HR Statistics 2025: Resume Writing, Job Search, Recruiting & More

A complete, clear, and comprehensive overview of the human resources statistics for the year 2025. Here, you will find all the information in one place, summarized just for you. 

Keep on reading if you want to see the trends and figures for hiring, recruiting, job searching, and more. 

Are you looking for a new job, and you want to know your chances? Are you wondering if your current company follows the HR trends? Or are you a recruiter interested in knowing the summarized state of the market?

If you answered yes to any of these, just scroll down. All the crucial information follows in a simple, structured way.

In this article, you will find:

• statistics about job interviews and resumes;
• overview of the key data about job search, unemployment, and diversification of the job market;
• data about recent graduates entering the work field;
• highlights of the most important trends which shape the HR field today,
• And beautiful graphs to go along with it!

General HR statistics overview for 2024/25

• In October 2024, the average working week for all employees in the US was at 34.3 hours (Statista).
• The median length of stay with a current employer is 3.9 years in January 2024 (US Bureau of Labor Statistics).
• 40% of Americans reported they work between 41 to 50 hours per week (Kickresume 2024 survey).
• Nearly two-thirds (62%) of Americans didn't use all of their paid time off in 2024 (Sorbet PTO Report 2024).
• Only 58% of civilian workers in the lowest-earning 25% have access to paid sick leave, compared to 95% of workers in the highest-earning 25% (US Bureau of Labor Statistics).
• 84% of civilian workers in the second 25% have access to paid sick leave.
• 88% of civilian workers in the third 25% have access to paid sick leave.
• 45% of employees in America have side jobs to earn extra money (Zippia.com).
• 67% of respondents feel more positive about their professional future now than they did just a few years ago (Kickresume 2025 survey).
• 75% of workers will consist of GenZ and Millenials by 2025 (legaljobs.io). 
• An average American changes their job around 12 times per life (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
• 67% of asked people claimed that one of the most important factors, which makes their job enjoyable, is having a friend as a colleague (pewresearch.org).
• 60% of American workers claim that they're able to sustain a healthy work-life balance (Zippia.com).

Job search statistics overview for 2025

• On average, it took people about 6 months (or 26 weeks) to find a job in 2024, roughly a month longer than it did during the post pandemic hiring boom in early 2023 (The Wall Street Journal).
• At the end of September 2024, there were 7.5 million advertised job openings in the US (Statista.com).
• There are 118 applicants per job offer on average. Out of these, only up to 22% of applicants get chosen for the first round of interviews. One leaves with a job (legaljobs.io).
• If you decide to apply for a job in a corporate, the number of applicants per position is even higher — around 250 (Zippia.com).
• 91% of employers look for employees with experience (National Association of Colleges and Employers).
• The key information for job seekers during the search is the height of salary (67%), followed by the offered benefits (63%) (Netsuite.com).
• 60% of people found their current jobs via their network, not online (Indeed.com). 
• In most cases (67%), what motivates people to accept a job offer is the salary. This is followed by offered benefits (63%) and by a convenient job location (59%) (Netsuite.com).
• Approximately 70% of the workforce worldwide consists of passive talent, while the remaining 30% comprises active job seekers (LinkedIn).

Resume statistics overview for 2025

• On average, the CV that you have worked so hard on is being screened by a hiring manager for only 6–8 seconds (cardinalstaffing.com).

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• 69% of resumes consist of between 200 to 400 words (Kickresume).
• 70% of successful resumes included a resume summary, with the average length of 57 words (Kickresume 2024)
• The most common additional resume section is “Languages”. 30% of people include it on their resumes (Zety.com). 
• Only 37% of resumes include a “Resume objective”(Kickresume).
• Overall, one must send out between 30 and 50 resumes before being successful at getting hired (Zety.com).
• A grammar mistake is seen as a deal-breaker by 77% of recruiters (legaljobs.io).
• 44% of resumes included “filler words”(Kickresume).

