Job Search Trends Report Q1 2025

Introduction

Huntr’s Job Search Trends – Q1 2025 distills millions of data points into one clear-eyed view of today’s hiring landscape. Drawing on 636k job postings, 55k resumes, and a 600-respondent survey, we follow every step of the job search; from the moment candidates hit “save” on a LinkedIn posting to the day an offer is logged in their Huntr board.

The result is a 360-degree benchmark of how fast employers hire, which sites actually generate callbacks, where salaries are rising (and for whom), what resume choices move the needle, and how job seekers themselves feel about a market shaped by AI and remote work.

Whether you’re a candidate plotting your next move, a career advisor guiding clients, or a talent team recalibrating strategy, the report that follows translates raw activity into practical, evidence-based insights you can use right now.

Highlights of This Report

Your quick-scan overview of the standout findings from Q1 2025

Highlights for Job Search Insights

• Faster than you’d guess: Half of Huntr users secure their first job offer in 58 days; the first interview typically arrives in 22 days.
• Rapid funnel: A single opportunity moves from application → interview in 6 days and interview → offer in 8 days.
• Focused effort wins: Most candidates submit five or fewer applications per week. The sweet spot for landing an offer is 20–39 total applications, showing that a targeted strategy beats scatter-shot mass-applying.

Highlights for Job Search Sites

• LinkedIn dominates volume: It supplies 76% of saved jobs.
• Hidden gems: Government Jobs (13.6%), HelloWork (5.4%), and Wellfound (5.3%) deliver far better callback rates.
• ATS landscape: Greenhouse, Workday, and Lever represent roughly 60% of postings for our job seekers, while newcomer Ashby HQ has nearly doubled its share in six months.

Highlights for Job Market Analysis

• Big paychecks at the top: CIO roles advertise a median midpoint near $281k, leading all titles.
• Education premium: Jobs that require a master’s degree pay about 15% above the overall market median.
• Skill premiums: “Product intuition” commands the highest salary boost (+163 %), while Swift and Go top the language pay charts.
• Size matters: Firms with 1,000+ employees post the richest median salaries (~$129k), out-paying micro-startups by ~14%.
• Geography shift: Washington State edges out California for the highest advertised tech pay.

Highlights for Resume Insights

• Depth over length: Interview-winning resumes add 15% more detail to education blurbs and trim skills lists by ≈5%.
• Quality bullets: Successful resumes use slightly fewer work bullets (-3%) but make each one longer and richer (+2%).
• LinkedIn is essential: 65% of successful candidates include a LinkedIn link; other social links have negligible impact.
• Page count myth-busted: Both interviewed and non-interviewed resumes average ≈ 1.7 pages; conciseness plus substance wins.

Highlights for Job Search Survey Insights

• Emotional rollercoaster: 40% of seekers feel exhausted, yet 30% remain hopeful; ghosting is now “often” for 30% of respondents.
• Scam alert: 41% have applied to a job scam; women report higher incidence.
• Work-location split: 40% favor hybrid and 39% prefer fully remote, with executives rating flexibility as “extremely important.”
• AI skepticism: 67% prefer human interviews, even though 83 % say mastering AI at work is “essential.”

How We Gathered This Data

Data for Job Search Insights

We mined the anonymized activity logs from Huntr’s Job Tracker—every application, stage change, and offer recorded by users between October 2024 and March 2025. The Q1 slice alone covers 635,851 job entries created by 19,918 seekers, giving us precise timestamps to measure time-to-interview, offer velocity, and weekly application cadence.

Data for Job Search Sites

Whenever a user saves a posting, Huntr captures the source URL. For Q1 2025, that produced ≈635k saved jobs, which we grouped by domain to rank boards like LinkedIn or Government Jobs, and by ATS domains to see which systems dominate. Response rates come from users moving a saved job into “Interview” or beyond, an on-platform action that signals an employer callback. Our metrics in this section key off the root domain of each saved posting (e.g., linkedin.com, indeed.com). This approach cleanly captures stand-alone boards but under-represents applicant-tracking systems (ATSs) that embed their pages inside a company’s own URL; for example, a Greenhouse job served at careers.acme.com/… is attributed to Acme rather than to Greenhouse. As a result, site-level popularity and callback rates favor public boards and may understate the reach of ATS platforms embedded within corporate domains.

Data for Job Market Analysis

To avoid double-counting identical roles posted across multiple boards or refresh dates, we deduplicated every listing at the job-title × company level. In Q1 2025, that yielded 367,361 unique job-company combinations from the original 635k saved jobs. All salary, degree, skill-premium, and location analyses start with this de-duped set, then narrow further (e.g., to the 91k that include a disclosed pay range). By basing every metric on one record per employer role, we ensure our pay and demand numbers reflect distinct openings rather than repeated advertisements.

Data for Resume Insights

From 55,065 resumes created in Q1 (62% job-tailored, 38% base) and 15,293 unique authors, we extracted structured fields; sections used, bullet counts, character lengths, and social links. To link resume quality with outcomes, we focused on the 33,455 job-tailored files tied to tracked applications, comparing the 1,068 that led to a self-reported interview to the rest.

Data for Job Search Survey Insights

Finally, we fielded a 21-question web survey in March 2025, collecting 608 complete responses across industries, seniorities, and geographies. The survey supplements platform telemetry with human sentiment on scams, AI adoption, ghosting, and salary expectations.

Dataset Composition

Before diving into the findings, it’s important to understand who and what sits behind the numbers. Most headline metrics in this report focus on Q1 2025 (January 1 – March 31). Still, any quarter-over-quarter trendlines or “growth since last quarter” call-outs extend back to October 1, 2024 to give a consistent six-month comparison window. Data streams include platform telemetry (jobs, applications, resumes), parsed job ads, and a 600-respondent survey.

Geographic Representation

• North America dominates. The United States alone accounts for 42.8% of all jobs and 78.3% of resumes with location data.
• Under-represented regions. Africa, the Middle East, and most of Asia (except India) contribute only a sliver of listings and resumes.
• Implication: Hiring and pay insights are most reliable for the U.S. and Canadian markets and may not generalize globally.

Industry and Job-Function Mix

• Tech-heavy sample. Information Technology, Industrials, and Consumer Discretionary together supply 46.8% of all jobs.
• Role concentration. Data Engineer, Software Engineer, and Product Designer top the title charts, while education, healthcare, public-sector, and trades roles are sparse.
• Implication: Trend signals are strongest for tech and industrial hiring; other fields should view the data as directional only.

Experience-Level Distribution in Resumes

• Entry-level: 43.4%
• Senior-level: 32.5%
• Mid-level: 24.0%
• Implication: Behaviors such as resume length or section usage may tilt toward early-career norms.

Salary-Data Coverage

• Sparse pay ranges. Only 31.2% of job records include any salary information.
• Range clustering. Among those that do, the $100k – $150k band is most common.
• Implication: Compensation findings rest on a limited subset and should be treated as indicative, not exhaustive.

Company-Size Representation

• Balanced but enterprise-skewed. Large firms (1,000+ employees) post 32.9% of jobs, while micro-businesses (1–10 employees) supply 12.3%.
• Implication: Aggregate hiring trends may lean toward enterprise practices, especially in salary transparency and ATS adoption.

Data Integrity and Disclaimer

All insights in this report are based on anonymized user activity and self-reported survey data from Huntr’s platform. Metrics and examples involving employers or platforms reflect aggregate user trends and are not endorsements or critiques of those companies. While care has been taken to ensure data accuracy, all findings should be interpreted as indicative, not definitive.

Job Search Insights

Time to First Offer

Half of job seekers receive their first offer in 58 days or less

Using data from our job tracker, we can calculate the time it takes our job seekers to find a job. When a user logs their first offer, we calculate the number of days from when their Huntr board was created, providing a good proxy for how long their search took. We found that the median time from the start of the search until the first offer received was 58 days. 75% of users receive their first offer within 94 days, and 90% within 125 days.

Individual Job Timeline

Median time from application to interview is 6 days

We also looked at individual job opportunities and their timeline through the job search funnel. The median time it takes for a job to go from an interview to an offer is 8 days. The median time from application to interview is 6 days, with 75% hearing back within 15 days, and 90% hearing back within 38 days.

Time to First Interview

The median time to first interview is 22 days

Finally, we looked at the time it takes job seekers to get their first interview. The median time is 22 days. 75% of people logged their first interview within 56 days, and 90% within 103 days.

Number of Applications Per Week

Job search pace is slower than expected

Looking at the histogram of weekly applications, we see that half of Huntr users submit 5 or fewer applications each week. Three-quarters stay at 11 or fewer, and 90 percent cap out at 22. In short, most job seekers on Huntr are focusing their efforts on a carefully chosen set of roles rather than “applying everywhere.”

Applications Created Before Offer Received

How Many Applications Job Seekers Need Before Getting an Offer

There’s a lot of buzz about how many applications it actually takes before you finally land a role. The most popular buckets were 20-29 applications (15% of offers received) and over 100 applications (19% of offers received). This contrast shows a polar opposite approach. Applying to over 100 jobs might mean you’re applying to anything without a strategy, and 20-29 is a more thoughtful approach to the job search. In second place, we found 10-19 job applications. In the third spot, 30-39 job applications. In general, it seems like applying to between 10 and 39 jobs will likely land you a role.

Job Search Sites

With nearly 636k jobs saved in Q1 through our job tracker, we’ve gained unique, ground-level insight into how different job search sites are actually serving job seekers. Since our data is self-reported, you can consider the metrics below as lower bounds; not every user returns to update their progress, like whether they landed an interview.

