Job Application Frustrations

This is my experience too. It didn't used to be this way. I always used to research a company, tailor my CV and add a cover letter. I'd be hired within 1-3 applications.Now? It seems a waste of time because no one responds anyway. I'm incentivised to apply to as many as possible in the hope of having a conversation with someone.

Devil's advocate: everywhere gets so many of these that they use automated filtering to sort out resumes. Consequently, there is no point in spending ANY effort until you get a positive feedback from an employer.So, you have a purely random process on both sides that nobody is willing to put in any energy to fix.

I'd love to carefully tailor applications to jobs I'm suited for, get references through people, etc. Unfortunately, when I've tried this, I've been completely ignored or one-liner email rejected if I'm lucky, and it's a lot of effort - so my only option is huge volume, which means I can't carefully craft anything.

I guess 1000+ job apps isn't enough :')

My experience is similar. All my carefully crafted resumes with cover letters were not even acknowledged. So I had to resort to resume spraying. After applying to 100 openings or so, I got one phone call which led to the interview and a job offer. I was not a great match for the job but it worked out fine.

It wouldn't surprise me if this was a significant under-count. I've been applying for jobs for, what, 3-4 years now, both when I was in Uni and after. I don't even know how many job applications I've submitted but I think I've gotten maybe 10-15 interviews at most? I have of course gotten the typical advice: "Build your network", "Submit a cover letter", blah blah blah, but the first bit is completely useless to me (I don't have the finances to g

Were your applications that good of a fit? You sent 450 applications for one hiring. Very roughly speaking this means you expect the employer to carefully consider 450 applications for their one job opening (assuming roughly speaking, that everyone does the same). "Carefully" is clearly not gonna happen. You sprayed and prayed but the employer is hiring one person for that one position (not quite true) and can't just spray and pray themselves.You may have indeed found 450 real

Hahaha @ "just apply"I think you mean"just repeatedly throw your resume into a black hole"

Maybe they applied to 80 jobs and this was the only one that invited them to interview? I think a lot of times the resumes go into a black hole, especially with AI screening no one even looks at them!

Every job I've applied to has involved me researching the company, deciding whether I understood it, was right for the role, and wanted to work for them, and then tailoring my resume and cover letter to what that role needed. In my life, I've maybe sent 25 applications, gotten 6-7 interviews, and been hired 4 times. Pretty good batting average, and I'm not by any means especially qualified or accomplished. For me, automated spam has not been the answer, laser targeting has been.