Answers
Straight answers, first two sentences.
Questions people actually ask during a job search, answered directly rather than at length. Most of these have the same root: the decision about which postings deserve your evening is made too late, or not at all.
If you think one of these answers is wrong, tell us where.
- Why am I getting no responses to my applications?In most cases it is not your resume, it is which jobs you are sending it to. Silence is what a maybe looks like from the outside, and applying to more of them produces more silence rather than more replies.
- Should I apply if I only meet 60% of the requirements?Not on the number alone, and at 60% the honest answer is no more often than the advice suggests. What decides it is which requirements you are missing: several nice-to-haves is noise, one real screening gate is a wall.
- What does “preferred qualifications” actually mean?It means the hiring team would like it and will hire someone without it. Preferred qualifications are tie-breakers between candidates who already clear the real bar, not a second checklist you have to pass.
- How do I know if a job posting is real?You cannot know for certain from outside, but a posting attached to a real opening usually says who the team is and why the seat exists. Postings that have been live for months with unchanged text are more often pipelines than vacancies.
- Does tailoring my resume to each job actually work?Yes, when it means putting the evidence this role is screening for at the top, in the posting's own vocabulary. It does not work as a rewrite that reshapes your history to mirror a job you are not a fit for.
- How many jobs should I apply to per week?Fewer than most advice suggests, and the count is the wrong target. A useful number is however many you can give real attention to, which for a full-time search is usually somewhere between five and fifteen.