In a recent study carried out by researchers Joanna Lahey and Emily Johnson, “post-high school training and education, like from a professional training program or a college, are main factors in determining if a woman would secure an interview.”
Unemployment today has risen up to 9% and most of all, women are having difficulty securing a gainful employment, particularly if they are making a re- entry to the workforce subsequent to a long absence. This encouraged researchers Lahey and Johnson to carry out a résumé audit. “The point of this research was to find out which resume attributes are considered significant by potential employers of working-class women coming back to the workforce,” according to the researchers.
According to the study, Lahey and Johnson came up with roughly 8,000 different résumés which they later submitted pairs of résumés that were randomly categorized to 3,996 hiring firms across US. The firms chosen represented a range of industries such as manufacturing, sales, law firms, services and health care. Of course all included entry-level jobs that needed up to at least a year of post-high school education in addition to experience. The researchers observed at the effects of one’s age, vocational training, job-related experience, other non-work related activities and span of gaps in employment history. What they discovered was rather unexpected:
Employment-related experience included on a résumé doesn’t increase the likelihood of an applicant to secure an interview: Although these results were “varied and statistically irrelevant.” Employers showed more interested in education compared to previous employment experience.
Including activities outside of work also doesn’t necessarily increase the possibility of securing an interview: Surprisingly, this seemed to contrast across geographic regions. For instance, “in Massachusetts, volunteerism poises an important positive effect on one’s résumé, while sports is statistically irrelevant. On the contrary, in Florida, sports initiated a positive effect on the possibility of securing an interview, whereas volunteerism has no important effect,” according to the researchers.
Showing a gap in employment history between jobs doesn’t affect any odds an applicant will secure an interview: This finding in reality runs counter to what most résumé coaches advise their clients in relation to employment gaps. Contradictory to what researchers expected would happen, “showing a gap in employment history has nearly no effect on the likelihood an applicant will receive an interview ca