Most Popular Job Sites

LinkedIn and Indeed Dominate in Popularity

From October 2024 to March 2025, LinkedIn’s share of all jobs Huntr users saved grew from 75% to 76%, peaking near 80% in January. Indeed remained a distant second at 6–8%, while Dice slid from 9% to below 4% as tech hiring cooled. Dice's cooling may reflect changes in user preferences or changes in the tech hiring landscape. Most other boards—including ZipRecruiter, Glassdoor, and niche sites like Built In and Wellfound—each held ≤ 2% share, leaving only about 5% to the entire “other” category. The data show job seekers gravitating even more heavily toward LinkedIn, consolidating their search activity on a single dominant platform.

Job Search Sites Responsiveness

These Job Boards Actually Lead to Responses

Certain job sites have higher response rates than others based on user self-reporting. We consider a 'response' as a user moving the job to the interview stage or further in their job search process. That means, if you applied for a job on a particular site, you've heard back from that site at a certain rate. Some job sites have higher response rates than others. By leaning into the job sites that land you interviews, you'll be more likely to find your next role faster.

LinkedIn is the most popular job site by a landslide, but it only has a response rate of 2.33%. Indeed is the second most popular job site, with a response rate of 4.7%. While Dice is the third most popular job site, it has the lowest response rate across the top ten, according to the sample of Huntr users, with only 0.19% of candidates receiving responses from there. It's possible this reflects user behavior or the nature of the roles applied to during this period. ZipRecruiter is in fourth place in terms of popularity, with a response rate of 1.86%. The fifth site is Glassdoor, which has a response rate of 4.76%. In sixth place is Welcome to the Jungle with a 3.98% response rate. Next are Wellfound (5.33%), Simply Hired (0.22%), Built In (1.62%), and Join Handshake (4.2%). Government Jobs has the highest response rate at 13.55%, followed by HelloWork at 5.36%, suggesting that these platforms may be worth prioritizing in your job search strategy.

Top Companies Responsiveness

How Many Days Does it Take for Top Companies To Respond to Your Application

We’ve also compiled the length of time it takes a company to respond to an application. We found that Amazon was one of the most popular sites people applied to, and they responded to applications within 18.71 days according to this specific data sample. Google took just under two weeks, with 13.92 days. Capital One took over a month to respond to applications, with 31.90 days. IBM was another popular company people applied to, and they heard back within an average of 23.75 days. Those applying to Tek Systems (14.72 days), JP Morgan Chase (21.67 days), Deloitte (31.14 days), Snowflake (15.71 days), TikTok (15.53 days), Salesforce (11.04 days), Microsoft (6.52 days), and Meta (5.23 days).

Popular Applicant Tracking Systems

These Are The Top ATS in Q1 2025

The chart above presents a comprehensive six-month analysis of Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) identified in our user data from October 2024 through March 2025. This visualization reflects the percentage of jobs saved into our system originating from each ATS platform, providing valuable insights into which recruiting systems are most frequently encountered by our users. Our data reveals a concentrated market where three platforms—Greenhouse, Workday, and Lever—consistently dominate, together accounting for approximately 50-60% of all saved job postings. Greenhouse maintains the leading position throughout the period, though its share shows a gradual decline from 28.6% in October to 23.5% by March. Workday holds steady as the second most prevalent system, with roughly 17% of saved jobs consistently flowing through their platform. Meanwhile, smaller platforms like Ashby HQ demonstrate notable growth, increasing from 6.3% to 11.3% of saved jobs over the six months.

This distribution highlights both the entrenched position of established enterprise ATS solutions and the gradual emergence of newer platforms in our users' job search activities. Understanding these trends is crucial for optimizing our platform to better integrate with the most common application systems our users encounter in their job search journey.

* Go here for more information on how this data was calculated

Resume Insights

Resume Success Factors

This report analyzes data from 33,455 job-tailored resumes created in Q1 2025, comparing those that led to self-reported interviews (1,068) against those that didn't (32,387). Success in this context is defined as a resume that resulted in an interview, as logged by users in our job tracker system. While the actual number of interviews is likely significantly higher than reported, as many users don't consistently log their interview status, the patterns identified still provide valuable insights into effective resume characteristics.

Our analysis reveals that successful resumes are distinguished not by overall length, but by strategic depth in key areas. Interviewed candidates showed more detailed education descriptions, more years of experience, and higher rates of LinkedIn inclusion, while non-interviewed candidates tended to list more skills and certifications. This difference in approach between confirmed successful resumes and others highlights that employers appear to value quality professional narratives over extensive skill listings - a distinction that can meaningfully impact interview outcomes.

Education Section

Longer-but-concise education blurbs correlate with higher interview rates

Adding even one or two extra lines about coursework, honors, or thesis topics appears to help: resumes that reached the interview stage averaged 78 characters in their education descriptions versus 68 characters for others—a 15% lift. The same resumes also listed a slightly larger number of education entries (2.07 vs 1.98). Together, the data suggest that giving recruiters a little more context about your studies makes a measurable difference.

Certification Section

Over-listing certifications hurts more than it helps

Successful resumes contained 17% fewer certifications on average (0.52 vs 0.63). Stacking every badge you’ve ever earned seems to dilute focus rather than impress.

Skills Section

Leaner skills sections outperform longer laundry lists

Resumes that won interviews listed 24 skills on average, versus 25.5 for those that did not. The small but consistent 5% reduction implies that trimming marginal or redundant skills can sharpen the message.

Achievements

Fewer bullets, richer detail: the winning balance in work experience

Interview-winning resumes averaged 4.52 bullets per job (-3% vs others) but packed 165 characters into each bullet (+2%). The pattern suggests recruiters favor depth, clear impact, numbers, and context over sheer bullet count.

Work Experience

More roles and longer cumulative experience align with interview success

Interviewed resumes list slightly more distinct roles (4.81 vs. 4.69) and show a higher median total tenure (10.17 vs. 9.83 years), suggesting that recruiters favor candidates with both breadth of positions and sustained experience.

Resume Length by Page Count

Total page count shows no meaningful impact on interview outcomes

Both groups keep within the typical 1–2 page range (1.73 pages for interviewed resumes versus 1.71 for those not interviewed), indicating that staying concise yet complete is sufficient.

Summary

Summary sections are more common and slightly more concise in successful resumes

Interview-winning resumes include a summary 91.95% of the time (vs. 89.96%) and keep that summary a bit shorter on average (479 vs. 489 characters), indicating that a focused, well-crafted summary helps capture attention.

Projects

Shorter project descriptions help highlight core achievements

Resumes that led to interviews use more concise project blurbs, averaging 65 characters versus 76, suggesting that brevity in project detail makes key accomplishments stand out.

Social Links

Platform-specific social links and interview success

LinkedIn shows the largest gap—successful resumes feature it 64.6% of the time versus 60.6%—while GitHub differs by only 0.1 pp, Twitter by 0.6 pp, and Dribbble usage is effectively zero in both groups. This suggests that maintaining a strong LinkedIn presence has the greatest impact, whereas secondary networks matter far less.

Contact Info

Contact details are table stakes and don’t differentiate success

Nearly all resumes list email (≈99%) and phone (91–93%); with such universal adoption, basic contact info alone doesn’t drive interview outcomes.

Resume Sections and Length

Resume Section Popularity Overall

LinkedIn Reigns, But Location Disappears: The New Resume Standard is Digital

Our analysis looked at 15,293 Huntr users who created a base resume between January 1 and March 31, 2025. By checking whether each resume contained text in key fields, we measured how many job-seekers actually completed each section. Contact details and core content dominate: more than 90% include Work Experience and Education, while 94% supply an email address. Optional or portfolio-style sections trail far behind, just 26% add Projects and barely 11% list a GitHub profile, suggesting most users focus on essentials first and showcase extras only if they feel truly relevant.

Resume Section Popularity by Job Category

Resume Section Popularity Reveals Key Industry Trends

This comprehensive analysis of resume section usage across nine major job categories in Q1 2025 reveals both universal patterns and industry-specific preferences in professional self-presentation.

While core elements like Contact Information (96-99%), Work Experience (93-98%), and Education (91-97%) maintain consistently high usage across all sectors, significant variations emerge in specialized sections—technical fields prioritize Projects (53-57%) and GitHub profiles (25-33%), Information Security professionals emphasize Certifications (47%), and Creative & Design candidates prominently feature portfolio Links (51%). These differences highlight how job seekers strategically adapt their resumes to industry expectations, with LinkedIn usage showing particular variation (26-61%) based on sector networking norms, while Twitter and Dribbble remain largely unused across all fields.

Number and Length of Work Experience By Target Seniority

Experience Requirements Increase Dramatically for Senior Roles, While Job Count Grows Steadily

The data reveals a clear progression in both median years of experience and median number of work experiences across career levels. For job seekers targeting entry-level positions, the median is 3 years of experience spread across 3 different jobs, while mid-level candidates show 6 years across 4 jobs, and senior-level positions demand 14 years of experience over 5 jobs. These metrics were calculated from over 14,000 resumes created in Q1 2025, with each user's most recently created base resume analyzed for their declared target experience level, work history length, and number of distinct positions.

The findings illustrate two key patterns: first, the years of experience grow exponentially between levels (doubling from entry to mid-level, then more than doubling again to senior), while the number of work experiences increases more gradually (by just one job per level). This suggests that as careers progress, professionals tend to stay longer in each position, with senior roles valuing depth of experience over job quantity. For entry-level positions specifically, a deeper analysis of job titles reveals that almost 20% of these early career experiences are internships, with assistant roles and junior positions also making significant contributions to building the foundation of professional experience.

How do entry-level resumes have 3 jobs?

