I’ve been applying to jobs for the past ~2 months (probably 60–70 applications at this point) and wasn’t hearing back from almost anywhere.
At first I thought it was just the market, competition, etc. But I tried something this week that kind of changed how I look at resumes completely.
I took one job description I really liked and compared it line by line with my resume.
Not just “does it match broadly”, I literally checked the wording.
And it was kind of embarrassing:
- tools they mentioned 3–4 times - I had them once (or not at all)
- responsibilities phrased differently - even though I did the same thing
- keywords like “stakeholder communication”, “cross-functional”, etc. - missing
Basically, I realized my resume made sense to a human, but probably not to whatever system is filtering it first.
I rewrote just that one version of my resume to mirror the job description more closely (without lying, just rephrasing and prioritizing differently).
Applied to 6 roles with that approach.
Already got 2 responses this week. Could be coincidence, but it’s the first time anything has moved.
Curious if others have tried this? Or am I overthinking it?