I got rejected from the same company three times over two years. The third time I got the offer.
Not going to pretend this is a normal experience. It probably isn't. But I think the lesson is useful even if you've never applied somewhere twice let alone three times.
First application (Year 1): Cold. Found the role on a job board, applied with a standard resume, no connection to anyone at the company. Got an automated rejection.Never heard from a human.
Second application (Year 2): I had made a LinkedIn connection with someone who worked there we'd interacted a few times on posts, nothing deep. She noticed I'd applied and said she'd put in a word. Got a first-round interview. Didn't progress past it. The feedback was that I didn't show enough understanding of their specific business model and how I'd apply my experience to their context.
Third application (14 months later): Different this time. I had spent months genuinely engaging with the company following their content, commenting with actual thoughts (not just "great post"), reading their public writing, understanding their product properly. When I applied I knew what problems they were trying to solve. My cover letter was specific about it. My interview answers were grounded in their actual situation, not generic examples. Got the offer after four rounds.
The difference between the second and third attempt wasn't my experience that had grown but not dramatically. The difference was that I had stopped trying to get a job there and started genuinely being interested in them. That sounds like a soft thing but it comes through concretely: in the cover letter, in interview answers, in the questions I asked at the end of every round.
Genuine interest in a company is one of the things that's genuinely hard to fake and genuinely hard to beat.
Have you ever gotten into a company on a later attempt? What changed the second or third time?