• Entry-Level ≠ No Experience: The data clearly shows that "entry-level" in practice means having some relevant experience, with 3 jobs being the typical amount
• Internships Matter: Nearly 20% of experiences for these job seekers are internships, highlighting their importance as a stepping stone
• Diverse Experience Types: Entry-level candidates build their resumes through a mix of internships, part-time work, assistant roles, and junior positions
  

Number and Length of Achievements By Target Seniority

Senior-Level Resumes Show Longer, More Numerous Achievement Bullets

This analysis examines achievement documentation patterns across different experience levels in Q1 2025 resumes. The data was gathered by analyzing the most recent base resumes from users, extracting work experience sections, and calculating both the count of achievement bullets and their character length. For each experience level (entry, mid-level, and senior), we measured the median values to identify typical documentation patterns, with a substantial sample size of over 300,000 work experiences.

The findings reveal a clear progression in resume achievement documentation as candidates advance in their careers. Entry-level positions typically include 3 achievement bullets per work experience, while both mid-level and senior positions show a consistent median of 4 bullets. Additionally, there's a gradual increase in the length of achievement descriptions across seniority levels, with entry-level achievements averaging 115.8 characters, mid-level at 119.7 characters, and senior-level at 122.5 characters. This suggests that as professionals advance, they not only include more achievement points but also provide slightly more detailed descriptions of their accomplishments.

Resume Page Count by Experience

Two-Page Resumes Dominate Across All Career Levels, While Resume Length Increases with Experience

This data represents resume length distribution across three experience levels from Q1 2025, analyzing 10,814 unique resumes submitted through our platform. For each experience category (Entry, Mid, and Senior level), we calculated both the raw count and percentage of resumes containing one page, two pages, three pages, four pages, or more than four pages, providing insight into how resume presentation evolves throughout career progression.

The analysis reveals that two-page resumes are the standard format across all experience levels, though their prevalence peaks at mid-career (63.6%) before slightly declining for senior roles (55.3%). We observe a clear trend of increasing resume length with career advancement: one-page resumes steadily decrease from entry level (36.3%) to senior level (12.2%), while three-page resumes show the opposite pattern, growing from just 5.5% for entry-level positions to 23.2% for senior roles. Most notably, longer formats (4+ pages) are extremely rare for entry-level positions (0.9%) but become significantly more common at the senior level (9.2%), suggesting that as professionals progress in their careers, they naturally expand their resumes to showcase their growing experience and accomplishments.

Number of Skills

Most Resumes Include Between 11-26 Skills, with 17 Being the Median

This analysis examines the number of skills listed on resumes across our platform during Q1 2025. The data represents 12,235 unique users who had at least one skill listed on their resume, with each user counted only once (using their most complete resume if multiple versions existed). The metrics were calculated by analyzing the length of the skills section for each resume, capturing the 25th percentile, median, and 75th percentile values to understand the typical distribution.

The findings reveal that job seekers typically include between 11 and 26 skills on their resumes, with a median of 17 skills.

Work Tenure and Experience Years

Work Tenure by Job Title

Senior Consultants Stay Longest: Median Job Tenure Varies Dramatically Across Roles

This analysis examines median job tenure across different professional roles based on resume data collected in Q1 2025. The methodology involves analyzing work experience entries from unique user resumes, calculating tenure in months for each position, and including only job titles with more than 50 unique users to ensure statistical reliability. The data represents actual work durations reported by professionals, with current positions calculated up to the present date.

The findings reveal significant variations in job stability across professions, with consulting positions showing the highest staying power (Senior Consultants at 7.9 years, Consultants at 7.4 years). Management roles across industries demonstrate strong retention (6-7 years), while technical positions show moderate tenure periods (Software Engineers at 3.4 years). Entry-level and internship positions predictably show the shortest tenures (1.4-2.2 years). These patterns suggest career progression pathways and potentially reflect both industry norms and the evolving employment landscape where longer tenures are becoming less common in certain sectors.

Total Experience Years by Target Title

Job Seekers Targeting C-Suite Roles Have 20+ Years of Experience on Their Resumes

This chart presents the median years of total work experience found in resumes targeting specific job titles, based on data collected from over 40,000 job seeker resumes in 2024 and 2025. The analysis examines each resume's combined work history, calculating the total years of experience across all positions and grouping by the job title the resume is targeting. For users with multiple resumes targeting the same role, only their maximum experience value was counted to avoid duplication.

The data reveals a clear career progression pattern, with job seekers targeting executive roles like COO and Director of Engineering showing more than 20 years of total experience, while those targeting entry-level positions and internships have less than 3 years. Technical roles display varying experience profiles, with job seekers targeting specialized positions like Principal Software Engineer (16.5 years) demonstrating significantly more experience than those pursuing roles like Software Engineer (4.5 years) or Data Scientist (5 years). This visualization offers valuable insights for career planning, helping users understand the typical experience levels associated with different career paths across the employment spectrum.

Education in Resume

Top Fields of Study by Target Role

Computer Science Dominates Technical Fields While High School Diplomas Remain Valuable Entry Points for Support Roles

This analysis examines the educational backgrounds most frequently cited by job seekers, categorized by target job titles. The data was collected from resumes submitted through our platform, where we analyzed which fields of study appeared most frequently for each job category. Each resume was counted only once per job category, and the results were then ranked to identify the top five educational pathways for nine core career tracks.

The visualization reveals stark differences in educational requirements across industries. Technical roles like Software & IT and Data & Analytics strongly favor Computer Science degrees. In contrast, customer-facing and administrative roles often list High School Diplomas as their top credential, suggesting these positions serve as accessible entry points to the workforce. Business Administration demonstrates remarkable versatility, appearing prominently across multiple job categories, including Sales & Business Development, while specialized fields like Graphic Design and Accounting dominate their respective domains of Creative & Design and Finance & Accounting.

Skills in Resume

Most Popular Skills by Target Title Category

Python Dominates Tech Resume Skills in 2025, While Specialized Tools Define Industry-Specific Expertise

This report analyzes the most frequently mentioned skills on resumes submitted through our platform in Q1 2025, categorized by target job field. The data represents the percentage of resumes targeting specific job categories that mention each skill, providing insight into which capabilities job seekers believe are most valuable for different career paths. For example, when a resume indicates it's targeting a Software & IT position, we can see that 63.6% of these resumes mention Python, making it the most commonly listed skill in that category.

The analysis reveals several key patterns across industries. Technical programming skills, particularly Python, have expanded beyond traditional software roles to become highly valued in Data & Analytics (82.8%), Information Security (46%), and even Product Management (27.6%). While each field has its specialized tools—Figma dominates Creative & Design (72.6%), Salesforce leads in Sales (35%), and Project Management tops Operations roles (45.2%)—data skills like SQL and Excel appear consistently across almost all categories. Soft skills remain important in administrative and customer-facing roles, with Time Management and Communication frequently appearing, but even these fields show increasing technical requirements, reflecting the continued digital transformation across all industries.

Python Rules Software Engineering Resumes, with JavaScript and Version Control Close Behind

Python dominates Software & IT resumes in 2025, appearing in nearly two-thirds (63.6%) of all resumes targeting this field. The JavaScript ecosystem remains strong with JavaScript itself (49.9%) ranking second, while related technologies like TypeScript, React, and Node.js all appear in the top 15. Version control and DevOps skills are clearly essential, with Git (47.4%) ranking third and Docker (36.2%), AWS (30%), and Kubernetes (17.4%) all making strong showings.

Data Science Skills Hierarchy Revealed: Python and SQL Essential for Over 75% of Data Professional Resumes

Python has become virtually mandatory for Data & Analytics professionals, appearing on an overwhelming 82.8% of resumes, while SQL follows closely at 77.6%. Visualization tools round out the top-tier skills with Tableau (52.1%) and Power BI (44.5%) both appearing on nearly half of all resumes. The Python data ecosystem is well represented with Pandas (38%), NumPy (33.8%), and Matplotlib (27.4%) all appearing in the top 10, while machine learning libraries like Scikit-Learn (23.8%) and TensorFlow (21.9%) make strong showings.

Figma Dominates Design Tool Landscape with UX Process Skills Essential for Modern Designers

Figma has established clear dominance in the design tool landscape, appearing on 72.6% of Creative & Design resumes—nearly double the next most common skill. The entire UX design process is well represented with Wireframing (40.1%), Prototyping (38.2%), and Usability Testing (35.3%) all ranking in the top five. While Adobe's Creative Suite (39.8%) remains important, individual Adobe applications like Photoshop (30%), Illustrator (26.8%), and InDesign (20.8%) appear less frequently than process and methodological skills.

Product Managers Blend Technical, Design, and Management Skills with Jira Leading the Way

Product Management resumes in 2025 reflect the hybrid nature of the role, combining project tools, technical capabilities, and design skills. Jira leads as the most mentioned skill (48%), while SQL (41%) and Figma (35.4%) round out the top three, showing the importance of both data analysis and design understanding. Stakeholder Management (27.1%) appears prominently, highlighting the crucial interpersonal aspect of product roles, while Agile methodologies (20.1%) and Scrum (19.1%) emphasize the importance of modern development processes.

Google Analytics Leads Marketing Skills as Data and Design Capabilities Define Modern Marketers

Google Analytics tops Marketing & Advertising resumes (41.3%), reflecting the data-driven nature of modern marketing, while Canva (31.9%) ranks second, highlighting the importance of visual content creation. Digital marketing fundamentals like SEO (21.9%), WordPress (21.7%), and Google Ads (17.7%) all appear in the top 10, alongside marketing platforms such as HubSpot (19.9%) and Salesforce (17.4%). The presence of both creative tools and analytics capabilities demonstrates the dual creative/analytical nature required in today's marketing landscape.