While most people try to filter the information on their CVs, so it does not exceed one page, this is no longer required.

• 77% of companies would not pick an applicant with a resume that is only a page long (Zety.com).
• Furthermore, there is a 2.9x big chance of being selected if the resume is two pages long (Zety.com).
• 45% of job applicants don't accompany their resumes with a cover letter (Kickresume).

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Interview statistics overview for 2025

• On average, candidates are called for an interview 2.5 weeks after the application deadline (standout-cv.com). 
• The global average time to hire is 44 days, which is up from 31 days in 2023 (SHRM).
• If 9 weeks have passed without receiving an answer, the chances of getting a job drop to only a 3% success rate (Indeed.com). 
• On average, companies call 6 candidates for an interview (standout-cv.com). 
• In other words, on average, only 2% of all job applicants are selected for an interview (standout-cv.com). 
• While an average phone interview tends to last between 15 and 40 minutes, a standard in-person one ranges from 45 to 90 minutes (Indeed.com).

Unemployment & job loss statistics for 2025

• The unemployment rate edged down to 4.0 % in January 2025 (US Bureau of Labor Statistics).
• In January 2025, 21.1% of all unemployed people are the long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) (US Bureau of Labor Statistics).
• 33.5% of unemployed people were unemployed for less than 5 weeks
• 28.3% of unemployed people were unemployed for 5 to 14 weeks
• 17% of unemployed people were unemployed for 15 to 26 weeks
• Just over 8% of people with disabilities were unemployed in January 2025 (US Department of Labor). 
• Every year, 35% of workers leave their job because they found a new position elsewhere (netsuite.com).
• Around 30% of new employees leave their job within the first 6 months (BambooHR).
• The number 1 reason for quitting is low pay (Society for Human Resource Management).
• 80% of workers stated that a reason behind high levels of stress in the workplace was bad communication (financesonline.com).

Fresh graduates employment statistics for 2025

We all know that being a recent graduate looking for the first real full-time job is no fun. In 2024, the year marked by recession, inflation, and big-tech layoffs, this was even more true. And what does it mean going into 2025?

• In May 2024, about 4.5 percent of recent college graduates were unemployed in the United States (Statista).
  • The average time for finding a job after graduation is half a year (University of Washington).
  • According to recruiters, entry-level jobs are the hardest ones to fill (LinkedIn).
• 23% of Harvard graduates (from Spring 2024) are still unemployed 3 months after graduating (Wall Street Journal).
• As of 2024, 52% of college graduates are working in jobs that don't require higher education
  • 75% of them remain in this situation for a full decade after college (Forbes).
• Recent male graduates (81.1%) have lower unemployment rates compared to female graduates (78.2%) (Gitnux).
• More than 66% of 2024 graduating seniors engaged in an internship experience during their college career (National Association of Colleges and Employers).
  • 57% of interns reported they were paid for their internship (NACE’s 2024 Student Survey)
  • On average, paid interns had more job offers pre-graduation than unpaid interns and non-interns (NACE’s 2024 Student Survey)

This clearly shows that in 2025 internship is no longer an advantage but an absolute necessity. Having experience when looking for a job is simply crucial.

Diversity in HR overview for 2024/25 

Gender: 

• In January 2025, 68% of men ages 16 and older were employed, compared with 57.5% of women (U.S. Department of Labor).
• Men outnumbered women at every level in 2024 (McKinsey & Company).
• Women today make up 48% of entry-level positions.
• Women today make up 29% of C-suite positions, compared with just 17% in 2015.
• Women's representation at the manager level has grown just two percentage points compared with 2015.
• For every 100 men promoted to manager, only 81 women receive the same promotion (McKinsey & Company).
• Women in the EU earned on average 13% less than their male counterparts in 2024 (European Comission).
• In comparison, women in the US earned on average 15% less than their male counterparts in 2024 (Pew Research Center).
• Compared to cisgender people, transgender people are twice as likely to experience unemployment (thetaskforce.org).
• Furthermore, 44% of transgender employees are underemployed (thetaskforce.org).
• Companies, which have higher rates of gender diversity, tend to be more than 20% more successful in comparison to those companies, which have lower rates of diversity (netsuite.com).

