This. OP is playing by the rules. The rules are silly and dysfunctional, but at least in the short term, that's the winning strategy. I'd probably do the same in his case (or at least a combination of sending maybe 5 well-made resumes or cover letters, to the companies that are the most promising, + 95 "spray and pray" ones for random fishing).
You got it. If you KNOW the company is ACTUALLY hiring and is serious about filling the role, and it's a good fit; take the extra time. But spray and pray helps counter ghost jobs which are impossible to detect until hindsight.
It's not a question of who to blame exactly. The poster's practice illustrates why sending resumes in response to job postings can't work anymore. From the point of view of the new hiring company or new job applicant, it doesn't matter who created the situation. What matters is what we do about it next. You can spray and pray but you certainly shouldn't expect it to "work".
For the poster: was their method a good use of their time? is the job "found" a good fit really? will they last in this position?
For the hiring company: was their method a good use of their time? is this person in any way a great fit? will they last in this position?
The poster complains that few companies sent him a rejection note! Why in the world would they? The poster was protective of their time, and should rightly expect the hiring companies to do the same.
Yes, the job i found is a perfect fit for me and my skillset. I did not fake my way into something.
and my point is: if you genuinely apply to a position and you never even hear back from them, not even to reject you, it doesn't make sense to only apply to a handful. again, emphasis genuine application; answered all their questions and the role is a fit for my resume. That's why you have to spray and pray.
Were your applications that good of a fit? You sent 450 applications for one hiring. Very roughly speaking this means you expect the employer to carefully consider 450 applications for their one job opening (assuming roughly speaking, that everyone does the same). "Carefully" is clearly not gonna happen. You sprayed and prayed but the employer is hiring one person for that one position (not quite true) and can't just spray and pray themselves.
You may have indeed found 450 real and fictitious openings that would be a great match for you. Yes, not impossible. Still the practice puts the employers themselves in a position where these resumes and answers cannot possibly be read. Not carefully, not at all. Again no blame one way or the other. I'm just arguing that we cannot expect the employer to carefully consider all these applications. There is no point in being shocked / surprised / whatever by this. The sprayed and prayed applications will not be read carefully. The employer will find whichever shortcut to sift through the pile and will carefully consider only a handful of all these applicants. Or hopefully, will see the light and consider other kinds of applications - such as network leads (but there are other options.)
My argument is about what we do next. My answer is that it cannot be job postings and answers to job postings. That ship has sailed. (And nonetheless, congrats on your new job.)
> You sent 450 applications for one hiring. Very roughly speaking this means you expect the employer to carefully consider 450 applications for their one job opening
I think you misunderstand. I did not apply to the same job 450 times. These were 450 different companies/positions that aligned with my resume.
> I'm just arguing that we cannot expect the employer to carefully consider all these applications. There is no point in being shocked / surprised / whatever by this. The sprayed and prayed applications will not be read carefully. The employer will find whichever shortcut to sift through the pile and will carefully consider only a handful of all these applicants.
Which is exactly why one needs to apply to many jobs. Almost every job on linkedin has had over 100 applicants after it's been up for a few hours. If you just apply to a handful, there's little chance you'll find success.
I didn't mention it before, but a CFO friend of mine is the one who told me to spray & pray because it's what she had to do and encouraged me to do the same. She was initially against doing it herself, but she changed her mind. And she is a C-suite and is someone with a large network.
> You sent 450 applications for one hiring. Very roughly speaking this means you expect the employer to carefully consider 450 applications for their one job opening
No misunderstanding. Since lots of people operate like you did - more or less - that's the more or less result.
> Almost every job on linkedin has had over 100 applicants after it's been up for a few hours.
Well yeah. If your job search is going to be answering postings on anything - if you START with the linkedin posting as a given - then you will be competing with hundreds of garbage applications. Yes of course. Which means the employer won't read these all carefully (not possible). And the interview process for these will be aimed at filtering the garbage. And you won't like it. Etc etc.
And no argument that sometimes it works. Of course. It's a common way to go about a job search and on average people do get hired in the end, after a lot of nonsense. Everyone also complains a lot about a broken and inefficient hiring process. The inefficient hiring process is co-evolved with this approach.
People also mention approaching the right people and being fast-tracked through the hiring process. That is also a thing.
