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Hey There!

Welcome to Issue #171 of Jobseeking is Hard!

Today's issue is brought to you by The Rundown AI! If you're a free subscriber and value our content, it costs $0 to support us by clicking the ad and checking out the service. Show our sponsor some love for supporting Jobseeking is Hard! Thanks!

Happy Wednesday!

Everywhere you look right now, people are saying the same thing about applying for jobs. The postings are fake. Applications go into a black hole. Nobody ever hears back. Companies already have someone lined up. If you don’t know someone on the inside, you’re wasting your time.

That usually turns into advice about the “hidden job market” and the idea that applying is pointless. That the real jobs only come from referrals, and job boards exist mostly for show, to fake growth, or pipeline candidates, or even just collect your data to sell.

But...have you actually asked a recruiter if that’s true?

Because when you do, the answer is usually very different from what social media would have you believe.

That’s what I want to talk about this week. Whether recruiters actually hire direct applicants, and why the process feels so broken and discouraging from the outside.

I’ll also share how a Resume Edit client with a contract-heavy, project-based background clarified their narrative and focus, and why that shift helped land interviews!

This week we’re talking about:

• Why applying for jobs isn’t a waste of time

• Why resume narrative matters more than experience alone

• The best (worst?) job posting of the week

And for Premium subscribers I’m:

• Debunking a popular claim about recruiters and LinkedIn activity

• Answering a Premium subscriber’s question about how to balance applying, networking, and recruiter outreach. I’ll explain how each tool actually works and how to use them together without burning out.

Let’s get to it!

THE APPLICATION BLACK HOLE

Most people never get to see what hiring actually looks like from the inside, so it’s easy to assume the worst when you apply and hear nothing back. It feels personal. It feels dismissive. And after enough silence, it starts to feel pointless.

But when you talk to recruiters, a very different picture emerges.

Almost my entire professional network is made up of recruiters. Many of my close friends are recruiters. I’ve been recruiting since 2003, and I still talk regularly with hiring managers, decision makers, and recruiting teams across industries. When you ask them how hires actually get made, the answer is remarkably consistent. Roughly 90 to 95% of the people they hire are direct applicants.

Not referrals. Not secret backchannels. People who applied to the job posting.

So why does applying feel like such a black hole if it’s how most hires actually happen?

Volume is the biggest reason. Most open roles right now are getting hundreds, sometimes thousands, of applicants. Even well-run recruiting teams can only seriously review a small percentage of them. That doesn’t mean the rest weren’t capable. It means there’s a hard limit on time and attention.

Timelines make it worse. Hiring moves slower than candidates expect. Roles pause. Stakeholders get pulled into other priorities. Budget decisions shift. Silence doesn’t always mean rejection. A lot of the time, it simply means nothing has moved yet.

Then there’s the lack of feedback or acknowledgement. Most companies don’t have the systems, time, or incentive to respond to everyone who applies. From the candidate side, that feels like being ignored. From the hiring side, it’s triage.

This is where the resume starts to matter a lot more than people want to admit. When a role gets hundreds of applicants, recruiters aren’t evaluating resumes deeply. They’re scanning quickly for relevance. They’re asking whether the experience on the page clearly matches what the role is hiring for. Scope, focus, and context matter more than completeness.

A lot of people who feel like applying is a waste of time actually have strong experience. What they often don’t have is a resume that makes the relevance of that experience obvious fast enough. Their background makes sense once you explain it. Their resume requires interpretation. And in a high-volume market, interpretation rarely happens.

If a role gets 500 applicants, a recruiter might only interview 10. If those 10 happen to be among the first strong matches they see, that still leaves 490 people without a real shot, even if many of them are qualified. That’s frustrating. But it doesn’t mean the job was fake or that applying was pointless. It often comes down to timing and whether the resume clearly answered the question the hiring team was asking.

I’ve also been hearing something else consistently from recruiters and hiring managers lately. Referrals don’t carry the weight they used to. With this level of applicant volume, teams don’t have time to meet candidates as a courtesy. If someone isn’t a strong fit on paper, being referred doesn’t suddenly change that. The resume still has to do the work.

That’s why applying and resume quality are inseparable right now. Applying is still how most people get hired. But the resume has to make the match obvious without explanation.

None of this means you should rely on applications alone. You shouldn’t. But it also doesn’t mean you should stop applying because it feels discouraging. It means you need a resume that’s built to compete in this kind of market. Use every tool available to you. Apply for roles where you’re a real fit. Network where it makes sense. But make sure your resume clearly shows why you belong in the conversation in the first place.