Ethnicity: 

• In January 2025, the unemployment rate in the US for White workers was 3.5% and 6.2% for Black workers (US Bureau of Labor Statistics).
• The Black worker unemployment rate is 1.8x higher than that for White workers.
• Black workers are still nearly twice as likely as White workers to be unemployed
• In January 2025, the unemployment rate in the US for Asian workers was 3.7% and 4.8% for Hispanic workers (US Bureau of Labor Statistics).
• White men with bachelor's degrees make nearly 30% more than Black men with bachelor's degrees (FPWA).
• Women of color occupy just 7% of C-suite roles today, which is just a four-percentage-point increase since 2017 (McKinsey & Company).
• A 2024 study where identical resumes were sent out found that resumes with White-sounding names received 9% more callbacks than those with African-American-sounding names. (A Discrimination Report Card – University of California, Berkeley and the University of Chicago).
• That number rose to roughly 24% for the worst offenders.
• Companies that employ more ethnically diverse employees are doing better than the less diverse companies — by 36% (netsuite.com).

AI & Online activities related to HR for 2025

• In 2025, 11% of employees reported that they personally lost their job due to AI, and another 10% know someone who had (Kickresume 2025).
• 37% of respondents feel the need to actively learn AI-related skills in 2025 to remain relevant in their field (Kickresume 2025).
• 79% of job seekers rely on online resources during their job search (Ranktracker).
• 46% of Gen Z has secured a job or internship through TikTok (Zety 2025).
• LinkedIn is a favorite HR tool on the other side of the employment chain, too. 90% of company recruiters use LinkedIn when they are selecting and background-checking new potential employees (Zippia.com).
• According to a survey, 41% of employers indicate that they may not interview a candidate if they are unable to find them online (LinkedIn). 
• On average, when looking for a job, people scroll through 7.6 job search portals (Glassdoor).
• 60% of asked recruiters admitted to investigating job candidates online and on their social media profiles (Zety.com).
• Almost 66% percent of job recruiters negatively judge evidence of alcohol consumption on a candidate’s social media profile (Zety.com).

Freelance work statistics overview for 2025

There has been significant growth in freelance work in the U.S. over the past couple of years. 

• In 2024, the United States had 76.4 million registered freelancers (Statista). For comparison…
• In 2017, there were 57.3 million registered freelancers.
• In 2022, there were 70.4 million registered freelancers. 
• It is projected that in 2027, 86.5 million people will be freelancing in the United States and will make up 50.9 percent of the total U.S. workforce (Statista). 
• Roughly 31% of freelancers earn an annual income of $75,000 or more (demandsage.com).
• On average, freelancers who do delivery earn the least — only around $17 per hour (AppJobs).
• Contrastingly, freelancers who work as programmers earn the most out of all freelancers ($60–$70 ) (demandsage.com).

Summary

We can notice a few key positive tendencies that will influence the HR world in the upcoming months of 2025:

• the growing focus on the mental and physical health of employees;
• the growth in diversity of workers;
• remote work and working from home have been established as a norm, and despite the initial reservations, they have proven to lead to results, growth in productivity, and success;
• rise of GenZ in the workforce;
• online job searching platforms and social media are becoming even more popular means of successfully finding a job;
• increase in the number of freelancers;

On the other hand, the HR field still has its weaknesses in 2025:

• for every 100 men promoted to manager, only 81 women receive the same promotion
• people of color in America still have significantly higher rates of unemployment and underemployment;
• together with other minorities and women, it is harder for them to work in leadership positions;
• young people who are entering the job market struggle: it takes several months on average before being able to find a job, and even then, recent graduates are often underemployed.