Resume content research across disciplines: an analysis of ProQuest from 1984-2018

The purpose of this study is to offer original analysis to examine the prevalence of publication titles, subtopics and methods present in peer-reviewed articles containing the search term “resume content” in ProQuest Central.

As a means for understanding better the scope of empirical studies in resumes, a limited search was conducted in ProQuest to build a data set of research articles under the limited search heading of “resume content”. Using ProQuest Central, a popular repository of peer reviewed, indexed articles for database searches in academic and institutional settings, the researchers queried a 34-year period, from 1984 to 2018. The qualitative content analysis included recording the respective scholarly disciplines populating the articles, the publication subject titles, identification of subtopics that inhabit the empirical works in the data set across time and recognition of the methodologies evident in the 47-article population set.

The analysis revealed six subtopics, which included content, gender, recruitment, social, branding and ethnicity. The highest concentration of articles appeared in psychology, business and management publications, with the highest subtopic concentrations published in the areas of content and recruitment. Evidence of methodologies was also observed. The 34-year population consisted of 30 works using quantitative methods, seven with qualitative methods, six with mixed methods and four with no evidenced method – only offering instructional content. These findings offer insight to resume content articles on the ProQuest Central databases.

Although highly accessed and respected as an initial source for searching academic knowledge bases, using ProQuest Central created the limitation of one aggregate database search, with limited indexes, coupled with a focus on specific terms which limited the data set and breadth of the study. In addition, this study was limited in building a data set using one set of specific terms, rather than testing and comparing more search terms, which could be a strategy for future studies.

These findings outline the need for empirically grounded advice to inform teachers, professors and career counselors tasked with helping students with resume content creation, whether formally or informally. Understanding the disciplines and domains that are publishing resume content research provided a window into seeing how future studies can delve deeper into these search terms to harvest pinpointed articles that can benefit practitioners and researchers with interdisciplinary opportunities to marry resume content research with other domains. This has practical implications for the depth of scientifically drawn knowledge available on resume content and creation.

Resume creation and the teaching of resume content and design can be rooted better in research-based data rather than anecdotal suggestions from faculty, staff, teachers and advisors.

This original study illuminates that the evolution of resume research is slow on ProQuest, with a small group of disciplines yielding a majority of the research articles. This knowledge may help drive future studies and build a greater conversation on the need for empirical work in teaching and mentoring students in resume development at the secondary and post-secondary levels.