How can we effectively search for a job in 2025?

Research conducted as part of the HR Overview publication published by Profession.hu at the end of 2024 showed that the most common recruitment difficulty for employers is that applicants have completely different qualifications and experience than those specified in the given job advertisement. This is partly due to the fact that job seekers are much more active, and the average number of applicants per advertisement is high. In the case of a new position, they are most often influenced by salary (88%), good location of the workplace (70%) and flexible working hours (59%). According to a survey conducted by Profession.hu in the first quarter of 2025, four out of ten Hungarians are open to new job opportunities, which continues to indicate lively movement in the labor market.

This is how we can increase our chances when applying

Due to the high number of applicants, it is particularly important to be able to stand out even in the first round of screening. From an employee’s point of view, the strategy of applying en masse to job advertisements that significantly differ from our qualifications and qualities is generally less effective. Instead, it is worth taking the time to customize our resume: adapt it to the given position and even briefly describe our personal connection to the job in the introduction section. In the motivation letter – if requested in the advertisement – ​​it is also recommended to explain why you chose the given job opportunity, if there is no need for such, it is sufficient to display it in the CV – this significantly improves your chances of being pre-screened.

Adapting to AI-based filters is an increasingly important aspect when consciously preparing and formatting your CV. There is a trend that more and more recruiting companies are using artificial intelligence-based tools to filter applications received for their job advertisements. In such cases, the specialist conducting the selection usually states his expectations of the candidate and the details of the position on the given interface, and then uploads the received CVs, requesting the AI’s selection suggestions.

“Artificial intelligence is primarily used in the field of HR to relieve the burden on human labor, and it works in a similar way to a professional in pre-screening: it searches for keywords and monitors compliance with the specified criteria. A professional has a very limited time to evaluate a resume – especially if there are many, even more than a hundred, applications. Whether the pre-screening of resumes is done by a person or AI-based, it is crucial for the efficiency of the selection process that the content is written in an easy and simple way by the applicants. It is worth using keywords in the CV that are also included in the job advertisement, as these help the resume to pass the filtering systems effectively and attract the attention of recruiters more easily. In addition, it is important to describe previous experiences in a way that is clear, unambiguous and easy to interpret for everyone – even for readers who are not familiar with the given company or job position, because what is self-evident to us is “It’s not certain for others,”

said Alma Kispéter, senior recruitment and selection expert at Profession.hu.