Salesforce Dominates Sales Tech Stack with Traditional Sales Techniques Still Highly Valued

Salesforce leads Sales & Business Development resumes (35%), highlighting the critical importance of CRM systems in modern sales processes. Traditional sales techniques remain highly valued, with Cold Calling (20.4%), Lead Generation (16.9%), and Prospecting (11.8%) all appearing in the top 20. The importance of efficiency is evident with Time Management (20.4%) tied for second place, while the presence of data analysis skills (13.3%) shows the growing analytical component of sales roles.

Security Professionals Combine Programming, Network Analysis, and Specialized Security Skills

Python tops Information Security resumes (46%), demonstrating the programming foundation of modern security work, while network analysis tools Wireshark (35.4%) and Nmap (22.7%) both rank in the top five. Security operations skills are highly represented with Incident Response (28.8%), Network Security (21.7%), and SIEM (21.2%) all appearing prominently. The diversity of skills—spanning programming languages, network tools, security operations, and compliance (ISO 27001, 14.7%)—reflects the multidisciplinary nature of security work in 2025.

Administrative Roles Emphasize Soft Skills and Microsoft Office Proficiency

Time Management leads Administrative & Clerical resumes (31.3%), reflecting the organizational nature of these roles, while Microsoft Office (28.2%) ranks second, emphasizing the continued importance of productivity tools. Soft skills dominate with Communication (21.5%), Attention to Detail (21.5%), Problem Solving (20.6%), and Customer Service (20.6%) all ranking highly. The presence of Data Analysis (13.5%) suggests an increasing analytical component to administrative work in 2025.

Customer Service Skills Blend Traditional Service Capabilities with Growing Technical Requirements

Customer Service naturally tops Customer Support resumes (36.3%), while Time Management (25.8%) ranks second, highlighting the importance of efficiency in service roles. The category shows a blend of traditional service skills like Communication (16.5%), Conflict Resolution (15.4%), and Troubleshooting (14.6%) alongside increasingly technical capabilities like SQL (15.4%) and Python (13.5%). This mix reflects the evolving nature of customer support, which now often requires both interpersonal and technical problem-solving abilities.

Project Management and Data Analysis Define Modern Operations Roles

Project Management dominates Operations & Logistics resumes (45.2%), appearing on nearly half of all resumes targeting this field. Data capabilities follow closely with Data Analysis (32.7%) and SQL (29.8%), ranking second and third, highlighting the increasingly analytical nature of operations work. Leadership skills (25%) and Process Improvement (22.1%) demonstrate the management and optimization focus of operations roles, while the presence of tools like Jira (22.1%), Tableau (21.2%), and Python (20.2%) reflects the growing technical sophistication of the field.

Finance Professionals Balance Data Skills with Traditional Financial Expertise

Finance & Accounting resumes show a relatively flat distribution of skills, with SQL (23.7%), Excel (23.1%), and Power BI (22.6%) forming a tight cluster at the top, highlighting the importance of data capabilities. Traditional financial skills remain important with Financial Modeling (16.7%), Financial Reporting (16.7%), and Financial Analysis (12.9%) all appearing in the top 15. The presence of visualization tools like Power BI and Tableau (19.4%) demonstrates the increasing importance of data presentation in financial roles.

Top Growing Skill Prevalence in Resumes By Target Job Title

Cloud Skills See Explosive Growth in Resumes Targeting Software Roles While Technical Skills Rise Across All Target Jobs

This report analyzes skills growth in resumes targeting different job categories during Q1 2025. The data compares the percentage of resumes mentioning each skill between early Q1 (Jan-Feb) and late Q1 (Feb-Mar), with the growth rate showing the relative increase in skill prevalence. For example, DynamoDB appears in 157.63% more resumes targeting Software & IT positions in late Q1 compared to early Q1, signifying job seekers rapidly adapting to perceived market demand for this skill.

The analysis reveals dramatic differences across target job categories. Resumes for Software & IT positions show the most volatile skill landscape, with cloud technologies like DynamoDB, CSS3, and FastAPI more than doubling in prevalence. Technical skills are increasingly added to resumes targeting traditionally less technical roles, with Python growing 48.61% in resumes for Product Management positions. Resumes targeting Data & Analytics roles show consistent growth in machine learning tools (TensorFlow, Scikit-Learn), while specialized tools appear more consistently in resumes for Marketing (Google Analytics) and Sales (Salesforce) positions, indicating more stable skill requirements perceived by job seekers in these fields.

Career Pathways

Top Career Progression Pathways

Professional Mobility Report Shows How Workers Navigate Career Ladders in Tech, Marketing, and Beyond

The dataset provides a comprehensive analysis of job transitions collected from user resumes created between October 2024 and April 2025. Using SQL, the analysis identified pairs of consecutive jobs in user work histories, calculating transition counts between job titles, average tenure in previous roles, and whether transitions occurred within the same company (internal promotions). The data was further enriched by categorizing job titles and identifying cross-category transitions.

The numbers show a clear pattern of ladder-climbing within the same craft. “Software engineer → senior software engineer” alone represents almost one-fifth of all moves, and similar title escalations for product managers, data analysts-to-scientists, and sales reps dominate the leaderboard.

Average Time in Career Progressions

The following charts offer a revealing look at career transition patterns across different professional fields, visualizing the average time professionals spend in various roles before advancing or changing positions. These visualizations highlight the distinct progression timelines that exist between industries, from the rapid advancement cycles in sales roles (where transitions typically occur within 6-18 months) to the more extended timelines in software engineering and product management (where senior positions often require 3-5 years of experience). Each chart maps the journey across different positions, with the left axis showing the starting role and the right axis displaying the destination role. The length of each bar represents the years spent in the previous position before making the transition.

Software & IT Career Progressions: Time in Previous Role

Data Analyst Career Progressions: Time in Previous Role

Sales Career Progressions: Time in Previous Role

Product Management Career Progressions: Time in Previous Role

Design Career Progressions: Time in Previous Role

Job Market Analysis

Salaries By Role

Top paying Job Titles

CIOs Lead the Pay Pack: Median Posted Salaries Hit ≈ $281K in Early 2025

Hiring data from Q1 2025 (January 1 – April 1) shows that employers are offering their richest compensation packages to executive-level tech leaders. Chief Information Officer postings top the list with a median midpoint salary of roughly $281,000, trailed by Senior Vice Presidents ($256,000) and other VP-tier roles ($240,000). High-level legal (General Counsel) and engineering leadership (Director of Engineering) also break the $230,000 mark. Because the ranking only includes titles with 20 or more postings, the snapshot highlights consistently in-demand positions where companies are willing to pay a premium this year.

Salaries By Education Requirements

Looking at 91k U.S. job ads published between January 1 and 31 March 2025 that disclosed an annual salary range and specified at least one required field of study, we isolated 148 majors with 50 or more postings and ranked them by the median of their salary midpoints (the average of each ad’s posted minimum and maximum).

Top Paying Degrees

Master’s Degrees Command the Biggest Pay Bump in Q1 2025 Job Market

Roles requiring a master’s degree stood out, averaging $166k—about $22k (15.3%) above the market-wide average—while doctoral-level roles followed closely at $164k (+14%). Jobs with no stated degree paid a modest 4.6% premium, suggesting skill-based hiring is still rewarding, but positions open to associate or high-school credentials lagged sharply, offering roughly 46% less than the average.

Lowest Paying Fields of Study

Choosing the Wrong Major Can Cost You $100,000 a Year

The floor of the pay table is anchored by creative and service-oriented disciplines: interior design roles advertise a $77.5k median midpoint, while social work follows at $77.7k—both roughly one-third below the market-wide median of $113k. Web-centered specialities (web development and web design) cluster just above $80k, and broader social-science fields hover in the low-$80k range.

Top Earning Fields of Study

STEM Fields Continue to Command the Biggest Paychecks

Students eyeing lucrative STEM careers should keep an especially close watch on robotics, machine learning, applied mathematics, artificial intelligence, and pharmacy. In Huntr’s Q1 2025 postings, these five math‑heavy disciplines soar above the market‑wide weighted median salary of $117.5k. Robotics tops the list at about $182k, followed by machine learning ($169k), applied mathematics ($152k). Each offers a salary premium of roughly 30% to 55% over the overall tech‑job benchmark, evidence that employers are still paying a marked premium for cutting‑edge engineering skills and deep quantitative expertise.

Salaries by Company Size

Salary By Company Size

Bigger Companies, Bigger Paychecks

The company size seems to play a role in what sort of salary you can expect.

Companies with 1,000+ employees offered the highest midpoint median salary at $127,500. Start-ups with 1–10 employees came in about 14% lower with a midpoint of $111,287. Mid-sized firms in the 251–1,000-employee bracket were surprisingly competitive, posting a midpoint median of $124,500—just a few thousand shy of the largest employers and ahead of smaller mid-sized businesses.

Salaries by Location

Top States by Salary

Tech Hubs Aren’t the Only Cities With Six-Figure Jobs

When looking at salaries across various states, Washington takes the lead with a median midpoint salary of $128,525. From there are California ($120,650), New York ($120,000), Nebraska ($115,000), and Virginia ($106,300).

This indicates that high-paying jobs aren’t just clustered around your standard tech or finance hubs, but they also show up in other areas where there are niche industries.

Salary Transparency in Job Postings

Most Transparent States

Washington leads in Salary Transparency

Huntr analyzed 34 U.S. states that each logged at least 500 tech‑job postings during Q1 2025 and measured how often those postings included any salary detail. Across the group, only about half of all listings were transparent (average ≈ 51%), but the regional spread is huge.

