Pillar 4 of 6
← All NotesTHE SEARCH IS BROKEN
The Search Is Broken
The conventional wisdom about CVs, applications, and recruiting that turns out to be wrong. Myth-busting grounded in evidence: peer-reviewed eye-tracking studies, ATS reality, recruiter behaviour at scale.
In this Pillar
2 pieces
Nobody reads your CV in six seconds
The 6-second CV scan comes from a 2012 white paper by a CV-rewriting service, n=30, no peer review. Independent research with better methodology finds recruiters typically spend 17-30 seconds on the initial scan, and several minutes for well-matched senior candidates. Here is where the number came from, what the evidence actually shows, and why the myth persists.
Recruiters who actually spend less than 10 seconds on a CV
The ATS rejection myth: what software actually does to your CV
The claim that 75% of CVs are auto-rejected by software is almost certainly false. Here is what applicant tracking systems actually do, what the best research shows, and why at senior levels it barely matters.
Recruiters whose ATS does not auto-reject anything. The myth, busted.