective: 90%

Additional resume sections:

  • Any additional section: 65%
  • Languages: 36%
  • References: 21%
  • Software: 19%
  • Certificates: 19%
  • Interests: 17%
  • Courses: 14%
  • Additional Activities: 11%
  • Legal Clause: 5%
  • Conferences: 4%
  • Licenses: 3%
  • Publications: 1.5%

Top 15 most common skills:

  1. Communication: 67 (19%)
  2. Microsoft Excel: 53 (15%)
  3. Microsoft Office: 47 (14%)
  4. Time Management: 44 (13%)
  5. Quickbooks: 38 (11%)
  6. Teamwork: 35 (10%)
  7. Microsoft Word: 29 (8%)
  8. Problem Solving: 28 (8%)
  9. Accounts Payable/Receivable: 26 (8%)
  10. Adaptability: 26 (8%)
  11. Attention to Detail: 23 (7%)
  12. Financial Analysis: 19 (6%)
  13. Leadership: 18 (5%)
  14. SAP: 18 (5%)
  15. Analytical Skills: 15 (4%)

Top accountant skills

Most important resume keywords: nouns, adjectives, verbs

Nouns

Keyword rank

Single-word noun

Two-word compound noun

1

accounting

time management

2

skill

communication skill

3

management

Microsoft Office

4

Microsoft

Microsoft Excel

5

communication

customer service

6

account

Microsoft Word

7

Excel

business administration

8

Office

accounting software

9

university

computer skill

10

accountant

years experience

Adjectives

Keyword rank

Single-word adjective

Two-word compound adjective

1

financial

payable/receivable

2

English

monthly financial

3

monthly

professional new

4

new

technical professional

5

payable

internal/external

6

professional

financial monthly

7

excellent

weekly/monthly

8

daily

excellent financial

9

good

excellent verbal

10

receivable

annual financial

Verbs

  1. including
  2. work
  3. accounting
  4. solving
  5. oriented
  6. ensure
  7. organized
  8. preparing
  9. reporting
  10. seeking

10. Product Manager: 344 resumes analyzed

Sections used

Standard, “must-have” resume sections:

  • Work Experience: 100%
  • Personal Information: 99.7%
  • Education: 96%
  • Skills: 91%
  • Summary or Objective: 90%

Additional resume sections:

  • Any additional section: 75%
  • Certificates: 36%
  • Software: 31%
  • Languages: 29%
  • Interests: 22%
  • Additional Activities: 22%
  • Courses: 10%
  • References: 8%
  • Publications: 8%
  • Conferences: 6%
  • Licenses: 2%
  • Legal Clause: 2%

Top 15 most common skills

  1. Agile: 67 resumes (19%)
  2. Product Management: 57 (17%)
  3. Project Management: 55 (16%)
  4. Leadership: 52 (15%)
  5. JIRA: 44 (13%)
  6. Scrum: 37 (11%)
  7. Problem Solving: 36 (10%)
  8. Strategic Thinking: 34 (10%)
  9. Communication: 32 (9%)
  10. SQL: 30 (8%)
  11. User Experience: 28 (8%)
  12. Data Analysis: 26 (8%)
  13. Microsoft Office: 25 (7%)
  14. Google Analytics: 20 (6%)
  15. Product Strategy: 18 (5%) 

Top product manager skills

Most important resume keywords: nouns, adjectives, verbs

Nouns

Keyword rank

Single-word noun

Two-word compound noun

1

product

product management

2

management

project management

3

project

product development

4

team

Microsoft Office

5

business

data analysis

6

development

Google Analytics

7

customer

Agile methodology

8

analysis

product strategy

9

Agile

product owner

10

strategy

time management

Adjectives

Keyword rank

Single-word adjective

Two-word compound adjective

1

new

cross-functional

2

English

internal/external

3

technical

new technical

4

functional

data-driven

5

responsible

fast-paced

6

internal

responsible new

7

multiple

new user

8

various

functional technical

9

mobile

new internal

10

analytical

technical user

Verbs

  1. testing
  2. including
  3. using
  4. working
  5. managed
  6. solving
  7. based
  8. leading
  9. created
  10. developed

Methodology and Limitations

For this study, we extracted data from over 2,000,000 resumes created with our resume builder. To keep the data more relevant, we limited the analysis to downloaded resumes only (assuming those were actually used in the job search). For the analysis of the most common entries, skills, and keywords, we further limited the sample to one document per user—leaving us with 133,289 resumes.

The data for the most popular professions comes from documents in which a user’s job title exactly matches the job title discussed (i.e. for a given resume to be included in the “software engineer” resume analysis, the job title on the resume must read “Software Engineer” with no permutations such as “Senior Software Engineer” etc.).

The data was collected anonymously. For non-discriminatory reasons, users’ age and gender was not disclosed in resumes. This limits a detailed demographic analysis.

The accuracy of the data regarding the most common skills and foreign languages is limited by users’ inconsistent spelling and phrasing. We tried to include all possible variations of skill descriptions (e.g. “MS Office” or “Microsoft Office”, as well as “Spanish” or “Spanish: Fluent,” etc.), but certain instances might have been omitted. The percentages denoting the most common skills and foreign languages listed by users might be underestimated by up to 0.5.

The data regarding the most contextually-relevant keywords (nouns, adjectives, and verbs) for particular professions has been extracted using the automated TF*IDF algorithm. Certain sets of compound words might not reflect the natural use of language since the TF*IDF algorithm has been programmed to ignore some of the most commonly used stop words (e.g. “or,” “a”,” “the,” “with,” etc.).

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Michael Tomaszewski, CPRW
Michael is a career expert and a Certified Professional Resume Writer. With his extensive knowledge of the job market, he provides practical advice and strategies for navigating the recruitment process and advancing your career.
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