Executives do not create better résumés

If asked who creates better résumés, an entry-level person, a manager, or an executive, the overriding assumption would be executives. The assumption would be based on the success of executives in their career and therefore they must also create better résumés. However, our research shows something different.

After analyzing thousands of résumés and jobs to see how well they fit the job, we found entry-level or staff positions and executives have similar job fit ratings. In fact, they scored 50% higher than all other groups. Our analysis showed applicants for Director, Vice President, COO, and other senior positions did not create better résumés than Customer Service Specialist, Development Associtate, or Receptionists. However, the group that outperformed all others was first-level managers.

 

Job Fit Importance

We chose job fit to be the best way to evaluate résumés. Job Fit is the numerical rating of a résumé to the job opening. Applicant Tracking Systems, the software used by hiring companies to screen candidates, use a job fit rating to determine which candidates to interview. Job boards, hiring companies, and recruiting firms use Job Fit ratings. With thousands of applicants per job, in most cases job fit rating is the first critical filter job seekers need to pass to even be reviewed by a recruiter, HR rep or hiring manager.

 

Why are managers so much better?

In our analysis, we found first level managers scored on average much higher than other groups. We believe this is because they have more job searching experience and insight into the process. They are switching jobs more frequently than executives and they have more work experience than entry-level positions. For these reasons, they demonstrate a higher job fit rating.