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Hey There!

Welcome to Issue #184 of Jobseeking is Hard!

Today's issue is brought to you by Mindstream! 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!

One of the biggest misunderstandings in modern hiring is how much interpretation candidates think recruiters are willing to do. A lot of jobseekers still believe that if they’re qualified enough, someone will eventually connect the dots.

That’s usually not what happens.

This week, I want to talk about positioning, recruiter behavior, and why broad or complicated backgrounds often struggle in the current market even when the candidate is fully capable of doing the job. The hiring process increasingly rewards people who are easy to understand quickly, and that has changed how resumes need to work.

I’ll also walk through how a Premium Rewrite Bundle client repositioned a broad background, increased their interview rate from roughly 32% to 68% in about a month, received multiple offers, and landed a new job!

And one quick reminder since it’s officially May and graduation season is here! We still have the limited-time New Grad Bundle available!

It includes a resume built from the ground up, a tailored cover letter, and a LinkedIn profile rewrite to help new grads position themselves more effectively before they start applying. There’s also an optional strategy call for interview prep, job search questions, or overall guidance entering the market.

A lot of entry-level candidates struggle because they don’t know how to frame internships, projects, coursework, or early experience in a way that feels relevant to employers. That’s exactly what this bundle is designed to help with:
https://www.karpiakconsulting.com/product-page/new-grad-bundle-limited-time

This week we’re talking about:

• Why recruiters are trained to say no

• Why qualified candidates still struggle when their positioning is unclear

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

And for Premium subscribers I’m:

• Explaining why you should probably stop taking resume advice from random people on LinkedIn

• Answering a Premium subscriber’s question about whether recruiters really only spend a few seconds reviewing resumes. I’ll explain how recruiters actually screen applicants, why the first pass is usually an elimination exercise, and how candidates can position themselves to survive that initial filtering process.

Let’s get to it!

DO THE HEAVY LIFTING

One of the biggest misconceptions about the job search is the belief that recruiters will “figure out” why you applied.

Jobseekers still assume the hiring process works like a thoughtful review exercise where someone carefully studies their background, recognizes transferable experience, understands nuance, and connects all the pieces together into a coherent story.

That’s not what happens.

Most recruiting today is rapid pattern recognition under time pressure. Recruiters are overloaded, moving quickly, and trying to eliminate risk as efficiently as possible. If your experience requires interpretation, clarification, or additional thinking, you’ve already created a problem for yourself. This is why so many qualified people hear absolutely nothing back…because their background is too broad, too layered, too indirect, or too difficult to categorize quickly.

The modern hiring process doesn’t reward interesting backgrounds nearly as much as it rewards instantly understandable ones. That distinction matters a lot.

I see this constantly with senior candidates, career pivoters, consultants with cross-functional experience, and people who’ve built genuinely impressive careers across multiple disciplines. They’ll often say something like, “I’ve done all of these things. Surely someone will see the value.” But recruiters usually aren’t rewarded for discovering hidden value. They’re rewarded for reducing risk and moving quickly. That changes how resumes need to work.

A resume isn’t a record of experience…it’s a positioning document. Its job is to control the narrative before someone else does. When candidates try to include every capability, every project, every domain, and every possible direction they could go professionally, they usually think they’re making themselves look more qualified. What they’re often doing instead is creating ambiguity.

The frustrating part is that smart people tend to make this mistake more than anyone else. They’ve had broad careers. They can operate across functions. They understand complexity. They’re capable of adapting to multiple environments, which is genuinely valuable once they’re inside an organization.

Recruiters are trained to say no. People hate hearing that because it sounds cynical, but it’s operationally true. Recruiting at scale is largely an elimination process. The system rewards efficiency, not curiosity. If a recruiter has 300 applicants and 40 of them already look like obvious lateral matches, they usually won’t spend much time decoding the candidate with the more complicated story.

That’s why targeted resumes outperform “comprehensive” resumes almost every time. You have to do the heavy lifting for the recruiter and show them why you’re a match.

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 receive 3 offers and start a new job within a month like this client 🤷‍♂️

So how did I help this Premium Rewrite Bundle (w/ Linkedin Rewrite) client increase their interview rate from ~32% to ~68%?

Positioning.

A month ago, a client hired me because their search had completely stalled despite having an objectively strong background. The experience included enterprise environments, customer success leadership, technical account management, engineering, infrastructure modernization, and large-scale stakeholder management across major technology companies.

They were clearly qualified for all sorts of roles. The problem was positioning.

Like a lot of senior candidates, this person was applying across multiple related paths at once: leadership roles, customer success positions, technical account management opportunities, and infrastructure-focused roles. Logically, all of those directions made sense based on the background. But the resume read more like a complete career history than a recruiter-facing positioning document. The value was there, but recruiters had to work too hard to quickly understand where the candidate fit.

During our strategy call, we talked through how hiring has changed over the past few years and why broad senior backgrounds often struggle in the current market. We discussed proof-of-concept positioning, and the reality that recruiters rarely connect the dots for candidates anymore.

The rewrite focused on making the narrative easier to interpret quickly. Instead of overwhelming readers with experience, we repositioned the resume around core pillars of success. The LinkedIn rewrite followed the same approach: clarity and relevance first.

About a month later, the client sent me this: “My application to interview rate went from 32.31% to 68.3% in this month. I have also received 3 offers and am starting a new job.”

That’s the real goal: making it easier for recruiters to quickly understand why someone is relevant, credible, and worth talking to.

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!

what are we doing here

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!

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PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER QUESTION

“I keep hearing that recruiters only spend a few seconds reviewing resumes. Is that actually true?”

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.

AFFILIATES

NOTE: As an affiliate to these services, we will receive compensation if you purchase products or services through the links provided.

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