6 Ways Resumes Are Changing: How to Adapt to the New Breed

This ain’t your mama’s resume.

Resumes are changing. A new study uncovered changes that have evolved as the work landscape has been turned upside down in the past five years.

LiveCareer researchers looked at a variety of factors in more than 50,000 resumes — from job titles to soft skills — and found job candidates have gotten creative and, perhaps, a bit more demanding.

Why Resumes Are Changing

“Over the last five years, the employment landscape has changed, and so has the way job seekers write resumes,” said LiveCareer Career Expert Eric Ciechanowski. “During the period we studied, we experienced a global pandemic – which took a huge toll on some industries while others thrived – so it doesn’t come as a huge surprise that job seekers have changed their approach to resume writing to meet the changes in the job market.”

Here’s the lowdown and how it might affect your hiring practices.

Resume Sections

Some things have remained the same — and the five most common sections of resumes is one of them: personal information, education, work history, skills, and professional summary or objective.

But 66% of job seekers added at least one more section to their resumes. The most common:  

• certificates (10% in 2018 to 18% in 2023)
• languages (6% to 14%), and
• additional accomplishments (9% to 17%). 

What they aren’t listing: references. In 2023, just 2% of resumes had them listed.

Phrases

Not surprisingly, the use of the phrases “remote” and/or “hybrid” rose in the past five years — a clear indication of the pandemic’s impact on location-related preferences. 

In 2018, just about 2% of resumes included “remote” and/or “hybrid.”  

In 2023, more than 7% contained that terminology. 

Soft Skills

Skills will always be critical elements of resumes. But in the last five years, the top hard and soft skills on resumes have shifted.

For instance, time management shot to the top of the list of soft skills candidates mention, up from position No. 7 in 2018. Critical thinking appeared as the third top skill in 2023, although it was absent in 2018. 

“The transition in the most cited soft skills perhaps reflects a nuanced response to the skills needed to succeed in a remote/hybrid environment,” says Ciechanowski.

Hard Skills

For hard skills, coding languages now dominates: 70% of the hard skills fell under coding, such as Python and JavaScript. In 2018, just 30% were IT-specific skills. 

These skills usurped more general hard skills like data management and data analysis. Project management dropped from the top spot in 2018 to position No. 5 in 2023. 

“The growing dominance of IT and software-related skills suggests a heightened reliance on technology across various industries,” says Ciechanowski.

Job Titles

Some job titles are new and others are booming. Some titles are declining or becoming obsolete.

“This mirrors the shifting dynamics of industries, showcasing the heightened emphasis on financial analysis, customer service and dynamic roles like project management in the contemporary job market,” notes Ciechanowski.

However, the two most common job titles in 2018 — financial analyst and customer service representative — held onto their top positions five years later.

But server and administrative assistant, which were in the top 10 most common job titles in 2018, fell off the list in 2023. Meanwhile, newcomers included recruiter and account manager.

Length

To note, job candidates have become long-winded in their resumes over the past five years. The average word count of resumes increased from 312 words in 2018 to 503 words in 2023 — a 61% increase. It’s made the two-page resume the norm.

So the future of hiring might mean more time reading for HR pros!