Washington tops the chart at 92 % disclosure a full ten percentage points ahead of second‑place Oregon, while most Southern and Mid‑Atlantic states hover below the 60% mark.

Salaries by Skill Requirements

Skills with Highest Salary Premium

“Product intuition” tops Q1 2025’s pay charts, commanding a 163% salary premium over the market-wide median

This analysis looks at how specific skills affected pay in U.S. job postings on Huntr between January 1 and March 31, 2025. For every skill that appeared in at least 25 listings, we compared the job’s median midpoint salary with the market-wide median of $122,500 to calculate a “salary premium.”

Skills tied to strategic product ownership and senior engineering leadership dominate the pay leaderboard. Product intuition tops the list with a 163% premium, followed by API products (+119%) and engineering leadership (+108%). All ten highest-premium skills relate to setting vision, guiding technology strategy, or managing complex product ecosystems; suggesting employers will pay substantially more for advanced decision-making and cross-functional leadership capabilities.

Top Paying Programming Languages

Python may dominate demand, but the highest advertised paychecks still go to Swift, Go, and Rust developers

Huntr’s snapshot for Q1 2025 spans 114k+ U.S. tech job postings that mention at least one programming language. Python is the undisputed workhorse, showing up in 21,874 postings, with SQL (13,489) and JavaScript (13,330) in distant pursuit.

When we look at pay, Swift comes out on top, narrowly ahead of Go and Rust, while JavaScript, C#, and R round out the lower end of the languages we analyzed.

Top Paying Design Tools

Most valuable design tools by average salary

Figma is the most in-demand design tool, appearing in nearly 5,000 job listings compared to Adobe Creative Suite, which only showed up in 1,899 listings. Despite its popularity, it doesn’t command the highest paying salary. Framer, known for its interactive prototyping, has an average salary of $149,508, Figma ($131,525), Webflow ($139,075), Adobe InDesign ($88,702), and Canva ($85,372).

The data shows that newer tools tend to have higher salaries compared to established ones. There also seems to be a salary premium for specialized knowledge rather than general-purpose tools, for example, UX/UI versus traditional graphic design. Tools that focus on collaboration also have high salaries, indicating the importance of team workflows.

Salaries by Company

Top Paying Companies

Of jobs added to Huntr with salary data, Netflix’s $410k median midpoint pay dwarfs every other tech employer

Huntr captured 1000s of U.S. tech job postings from 47 well‑known employers between January 1 and March 31, 2025, recording the advertised low‑end, high‑end, and midpoint pay for every posting.

Summarizing those salaries at the company level reveals a steep hierarchy: while most large firms cluster in the $180k – $230k median range, one outlier, Netflix, advertises a midpoint package that is over $400k, nearly doubling the next‑highest figure. It's likely that one job for Netflix was an outlier inflating the median ranges for this quarter.

Education Requirements

Degree Requirements by Job Title

Customer Support is the lone major field where most jobs (61 %) don’t demand a college degree.

Huntr’s Q1 2025 education‑requirements snapshot analyzes 87,970 U.S. job postings spread across 18 broad job categories. Overall, employers still lean heavily on formal credentials: 88% of postings ask for at least a bachelor’s degree, while 7.7% explicitly accept sub‑bachelor qualifications and 3.8% specify an advanced degree. The ten largest hiring categories above reveal where that pattern holds and where it breaks.

Field of Study Requirements By Industry

Before you dive in:
The figures below come from Huntr’s user-submitted job-posting dataset, and our user base skews heavily toward IT and tech roles. That means technical majors are likely over-represented compared with the broader labor market. Treat the percentages as directional rather than definitive.

The stacked-bar chart shows how often each field of study is mentioned in job requirements, broken down by the industry of the hiring company (not by the candidate’s current industry).
Technology fields of study dominate the job market across industries, with IT Services (42%), Internet Software (41.7%), and Semiconductors (40%) showing the highest demand. Meanwhile, business-oriented fields lead in consumer-focused sectors like Food Products (31%) and Consumer Goods (30.9%). Engineering specializations are most valued in Semiconductors (24%) and Aerospace (20.6%), while life sciences unsurprisingly peak in Biotechnology (10.1%). The tech-to-business ratio reveals telling industry priorities: Aerospace & Defense heavily favors technical skills (4.23x more tech than business), while Food Products prioritizes business knowledge (0.65x ratio). Financial sectors show increasingly balanced demand between technical and business skills, with banking approaching parity (27% tech vs. 27.5% business).

Top Fields of Study in Demand

Tech Talent Gap Widens: Computer Science Dominates Job Market with Over 25,000 Openings in Q1

The chart illustrates the most in-demand fields of study based on job posting data from the first quarter of 2025. Computer Science dominates the job market, with over 25,000 postings requiring this educational background, approximately 35% of all jobs specifying fields of study requirements. Engineering follows as the second most sought-after qualification with nearly 19,000 job listings, representing about 25.5% of the market. Business, Mathematics, and Statistics round out the top five, collectively accounting for over 31,000 job postings. The data reveals a strong preference for STEM disciplines, with technology and quantitative fields claiming eight of the top ten positions. This trend highlights the continued growth of the tech sector and data-driven decision-making across industries. Among non-STEM fields, Business shows the strongest demand, while fields like Marketing, Accounting, Communications, and Psychology still maintain a presence in the job market, albeit with significantly lower demand compared to technical disciplines. For job seekers, this data suggests that technical education continues to offer the most abundant employment opportunities in the current market landscape.

Fields of Study Growing in Demand

Fields with Significant Growth in Job Requirements

This analysis examines changing requirements for fields of study in tech job postings, comparing Q4 2024 to Q1 2025. The data shows the relative growth percentage for fields that experienced a significant percentage point increase (≥0.25%) in job listings mentioning these qualifications. Percentage point (pp) change is calculated by subtracting the Q4 percentage from the Q1 percentage. For example, Marketing appeared in 1.27% of job postings in Q4 2024 and rose to 1.84% in Q1 2025, resulting in a 0.57 percentage point increase. The relative change (44.88%) shows how large this increase is compared to the original value (0.57 ÷ 1.27 = 44.88%).

The findings reveal a clear shift toward business and communication skills in the tech industry. Marketing leads with the largest absolute increase, appearing in 0.57 percentage points more job postings (a 44.88% relative increase). Communications shows the highest relative growth at 54%, while other business-oriented fields like Accounting (46.77%) and Business Administration (24.62%) also show substantial gains. This suggests employers are increasingly seeking candidates with strong business acumen and communication abilities alongside technical expertise.

Fields of Study with Declining Demand

Fields with Significant Decline in Job Requirements

This visualization examines fields of study experiencing substantial decreases in demand across tech job listings, comparing Q4 2024 to Q1 2025. The chart displays relative decline percentages for fields with percentage point decreases of at least 0.25% in job requirements. To illustrate how these metrics are calculated: Statistics appeared in 3.09% of job listings in Q4 2024, falling to 2.11% in Q1 2025, representing a -0.98 percentage point change. The relative decline of -31.72% is calculated by dividing this change by the original percentage (-0.98 ÷ 3.09 = -31.72%), showing how significant the decrease is relative to its starting point.

The data reveals a striking decline in traditional technical requirements. Computer Science, while still the most commonly requested field overall, shows the largest absolute decline, dropping 4.58 percentage points (a 20.36% relative decrease). Other technical fields show even steeper relative declines, with Statistics falling by 31.72%, Information Systems by 28.63%, and Data Science by 28.44%. This trend suggests a significant shift in the tech job market away from general technical credentials toward more specialized skills or business-oriented qualifications.

Equivalent Experience Acceptance

Equivalent Experience Acceptance by Company Size

Smaller Firms More Likely to Value Experience Over Degrees, Data Shows

Based on Huntr's data, smaller companies show a notably higher willingness to accept equivalent experience instead of formal education credentials. Companies with 11-50 employees lead with the highest acceptance rate at 42.33%, followed closely by micro companies (1-10 employees) at 41.98% and small-mid-sized companies (51-200 employees) at 41.87%.

There's a clear declining trend as company size increases, with medium-sized companies (201-500 employees) accepting experience at 38.36%, while larger organizations (501-1000 employees) show the lowest acceptance rate at just 35.69%. This pattern suggests that job seekers without traditional educational qualifications might find more opportunities at smaller organizations, which appear more flexible in their hiring criteria. The nearly 7 percentage point difference between the most flexible and least flexible company sizes represents a significant variance in hiring practices across the corporate landscape in Q1 2025, potentially reflecting differences in HR policies, recruitment resources, or industry regulations between smaller and larger enterprises.

Top Job Categories Accepting Equivalent Experience

Degree or No Degree? IT Operations Leads the Field Where Experience Trumps Education

Based on the data presented in our Q1 2025 analysis, there's a revealing pattern in which job categories are most open to equivalent experience instead of formal education. IT Operations leads the field with a striking 76.92% of job listings accepting experience as an alternative qualification, followed by Community roles at 70.59% and Quality Assurance at 68.42%. Security positions, which likely encompass Information Security roles, show a substantial acceptance rate of 62.61%. What's particularly noteworthy is that even in the least flexible categories like Management (50.24%) and Design (51.33%), approximately half of all job postings still recognize the value of practical experience. This trend suggests a significant shift in hiring practices across tech and business sectors, with employers increasingly valuing demonstrated skills and real-world experience alongside traditional educational credentials. For job seekers without conventional degrees, fields like IT Operations, Community management, and Quality Assurance present the most promising opportunities, though the data indicates growing flexibility across all analyzed categories.

