Meta-analysis: discrimination in hiring | Hiring Research

What a better resume cannot fix

The research emphasizes structural bias that individual resume quality cannot fully offset.¹

What the meta-analysis found

The overall callback gap persisted, but the trend differed by group.

The authors synthesized 28 US field experiments representing 55,842 applications to 26,326 positions. Trend analysis focused on 24 studies conducted since 1989.

FIG 01

Finding	Observed result	Time trend
Black applicants	White applicants received 36% more callbacks on average	No significant decline detected since 1989
Latino applicants	White applicants received 24% more callbacks on average	Modest evidence of decline
Study scale	28 experiments · 55,842 applications	Fieldwork through 2015

Fig. 1 / Persistence over timeThe long-run result is not a universal decline; the trends differ by group.Quillian et al. (2017), US field experiments with fieldwork through December 2015.

What a rejection cannot tell you

A rejection does not, by itself, tell you what was wrong with your resume. These experiments found different treatment of applicants with comparable qualifications.¹

Our report can identify details that are missing or hard to understand. It cannot explain a particular employer's decision or assign responsibility for a rejection to the candidate.

The Upturn report describes additional risks when automated tools affect advertising, screening, and ranking. Those are risks employers and platform operators need to address; resume edits are not a remedy.²

Focus on what you can change

You can improve how clearly your resume shows your experience. You cannot remove bias from the hiring process. Good advice should help with the first without pretending it solves the second.

Common questions

Does a better resume eliminate discrimination?

No. Clearer writing can help someone understand your experience. It cannot remove discrimination from hiring decisions.

Why include this in a resume product?

Useful guidance has to name its limits. That helps candidates focus on what they can change without turning every rejection into self-blame.

What can I control?

You can make your experience clear, consistent, specific, and easy to verify.

How this shows up in your report

Name the limit

We make the boundary explicit: stronger materials can reduce avoidable doubt, but they cannot fix systemic bias.

Do not diagnose a rejection from a resume

A resume report cannot tell you why an employer rejected an application, including whether discrimination played a part.

Improve what you can

We make relevant experience easier to see so unclear writing does not create another obstacle.

Discrimination in hiring has not disappeared