The system is frustrating and imperfect. But that doesn’t mean you should willingly ignore the source of the vast majority of hires recruiters actually make.

Have a topic you want me to cover in an upcoming issue? Reply or email [email protected] and tell me what you want to know!

SHAMELESS PLUG

If your job search needs a little more help, Karpiak Consulting offers resume and LinkedIn services, as well as job search strategy coaching.

Who knows…maybe you’ll get interviews like this client 🤷‍♂️

So what did I do to make this Resume Edit client suggest my services on a LinkedIn post asking for help?

Narrative and intention.

This client’s concern wasn’t experience. It was how that experience came across on paper. Years of turnaround work, short-term contracts, and project-based roles can look jumpy at a glance, especially when you’re trying to pivot focus or stay in a specific industry long term.

On the resume, all of that work was technically accurate, but it didn’t clearly answer the question a hiring manager is actually asking: what is this person trying to do next, and why does their background make sense for it?

The edit wasn’t about hiding contract work or pretending the timeline was something it wasn’t. It was about creating a cohesive story that showed intention. Clarifying which experience mattered most for the roles being targeted now, and making sure earlier work supported that direction instead of competing with it.

When resumes don’t do that, they force the reader to interpret. They have to guess whether the candidate is just applying broadly. In a high-volume market, that kind of guessing usually ends with the resume getting passed over.

Once the narrative was clear, this resume stopped reading like a collection of projects and started reading like a professional with a defined focus and a logical progression. That’s the difference recruiters respond to.

If your resume feels scattered, jumpy, or hard to follow even though your experience makes sense to you, that’s usually a narrative problem, not a qualification problem.

That’s the goal of editing your resume. Not rewriting your history, but shaping it so the story makes sense quickly to the person deciding who to interview.

If you’re feeling like your resume isn’t telling your story the way it should and don’t know how to frame your experience, our services can help. 

BEST (WORST?) JOB POST

OF THE WEEK

Here’s the job post that got the most people talking on my Instagram this week!

Companies are including AI prompts in job postings to flag AI-generated resumes

If you come across an irritating job posting, email it to the newsletter or DM me on Instagram and I’ll add it to the list to post!

Today's issue is also brought to you by I Hate It Here! C’mon give it a click…it costs $0 and helps support your favorite job search newsletter 🙂

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PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER QUESTION

“I keep hearing that applying is pointless and that jobs mostly go to referrals. But I don’t have a huge network. Am I actually hurting myself by spending so much time applying instead of networking?”

Check out the Premium Section below for my answer! Not a Premium Subscriber? Upgrade here: www.JobseekingIsHard.com/upgrade

Why upgrade? For less than $0.63/day, you get:

• Subscriber-Only Discounts: Get exclusive promo codes for Karpiak Consulting services, available only to Premium subscribers. Whether you're updating your resume, need a LinkedIn profile review, or want expert help tailoring your applications, these occasional discounts make expert support more accessible.

• Extra Tips & Advice: Gain exclusive insights, strategies, and advice from a recruiter with over 20 years of experience in the field. Discover what hiring managers truly value and how to stand out at every step of your job search.

• Access to Previous Issues: Explore a library of knowledge with all 100+ past issues of the newsletter. Each edition is packed with proven strategies, practical advice, and real-world jobseeking stories to give you an edge in today’s competitive job market. From resume tips to handling tough interview questions, you’ll find answers to every challenge.

• Exclusive Q&A: Have questions about your job search? Premium subscribers can ask Adam directly! Questions will be featured in upcoming issues, with detailed answers tailored to real-world scenarios, ensuring you get the guidance you need.

• Bonus Content: As part of your Premium subscription, you’ll receive 20 additional job search tips delivered to your inbox over the next 20 days. This includes advice on avoiding common mistakes and maximizing your job search strategy to land interviews faster.

Jobseekers, have a great rest of your week, and good luck with those applications!

-Adam

PS!! If you're enjoying the newsletter, let people know! Forward it, post it on social, tag me, whatever...the bigger the discussion, the better! The idea is to help as many people as possible!

About Adam- Recognized as a leading voice on hiring and workplace trends, Adam has been recruiting and providing career advice since 2003, developing high-trust relationships based on honesty with companies and jobseekers. A highly sought-after speaker, he has appeared in numerous outlets, including Bloomberg News, Business Insider, LinkedIn, and CNNMoney. You can find out more about Adam's resume and coaching services here.

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