Artificial intelligence

AI Job Titles

"Machine Learning Engineer” makes up 22% of all AI‑tagged job ads in Q1 2025

Huntr’s Q1 2025 dataset contains 2,406 U.S. job postings whose titles explicitly mention artificial‑intelligence or machine‑learning roles. Demand is sharply concentrated: “Machine Learning Engineer” appears in 630 postings (22%), more than the next three titles combined, while the top‑ten titles together account for the majority of every AI‑tagged role this quarter. This tilt toward core ML engineering suggests employers are still hiring for foundational talent even as newer labels like “Generative AI Engineer” begin to show up.

AI Skills

AI Literacy Is No Longer Optional: 76,000+ Job Postings Now Demand AI

The chart data reveals a significant surge in AI-related job requirements during Q1 2025, with "AI" being the most prevalent keyword appearing in over 76,000 job postings across all preference levels. "Artificial Intelligence" and "Generative AI" follow as the second and third most common terms, each appearing in approximately 37,000 and 35,000 job listings, respectively. Notably, employers are increasingly listing AI skills as "Required" rather than just "Preferred" or "Nice to Have," with the "Required" category consistently representing the largest portion across all keywords. More specific terms like "AI integration" and "AI solutions" appear less frequently but still maintain a significant presence, while the shorthand "Gen AI" appears in the fewest job postings, suggesting employers prefer more formal terminology when describing AI skill requirements.

Industry

Industry Concentration in Our Top Cities

How we came up with our rankings
We introduce a novel approach to visualizing industry concentration across North American cities. Rather than relying solely on absolute job numbers, which can be skewed toward larger metropolitan areas, we've calculated the percentage of each city's total job listings that belong to specific industries.

The heatmap visualization ranks cities by their industry concentration, showing the top five locations where each industry represents the highest proportion of local job opportunities. This approach addresses several limitations in traditional job market data. First, it compensates for sampling biases in our user base, which may over-represent certain regions. Second, it normalizes for population differences, allowing smaller cities with strong industry presence to appear alongside major metropolitan areas.

It's important to note that high concentration doesn't necessarily indicate the highest number of available positions; rather, it signals where specific industries play a particularly significant role in the local economy.

West Coast Dominates Tech With Over 50% Industry Concentration While Charlotte Emerges as Surprising Multi-Industry Hub

The geographic distribution of industry-specific jobs reveals distinct patterns of concentration across North American cities. Our analysis identifies the top five cities with the highest concentration of jobs across ten major industries.

In the technology sector, the West Coast maintains its dominance with San Francisco, Seattle (52.9%), and San Jose (50%) capturing the highest percentages of Internet Software Services jobs.

Professional Services shows strong representation in the Southeast and Midwest, with Charlotte leading at 32.8%. Toronto emerges as a significant hub for Diversified Financial Services (13.5%), while Los Angeles leads in Media concentration (13.2%).

The data highlights regional specialization across industries, with cities like Charlotte showing strength in multiple sectors, including Professional Services and Banking. Job seekers should note these concentration patterns when targeting specific industries, as they indicate not only job availability but also potential for industry networking, career advancement, and specialized skill development within these geographic hubs.

Location Requirements

Location Requirements by Company Size

Smaller Companies Are More Remote-Friendly—and More Transparent

For job seekers targeting remote work, startups present the best odds. In our data sample, we found that there were 9,112 jobs for companies between 1-10 employees and that 32.39% of them hire remotely, compared to 17.21% onsite, and 12.21% hybrid. This company size was also the least likely to not mention location type, where only 38.19% listed no location.

Companies with 1,000 or more employees posted 16,592 jobs and were most likely to not disclose a location preference compared to companies of smaller sizes in our data sample. These companies were also most likely to list onsite at 18.68% compared to 15.65% hybrid and 16.74% remote.

As company size grew from 1-10 through to 11-50, 51-250, 251-1000, and 1000+, the number of job postings where location wasn’t disclosed also increased, showcasing a lack of transparency in job listings as companies grew in employee count. Hybrid roles increase slightly with size, ranging from 12.21% (1-10 employees) to 15.65% (1000+), which suggests that hybrid is more common in mid-to-large firms.

Location Requirements by Job Category

Customer-facing and creative roles lead the remote revolution, but STEM and finance jobs remain office-bound

Certain job categories were more likely to hire remote workers. Leading the way is customer support and service, where 36.3% of jobs are hired remotely. Following that is writing and editing with 29.6%, sales and business development with 28.3%, creative and design with 26.8%, and information security with 25.2%.

The job category with the lowest percentage of remote work was science and research at 9.1%. Media and Communications leads in hybrid roles, with 18.61% of jobs hiring for that work preference. The job category that was most likely to be hired on-site was administrative and clerical, which was 25.4% onsite. The rest of % not shown represent job postings without location requirement information.

Monthly Trends in Location Requirements

Nearly half of all new job postings now skip location requirements entirely as hybrid and on-site language fades

During the six-month window from October 2024 to March 2025, we tracked thousands of unique job postings on Huntr and grouped each one by its primary location requirement: Remote, Hybrid, On-site, or None Mentioned. Converting those counts to percentages shows a clear shift: the share of ads that say nothing at all about where employees must work climbed steadily from 44% to just under 50%, while both Hybrid and On-site language lost ground. Remote-only requirements remained surprisingly stable at roughly one-quarter of all postings.

Skills Requirements

Skill Requirement Count By Job Category

Software & IT roles demand the broadest skill sets—half of postings list 13 or more distinct skills

Our Q1 2025 dataset covers ≈ 23 job-title categories and measures how many distinct skills employers list in each posting. Looking at the 25th percentile (p25), median, and 75th percentile (p75) paints a clear picture of skill-set breadth:

• Software & IT leads the pack (p25 = 10 skills, median = 13, p75 = 16), closely followed by Information Security (10 | 12 | 15).
• “White-collar generalists” such as Executive & Leadership, Data & Analytics, and Creative & Design cluster around a median of 11 skills, with inter-quartile ranges (IQRs) of 3–5.
• At the other end, Transportation & Logistics shows the leanest requirements (p25 ≈ 4, median = 5, p75 = 7), while Security & Law Enforcement displays the widest spread (IQR = 8), hinting at divergent role complexity within that field. Overall, half of all postings list between 8 and 13 skills.

Top Skills by Company Size

Startups put React and TypeScript front and center, while Enterprises emphasize project management and Java

When comparing tech skills between startups and enterprises, there seem to be some notable differences.

Startups are more likely to list skills like React, TypeScript, JavaScript, CSS, and Figma than enterprise companies. There also seems to be more of a bias for Figma, Next.js, and Tailwind in startups that seem to be more considered with UI/UX and front-end development.

Enterprise companies are less focused on newer JS frameworks and tend to lag behind modern stacks. React was two times more prevalent in startup postings than enterprise ones.

In enterprise environments, there were more skills requirements around management and planning skills, such as project management. Also, enterprise companies were more likely to list data analysis at 1.28% compared to only 0.96% of startups.

Soft skills, such as communication skills, interpersonal skills, leadership, and presentation skills, tended to be more common in enterprise job listings. When it came to traditional tech skills like Java and Microsoft Office, these also appeared in enterprise job listings more commonly than in startups.

It suggests that enterprise companies prefer more structure, planning, and alignment across teams. Whereas startups can implement more modern frameworks more easily.

Top Skills by Job Category

Core tools still rule: SQL and Python dominate data jobs, Figma leads design, and strong communication tops every non-tech role in Q1 2025 postings

Our analysis zeroes in on six of the busiest job-family categories in Q1 2025 postings—Software & IT, Data & Analytics, Creative & Design, Product Management, Sales & Business Development, and Information Security. Together, they account for the vast majority of openings, and each shows a distinct “skill fingerprint”:

• Software & IT — Python (36.7%), JavaScript (28.3%), and SQL (26.6 %) headline requirements.
• Data & Analytics — SQL (66.8%) and Python (59.9%) are near-universal, with data-analysis know-how (54.2%) rounding out the top three.
• Creative & Design — Figma (58.9%) dominates, followed by collaboration tools (46.6%) and prototyping skills (36.1%).
• Product Management — Communication (39.2%), data analysis (31.45%), and project management skills (20.98%) underscore the role’s cross-functional nature.
• Sales & Business Development — Effective communication (48.2%) and sales acumen (39.1%) lead, while refined communication skills (24.2%) place third.
• Information Security — Communication skills (33.1%), incident-response expertise (30.5%), and cybersecurity knowledge (27.7%) form the core competency set.

These patterns indicate that, even amid rapid technological change, employers consistently prioritise a handful of category-defining tools and human skills.

Top Growing Skills Overall

“AI integration” posts the sharpest rise in Q1 2025, with its share of ads up 96%, while nine other skills—including “data-driven decision-making” and “product marketing”—gained at least 60% in market-adjusted growth

We compared ~600k unique job posts saved in Q4 2024 and Q1 2025, extracting skill requirements from each and calculating two normalised measures for every skill: job-market-adjusted growth—the percentage change (by quarter) in the skill’s share of all postings—and company-adjusted growth—the change (by quarter) in its share of distinct hiring companies. Below, we chart the 30 fastest-growing skills by job market-adjusted growth. “AI integration” nearly doubled its posting share (+96%) and rose 51% in company share, followed by “data-driven decision-making” (+87% job, +74% company), “product marketing” (+85%, +64%), and “sales enablement” (+76%, +53%). Overall, 30 skills recorded market-adjusted gains above 40%, signaling pronounced shifts in the relative demand mix since late 2024, independent of the ebb and flow of overall hiring volume.

