If you’ve been applying to job after job and hearing nothing back, you’re not alone — and you’re not imagining it.

In my newest episode with Marcelo, we unpack what job seekers are really experiencing right now, and some of the quotes from our conversation say more than any headline could.

“Folks are hurting out there… applied to 1,000 jobs and only got one callback.”That wasn’t an exaggeration. People wrote this publicly online because they don’t know what else to do.

Meanwhile:

“Unemployment claims… nearly two million.”“It’s certainly not getting any better.”

And here’s the part nobody wants to talk about:

A lot of the hiring system is quietly being reshaped by AI, overwhelmed recruiting pipelines, and corporate uncertainty. The systems designed to filter candidates have become the systems that bury them.

Marcelo put it bluntly:

“ATS systems look for keywords — PERIOD.”

So many talented people aren’t even making it past the software screening them out.

And even when they do?They’re running into something else:

Unpaid case studies. Endless interviews. Ghost jobs. Job postings recycled for months.

At one point, Marcelo asked the question I wish more people would ask:

“If the same job has been reposted for four months… is this really the company you want to work for?”

It’s not that job seekers are the problem.

“If you can’t choose someone in two or three interviews, the candidates aren’t the problem.”

This entire system is straining — and people are feeling it in real time.

So what can job seekers actually do?

Here are the strategies we talk about in the episode:

1. Use AI to beat AI.

Yes, really.We walk through how to compare your resume to a job posting using ChatGPT and improve your ATS match rate.

2. Clean, concise resumes win.

The systems (and humans) are overwhelmed. Clarity is a competitive advantage.

3. Networking is still the #1 differentiator.

Or in Marcelo’s exact words:

“There are no substitutes to knowing someone at the company.”

Every data point, every recruiter I’ve spoken with, and every job seeker success story points to the same truth:Human connection still beats algorithmic filtering.

4. Pay attention to red flags.

If a company can’t run a sane interview process, treat it as a preview of what working there will feel like.

🎙️ Watch the Full Episode

And if you know someone who’s applying endlessly and getting nowhere, please share this with them. It might give them not just strategies — but relief.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments:What has YOUR job search experience been like this year?

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