(MENAFN- EIN Presswire) EINPresswire/ -- A shaky job market and the rise of AI-powered candidate processing has made 2025 a difficult year for many Americans on the job hunt. According to CareerPlug, less than 5% of role applicants are receiving invitations to interview in 2025. To cut through the confusion about what recruiters really want, Novorésumé recently surveyed over 200 recruiters and HR professionals across the United States to give job seekers an edge in 2026.

Here are the key takeaways from the Novorésumé team's findings:
- 1-Page Resumes Won't Cut it in 2026; 2-Page Resumes are the New Standard. Contrary to popular belief, only 21.6% of HR pros consider 1-page resumes their ideal length, while 68.6% prefer 2-page resumes. This extended format allows job seekers to more properly highlight their relevant experience, skills, and passion, and in turn gives recruiters twice the insight while they select the best candidates for interviews.

- Got Resume Gaps? Many Job Seekers do, and HR Pros Get it. In 2025, resume gaps are more common than they were for previous generations of job seekers, and these days less than 7% (6.37%) of HR pros and recruiters see them as a“major red flag”. Instead, about 7 out of 10 (69.61%) feel totally comfortable with resume gaps in their top candidates, as long as these gaps are well-explained. Taking ownership of resume gaps and confidently addressing them in cover letters and resumes may make all the difference for those seeking to land roles in 2026!

- Short Job Tenure is Still a Red Flag, but Not a Deal-Breaker for 2026. There are many reasons that a job seeker may have less than a year of experience with several different companies, but it's important for them to know that a pattern of short tenure leads 85.2% of HR pros to be hesitant. However, 58.9% of these recruiters insist that candidates may still be a“good hire” if their experience is well-tailored to the role and they align with the company culture.

- If A Job Seeker Doesn't Know their Soft Skills, Neither will the Recruiter. Over a third (34.4%) of recruiters and HR pros like when candidates include a soft skills section, and automated resume readers are shown to favor them as well while checking for keywords! However, Novorésumé Co-Founder and CMO, Andrei Kurtuy, cautions that,“In 2026, you can't just say 'I have leadership skills' without backing it up. All soft skills mentioned in your resume should be backed up with practical experiences on how you applied this skill in real-life.”

- Hobbies Belong on Social Media, Not on a Resume. Sharing an interest in baking may seem like a way to appear more authentic, but recruiters confirm that including hobbies on a resume will harm a job applicant's chances more than it will help. 2 in 5 HR pros (41.9%) agree that hobbies“have no place” on a resume, making it a great section to remove for 2026 applications.

“Recruiters look at your resume for an average of 7 seconds before deciding if they're interested,” said Novorésumé Co-Founder and CMO, Andrei Kurtuy.“You not only want to make them interested, but you want them to look at your resume and say 'That's the person we're looking for!' For 2026, focus on what they want and convince them you have just that.”

About Novorésumé:
Novorésume is a resume building platform designed to help job seekers around the world find career success. With its research-backed resume templates, personalized feedback features, and innovative AI-supported tech, Novorésumé is actively helping over 16 million users land roles at top-tier companies like Apple, Tesla, Google. Novorésumé is a trusted source for job industry updates and expert advice, and also offers a“Career Blog” to support website users in their job search.
If you are interested in exploring Novorésume's vast collection of data-driven resume templates and career support resources, please visit the official website to get started for free: href="" rel="external nofollow" target="_blank">novoresume.com/resume-templates

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