Skills Gap

To map today’s skills gap, we combined two sides of the Huntr platform:

• Demand (jobs). We took every public job post created since October 1, 2024, mapped 28 common job-title keywords into 9 broader role categories, then deduplicated by company + title. For each role we counted how many of those distinct postings mention every hard skill (soft-skill keywords were excluded).
• Supply (resumes). On the same timeline, we looked at “base” resumes that job-seekers built in Huntr, matched each resume’s target job title to the same 9 role categories, and listed the hard skills the user explicitly added.

From those two pools, we calculate three key metrics for every skill inside each role:

• Demand % measures how frequently employers request a given skill within a role category. We calculate it by dividing the number of job postings that mention the skill by the total number of postings for that role. Intuitively, the higher this percentage, the more “standard” the skill has become in job ads.
• Supply % captures how common that skill is among job-seekers. We compute it by dividing the number of resumes that list the skill by the total number of resumes targeting the same role. A higher value means a larger share of candidates claim the capability.
• Gap ratio puts the two together by dividing Demand % by Supply %. A ratio near 1 indicates balance; anything above 1 signals a shortage (employers want the skill more often than candidates offer it), while values below 1 suggest an oversupply. For example, a gap ratio of 5 tells us companies ask for the skill five times as often as job-seekers list it, pointing to significant talent scarcity.

In short, Demand % shows what companies need, Supply % shows what job-seekers offer, and the Gap ratio stacks them together to reveal which capabilities are scarce versus saturated.

Software Development Skills Gap Analysis

Data reveals a 75 × shortfall for cloud-platform skills in 2025, while mainstream stacks hover near equilibrium

• Cloud-platform skill is by far the most acute gap. Although only 0.05% of developer resumes mention the exact “cloud platforms” keyword, 3.65% of job posts require it, yielding a 75× gap.
• Relational databases, Agile development, full-stack development, and API work also suffer notable shortfalls, with gaps ranging from roughly 4½× to 6½×—all based on exact text matches.
• Mainstream stack terms like “Angular,” “.NET,” and the generic “Agile” appear frequently on both sides, keeping their gaps closer to parity (about 1.3×–1.5×).
• DevOps and distributed systems still lean employer-heavy, each sitting around a 2–3× gap despite mid-single-digit demand percentages.

In short, exact-match data shows that infrastructure-oriented skills are in shortest supply, while popular frameworks edge closer to balance.

Data and Analytics Skills Gap Analysis

Data puts Data Engineering skill at a 7× shortage in 2025, with security, reporting, and pipeline skills lagging by up to 4×

• Data Engineering shows the single “Significant Gap.” Employers mention it in 14.7% of postings, but only 2.0% of resumes list the term, creating a 7.3× shortage.
• A cluster of workflow staples (Data Security, Reporting, Data Pipelines, Governance, and Quality) sits one tier lower yet still registers gaps of ≈ 2.6× - 4.6×, signaling persistent friction around reliability and compliance skills.
• Data Analysis is by far the most requested skill (36.8% of ads). Even with 15.4% candidate coverage, it remains 2.4× undersupplied.
• Platform and tooling terms such as Spark, Agile, CI/CD, Scala, and Azure Data Factory hover near equilibrium (≈ 1.3× - 2.1×), suggesting the talent pool is catching up on these technologies.

Overall, the data reveal a market where core engineering and governance skills are the tightest bottlenecks, while high-volume analysis and platform expertise, though improving, still trail demand.

Design Skills Gap Analysis

Product-design skill shows a 4× gap in 2025; agile and user-centered design trail by roughly 2–2.5×

• Product Design is the only Significant Gap: demand 35.03% vs supply 8.18% (gap 4.28 ×).
• Moderate Gaps
  • Agile – demand 7.64% vs supply 3.14 % (gap 2.43×)
  • User-Centered Design – demand 17.0% vs supply 7.55% (gap 2.26×)
• Minor gaps
  • Agile Methodology 3.33% vs 1.26% (gap 2.65×)
  • SaaS 4.92% vs 2.52% (gap 1.96 ×)
  • Data Analysis 9.48% vs 5.03% (gap 1.88×)
  • Systems Thinking and Data-Driven Design each show a gap of 1.60×.

Overall, the market faces an acute shortage of holistic product-design skill, with agile and user-centric practices also lagging well behind employer demand.

Product Management Skills Gap Analysis

User experience shows a 5.9× gap in 2025 product roles; SaaS and AI skills also fall short by 3–5×

• User Experience shows the largest shortage: demand 8.92% vs supply 1.52%, gap 5.86×.
• SaaS also shows a Significant Gap: demand 8.77% vs supply 2.39%, gap 3.67×.
• AI records a Moderate Gap: demand 4.85% vs supply 1.52%, gap 3.18×.
• A Minor-tier outlier, B2B SaaS, has demand 3.38% vs supply 0.65%, gap 5.18×.
• High-volume skills trend closer to balance: Data Analysis (demand 35.79% vs supply 18.70%, gap 1.91×) and Project Management (demand 23.09% vs supply 15.00%, gap 1.54×).

Overall, product teams face acute shortages in user experience and SaaS domain skills, with AI skills also trailing employer needs.

Administrative and Virtual Assistance Skills Gap Analysis

Administrative experience shows a 33× gap and Outlook a 9× gap in 2025, while Microsoft Office skills are close to balance

• Administrative Experience shows the widest shortfall: demand 3.31% vs supply 0.10%, gap 33.07×; despite its preset label being marked as Moderate.
• Microsoft Outlook appears as the only Significant Gap: demand 4.89% vs supply 0.53%, gap 9.30×.
• Filing and Office Management register demand ≈3.2% vs supply 1.58%, both with a gap of ≈2×.
• High-volume but near-balanced skills include Microsoft Office (demand 24.40% vs supply 17.37%, gap 1.41×) and Travel Coordination (demand 3.51% vs supply 2.63%, gap 1.33×).

Overall, employers struggle most to find candidates who explicitly list administrative experience and Outlook skills, while general Office proficiency is largely met.

Customer Success & Support Skills Gap Analysis

SaaS shows a 12× gap in Customer Success roles, while CRM and call center skills trail demand by 3–9×

• SaaS stands out with the largest shortfall: demand 18.57% vs supply 1.57%, gap 11.79×; earning a Critical Gap label.
• Significant Gaps include B2B SaaS (demand 3.75% vs supply 0.39%, gap 9.52×) and Call Center Experience (demand 3.71% vs supply 1.18%, gap 3.15×).
• CRM Systems shows a Moderate Gap: demand 3.22% vs supply 0.79%, gap 4.09×. Customer Success Management follows with demand 4.21% vs supply 1.97%, gap 2.14×.
• Skills with smaller gaps include Account Management (1.96×), Customer Engagement (1.46×), Data Analysis (1.39×), and Project Management (1.35×).

Overall, Customer Success and Support roles reveal acute shortages in SaaS, CRM, and support-center experience, even as core business and analysis skills are relatively well matched.

Marketing Skills Gap Analysis

Marketing shows a massive skills gap in Sales Enablement and 50×+ in Market Analysis, while general marketing skills remain relatively balanced

• Sales Enablement shows the most extreme gap: demand 8.31% vs supply 0.00%, gap 83.06×.
• Other Significant Gaps include Product Marketing (3.79×), Content Creation (3.79×), and Marketing Strategy (3.38×).
• Among Moderate Gaps, Market Analysis (53.65×) and SaaS (3.03×) stand out due to minimal resume presence despite meaningful demand. Project Management (2.78×), B2B Marketing (2.73×), and Performance Marketing (2.15×) also show shortfalls.
• Minor Gap skills are numerous, though some show disproportionately large ratios due to near-zero supply—for example, B2B SaaS (42.74×), B2B (41.53×), and Marketing Strategies (31.83×). Others like Campaign Management (1.45×), Marketing (1.36×), and Growth Marketing (1.63×) trend closer to balance.

Overall, marketing teams face acute shortages in specialized strategy and enablement skills, while general-purpose marketing skills are more evenly matched in the talent pool.

Job Search Survey Insights

Survey

Job Search Trends Survey

What 600+ Job Seekers Reveal about Today’s Hiring Market

In Q1, Huntr launched its first Job Search Trends Survey. There were 608 job seekers who filled out the survey, sharing insights, such as the industry they work in, their career level, employment status, country, community type, salary expectations, age group, and gender identity. We’ve broken down the data from questions we’ve gathered into different segments to help you better understand what the experience of the job search is like for all demographics.

Job Scams

Job Scams

Nearly Half of Job Seekers Fall for Scams– And Women May Be Targeted Differently

Job scams are becoming increasingly common. Scams may be becoming more sophisticated causing more people to fall victim to them. However, it could be that job seekers are the exact kind of “vulnerable” person that scammers tend to prey on.

Our findings show that 41% of job seekers have applied to a job scam by mistake. When asked, “Have you ever applied to job scams by mistake?” 250 people said “yes” and 358 responded “no.”

Women are more likely to admit they applied for job scams than men, with 42% of women responding “Yes” to the question, compared to 34.6% of men.

It's important to note that this may reflect differences in openness rather than actual incidence.

We analyzed the data further. It’s possible the scams were targeted at hybrid or in-office positions.

Our findings found that women who preferred remote jobs were less likely to admit to accidentally applying to job scams, as only 40% of them were scam victims compared to 60% who did not fall for job scams.

Those who prefer in-office positions tended to report having the highest rates of women falling for job scams.

Job scams can also take an emotional toll on someone hoping to find their next role.

Our survey shows that 40.8% of those who responded “yes” to applying to job scams also reported feeling “exhausted” in their job search.

