Quick Answer
What is the Average Number of Applicants per Job in 2025?
The industry average shows there are 118 people applying for the same vacancy.
Everyone wants to know what is the average number of applicants per job in this age where competition for employment is at sky high.
We all have repeatedly heard that knowing the enemy is already winning half of the battle. But this did not make much sense until you had your first job application.
You were stunned.
Until then you did not realize that landing on a job means having to stand out against other equally-qualified applicants.
Worse, you did not even bother to research how many of you are competing against one position.
Uh-huh…do not make the same mistake twice.
Going lengths to find out how many applicants are there per job couldl give you the right elbow room to prepare for what’s to come.
In life, you cannot always lean towards a stroke of luck.
What is the Average Number of Applicants per Job in 2025?
Answering the question “what is the average number of applicants per job?” is no easy task.
The job market is diverse and some industries get more job applications more than others.
Similarly, the nature of the job and the location also contributes to the influx of resumes.
Nevertheless, the industry average shows there are 118 people applying for the same vacancy.
The number is higher in a corporate setting where one job position attracts up to 250 CVs.
What’s more difficult is that only 20% secure an initial interview from the employer.
Moreover, only two applicants make in until the final interview and only one of them will be offered the job.
Applications per Job in Every Industry
The number of applications per job change significantly depending on the industry.
Today, jobs related to hospitality attract the highest number of applicants more than any other job vacancies.
Take a look at this data from Statista on how many applications are sent per job in the world’s leading industries.
- Hospitality industry – attacts 46 applications per job on average
- Information technology industry – attacts 39 applications per job on average
- Media and telecommunications industry – attacts 37 applications per job on average
- Retail industry – attacts 35 applications per job on average
- Financial services industry – attacts 32 applications per job on average
- Professional services industry – attacts 30 applications per job on average
- Real estate industry – attacts 29 applications per job on average
- Manufacturing industry – attacts 26 applications per job on average
- Education industry – attacts 23 applications per job on average
- Wholesale industry – attacts 23 applications per job on average
- Healthcare industry – attacts 18 applications per job on average
History of Job Applications
The method on applying for jobs has changed over the past years.
In the early 1980s, most people fax their resumes to the company they are applying to.
By 1990s, emailing started becoming popular and has been frequently used on sending resumes.
The overall landscape has changed again upon the entrance of the 2000s. For the first time, people started using the internet to bid for employment opportunities.
This era is the start of the online-driven job application format.
Today, many job applications are sent through social media platforms, particularly an employment oriented one like LinkedIn.
How Applicants Communicate with Employers?
Still, keeping in contact with a potential employer is still done through email more than social media.
Here is a data detailing the primary modes of communication between applicants and employers.
- Emailing – 73% of applicants communicate with employers through emails
- Sending SMS – 24% of applicants communicate with employers through sending text messages
- Social Media – 16% of applicants communicate with employers through social media platforms
Employers’ Main Sources of Applications
Employers pick applications from different sources. Today, job boards are proving to be the most reliable source of new bids, accounting for more than half of the total, followed by career sites.
Take a look at this information on the different platforms that help employers generate the applications they need to hire.
- Job boards – employers get 52.17% of all applications sent for a job vacancy from job boards
- Career sites – employers get 33.90% of all applications sent for a job vacancy from career sites
- Referrals – employers get 3.07% of all applications sent for a job vacancy from employee referrals
- Internal hire – employers get 2.21% of all applications sent for a job vacancy from their current hires
- Agency – employers get 1.26% of all applications sent for a job vacancy from a partner agency
What Are Your Chances of Landing a Job?
I firmly believe in the old adage saying try and try until succeeding. This applies to many aspects of life, especially on job application.
As pointed out earlier, the job market is a highly competitive place to be in. To go against a hundred hopefuls is no easy task.
This is exactly why you should never feel discouraged if you don’t get it the first time or the second time, or even the tenth time.
The more applications you send, the higher the chance you finally hear a resounding “YES!”
Surveys show you will have a 27% chance of receiving a job offer after your first ten applications.
The odds get better to 29% after sending between 11 to 20 bids, and even higher to 31% after 21 to 80 applications.
Even when none comes to a good result after the 80th time, don’t give up. You still have a 20.36% odds of getting hired after your 81st application.
Most Important Aspects Employers Look for in A Job Application
First impression is crucial and this is why you should impress employers from the moment they see your resume.
A study show that an application has a 63% chance of getting noticed if the CV has been tailored to address the requirements of the job.
This means you have to highlight your job experiences, skills, and educational background that are relevant for the job.
Meanwhile, skills that are listed first on a CV has a 41% success rate. Don’t skip cover letters as they increase your chance of getting hired by 40%.
Lastly, links to personal blogs and websites are highly welcome and gives an applicant a 16% edge against competitors.
Conclusion
There are more than a hundred people applying for the same job.
If you don’t make time to discover your edge against others and market yourself excellently, you are more likely to get knocked in this highly competitive environment.
However, there is a simple way to stand out: prepare. Make use of the tips you got from this article to craft prepare for your next job application.
Thanks for reading our article on what is the average number of applicants per job.
