Context: Searching for a new senior level software development job over a 9 week period in summer 2025.

  • Focused mostly on data engineering and backend roles that are in-person or hybrid in the SF Bay Area.
  • Leads from recruiters on LinkedIn were much more likely to lead to interviews+offers.
  • The winning offer came through my personal network.
  • I mostly used Hiring.cafe for prospecting. They’re a scraper with an interface I didn’t hate.
  • pixxelkick@lemmy.worldEnglish
    167·
    3 days ago

    Usually these sorts of results are an issue with your resume or cover letter.

    As someone on the other end, the sheer amount of applications I get means any resume that isn’t setup correctly can just go straight into the bin and I still have hundreds of good resumes to work with.

    If the majority of your applications get rejected/ignored BEFORE a screener that means your resume or cover letter is improperly formatted or something is wrong with them that triggers an auto reject

    • Aedis@lemmy.worldEnglish
      10·
      2 days ago

      This sounds like it might be true for you but isn’t for others. I’d hesitate to say this is the norm.

      I’ve put my resume through multiple parsers and made it as best as I can. I’ve gone through phases where I’ve tailored my cover letter down to every single miniscule details and saw the same results as OP, or pretty similar.

      so you’re either talking bs or you’re in a different field where it does matter

      • pixxelkick@lemmy.worldEnglish
        15·
        2 days ago

        Or… I know what I’m talking about maybe.

        For perspective, I sit at around a 40%-50% callback rate on my submissions to go to screening, when I’m looking for a job.

      • pixxelkick@lemmy.worldEnglish
        14·
        2 days ago

        Formatting is honestly a big part. Left align what matters.

        Too wordy, missing key details, too big, too small, etc

        Missing they key words the job posting covers. If the job posting talks about Node and angular and your resume doesn’t explicitly namedrop them, then it loses a tonne of points.

        Usually the majority of resumes that pass the sanity check then go to screening. You’d be surprised how many people just screw up basic stuff.

        Every single time I’ve had someone complain to me about job offers, I’ll grab a random job posting I find and ask em to send me the version of their resume + cover letter they would send to that specific posting.

        Quite often within a min or two I can find several reasons why their resume would’ve gotten bin’d