Those who fell for scams were likelier to be unemployed than those who were employed full-time and actively searching.

It’s possible that, given the emotional exhaustion of the job search, the unemployed may not be as able to recognize a position that’s a bit “too good to be true.”

About 36.11% of Canadians have applied to a job scam compared to 43.95% of U.S. job seekers who said they’ve mistakenly applied to a job scam.

It’s important to note that the US survey sample size was drastically larger than the Canadian sample size, as this may be more reflective of directional trends rather than statistically representative differences.

Scam victims tended to have lower high-end salary expectations.

Those who didn’t fall for job scams were most likely to just below six-figure salaries. Scam victims were most heavily concentrated in mid-range salary bands. It's possible that as you gain professional experience, you become better at recognizing job scams or opportunities that are too good to be true.

Remote Work

Work Location Preferences

Remote vs. Hybrid: Job Seekers Are Nearly Split on the Future of Work

Our findings show that 40.5% of job seekers prefer hybrid work arrangements. Surprisingly, “fully remote” came as the second-place preferred work arrangement, but a very close second with 38.8% of respondents choosing it.

Nearly seventeen percent of respondents had no strong preference for the options. Only 3.8% chose “fully in office.”

Women were more likely to prefer fully remote work arrangements, with 42.61% of respondents choosing it over 33.56% of men.

Men were slightly more likely to prefer hybrid work arrangements with 41.95% of men selecting it over 40.21% of women. Men were also slightly more likely to choose fully in office with (4.03% of men selecting it compared to 3.78% of women). Men were also more likely to respond to no preferences (20.5% compared to women 13.4%).

Entry-level job seekers were more likely to choose hybrid. Like executives, they also had high rates of not having a preference for work arrangements.

However, senior-level job seekers were more likely to lean towards working fully remotely.

Those in executive positions were most likely to prefer hybrid arrangements with 44.8% of executives choosing it, compared to 27.6% who chose fully remote, and 3.4% who preferred being fully in-office.

In addition, nearly half of the executives say flexible work is extremely important.

When comparing by community type, those living in rural/small towns were most likely to want flexible work options, with 68% responding that job flexibility was “extremely important.”

While urban and suburban job seekers still want flexibility, their response tended to be a bit more moderate.

When looking at data exclusive to the United States, 42.96% prefer fully remote compared to 35.06% hybrid.

Job Search Sentiment

Job Search Sentiment

Exhausted, Stuck, and Hopeful: The Emotional Rollercoaster of Today’s Job Search

The job search is an emotional experience for many job seekers.

When asked, “How are you feeling about your current job search?” 32.4% of job seekers feel exhausted, 30.4% feel hopeful, 26% feel stuck, and 11.2% feel overwhelmed.

Men and women experienced job search exhaustion at the same rate.

However, men were more likely to respond that they felt hopeful, with 34.23% selecting the response over 26.8% of women. Women were also more likely to say they felt overwhelmed than men, with 12.71% selecting the answer compared to 8.39% of men.

Job seekers who felt “hopeful” were more likely to report less “ghosting” from employers and recruiters.

Only 9.7% of them report “very often” ghosting, compared to 35% of exhausted workers. Hopeful job seekers were most likely to report getting ghosted “sometimes.”

Nearly half of exhausted job seekers are actively unemployed. Job seekers who reported feeling hopeful were most likely employed and actively applying.

Exhausted respondents were 2.64x more likely to have worries about AI stealing their job than hopeful job seekers.

Exhausted job seekers still had high salary expectations, with a bulk of them hoping to earn $100k-$149k.

However, hopeful respondents were most likely to target the highest salary range, with 24% selecting over $150k in salary expectations.

Overwhelmed job seekers were most likely to expect salaries between $50k-$74k.

Recruiter Responsiveness

Employer Ghosting

Job Seekers Say Being Ignored by Employers Is the New Normal

“Ghosting” — or not hearing back from someone is proving to be quite common in the job search.

Nearly thirty percent of job seekers said they experience “ghosting” from employers/recruiters “often.”

When asked, “How often have you experienced 'ghosting' (no response from an employer/recruiter) after an interview or application in the past three months? Only 6.09% responded “Never,” 14.8% responded “Rarely,” 26.48% responded “Sometimes (about half the time), and 22.86% selected “Very often (almost all the time).

Women were more likely to report being ghosted “very often” compared to men.

Men were more likely to report being ghosted “rarely.” However, men still experienced ghosting at high rates, with 100 men selecting “Often” compared to 78 women.

Job seekers aged 65+ were more likely to share that they've “never” experienced ghosting, but they were also most likely to experience it "often." At age 65, most people are expected to retire. However, senior job seekers who aren’t ready to retire yet might find they get ignored more than job seekers in other age groups. It could be that having more experience under your belt leads to fewer experiences of getting ignored by hiring managers. It could also indicate that ghosting is a newer problem.

Those who are unemployed were more likely to report that ghosting happened “very often” or “often.” Those who were self-employed and freelancing reported less ghosting overall.

AI and the Job Search

AI Interviews

Job Seekers Say No to AI Interviews–67% Prefer Human Interaction

Despite AI tools being used by job seekers, most job seekers prefer human interaction when it comes to interviews, though sentiment varies based on age, gender, and so on. Our survey shows that 67.4% of job seekers would rather talk to a person than do an AI interview.

Only 10.2% of respondents responded with “I love them” when asked, “What are your thoughts on AI interviews?” There were 22.4% of respondents who selected, “I don’t care either way.”

Men were more likely to respond that they loved AI interviews than women, with 11.7% of men selecting that answer compared to 8.93% of women. They were also more likely not to care about whether it was an AI interview or a human one.

Younger workers (aged 25-34) are most open to AI interviews.

Older age groups are more likely to prefer human contact, with no one in the 55+ age group stating “I love them.”

Senior-level job seekers are more likely to prefer traditional interviews.

Executives are the most indifferent, as 31% selected “Don’t care either way.”

AI Tool Usage in the Job Search

Half of Job Seekers Say AI Tools in the Job Search Help–But Many Still Hesitate to Embrace Them

Given that Huntr is an AI resume builder, it’s not too surprising that most respondents had used AI tools in their job search.

According to the survey findings, 47.7% of job seekers have used AI tools and found them somewhat helpful.

When asked, “Which statement best describes your use of AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, AI resume builders) in your current job search?” 35% said “I’ve used AI tools and found them very helpful, 9.2% said “I’ve tried AI tools but haven’t found them helpful,” and 8.1% said, “I haven’t used any AI tools in my job search."

Women were slightly more likely to find AI tools “very helpful” in their job search.

However, men were more likely to say they’ve tried AI tools but didn’t find them helpful. Men were also more likely to say they haven’t used AI in their job search than women.

Job seekers between 65+ were more likely to report that AI was “somewhat helpful.”

However, those aged 45-54 were more likely to report them as not helpful.

Interestingly, younger users aged 18-24 were more likely to have never used AI tools for their job search with 21.1% of the age group selecting “haven’t used” as an answer.

Tech workers were more likely to report that AI tools were “somewhat” or “very helpful.”

However, those in education were more likely to report that it was less helpful for them or to not have used it in their job search.

Job seekers looking for finance/banking, or manufacturing/engineering roles were more likely to report AI tools being “somewhat helpful,” suggesting they are still adopting AI in their search processes.

AI at Work Sentiment

Most Job Seekers See AI Skills as Essential–But Fear Lingers Among Mid-Career Workers

It’s essential to learn how to use AI, says 84.4% of job seekers.

When asked “How do you feel about using AI as a tool at work, 9.7% said “I’m worried AI might steal my job,” and 5.9% said “It’s not really used in my industry.”

Mid-career job seekers were most likely to report fears, with 14.8% saying they were worried AI might steal their job.

Executives were most likely to report that learning AI was essential. This could be due to investor pressure or for maximizing efficiency in a business.

Job Search Challenges

Job Seeker Struggles

Ghosting, Ageism, and Rejection: Inside the Hidden Struggles of Today’s Job Seekers

When asked, “In your opinion, what has been the biggest challenge or frustration in your job search this quarter?” many recurring themes came up.

A majority of people identified their biggest challenge as a lack of response and ghosting.

Many others cited ageism and discrimination as a big problem for them, which could be given that the majority of the respondents were tech workers, and tech tends to hire younger workers than older.

Other common frustrations included too much competition for roles, long or slow hiring processes, dealing with rejection, low salaries, ATS filters, and fake job postings.

It seems age discrimination doesn’t start at 50.

Those aged 35-44 were likely to perceive age bias as one of their main challenges during their job search. Though, 55-64 were most likely to report age discrimination.

Both men and women reported age bias equally.

Self-employed or freelance job seekers were 4x more likely to perceive or experience ageism compared to employed, passive job seekers.

Salary Expectations

Job Seeker Salary Expectations

Remote Job Seekers Set Lofty Salary Expectations

When surveyed, job seekers indicated that they expected to earn six-figure salaries in their next role.

By Country

Job seekers in North America, primarily the United States and Canada, have high salary expectations, with many aiming for positions that pay $100k or more. India shows the lowest salary expectations, which is consistent with their cost of living and market rates.

By Community Type

Job seekers living in urban areas are more likely to expect six-figure salaries, whereas those in rural communities have more modest salary expectations.

By Gender

Men are more likely to aim for the highest salary bracket but they’re also more likely to expect under $30k. Women are more likely to expect salaries in the mid-to-upper range of salary bands.

By Preferred Work Arrangement

Office workers have the lowest salary expectations compared to remote workers. Less flexible work arrangements also have lower pay expectations. Those seeking remote or hybrid roles are more likely to aim higher.