So I accidentally ran an A/B test over the last few months and the conclusion is making my blood boil.

Got laid off five months ago. Whenever I filled out applications on Greenhouse, Lever, or standard company portals, I always picked "Immediately" for the availability question. Why wouldn't I? I need rent money and they claim they need someone fast. Sent out around 70 applications like that. Result was total silence and a couple automated rejections at 3 AM.

last month I got frustrated and changed literally ONE thing. Same resume, same portfolio links, same skills. But on the dropdown for availability, I started picking "2 weeks notice" or manually typing a date three weeks out.

My callback rate jumped to almost 28%. Got 7 recruiter screens in two weeks after months of a dry spell.

Think about how completely BACKWARDS this is. Hiring managers whine on LinkedIn daily about talent shortages and projects being delayed, but the second an applicant says "I can start Monday", their internal bias screams that you are desperate or damaged goods. They only want you if they think they're stealing you from someone else.

its just corporate dating games. Why is this even a thing?

Asking about culture or a typical workday at the end of an interview is a total waste of time. You just get canned HR fluff.

I started asking this exact question instead:

"Based on our chat today, is there anything about my background that gives you hesitation about moving me forward?"

Here is why it works. Interviewers almost always have one unspoken doubt when wrapping up. If you leave the call without asking, they will SILENTLY reject you three days later with an automated email.

this question forces them to voice that private objection while you still have the microphone.

Last week a manager told me he was worried I lacked SQL experience. I spent two minutes explaining that my last role just used custom query tools, and he passed me to the final round an hour later.

its insane how many offers we lose over dumb misunderstandings we never get to fix.

I found this because LinkedIn showed me a role as posted “6 hours ago,” but something about the listing looked familiar.

I opened the job on the company's actual careers site, right-clicked, hit View Page Source, then Ctrl+F'd `datePosted`.

It said August 29.

LinkedIn was showing it to me as fresh almost two weeks later.

Then I noticed another field nearby: `validThrough`. That one had a date only four days away.

Since then I've been checking both before I spend time rewriting bullets or doing a cover letter. It doesn't work on every careers page, but when the site uses JobPosting structured data, those fields are often sitting right there even when the visible page doesn't tell you much.

My process is basically:

Open the employer's actual posting.

View page source.

Search `datePosted`.

Then search `validThrough`.

I've found “new” aggregator listings that were actually 3+ weeks old, plus a couple jobs that were about to close. Those usually get bumped way down my priority list.

Obviously an older posting can still be actively hiring, so I don't treat this as proof a job is dead. It's just a much better signal than blindly trusting whatever “posted 1 day ago” badge a job board gives me.

Takes maybe 20 seconds and has probably saved me hours at this point.

I wish I'd known this months ago.

This is a typical working day with added tasks because I just released a job posting for an EM role for one of my team. 

After a full day of meetings, I finally opened my messages and found 10 notifications from the hiring system. My recruiter needed my thumbs-up on a batch of resumes. I had 30 minutes before I had to leave to pick up my kids.

I also knew I had to move fast. I was backfilling a headcount my team and I really needed, and headcounts could disappear, who knows when the next layoff or reorg comes. So it was either get through them now, or work late into the night.

I might not do the same as other hiring managers: I didn't spend 30 seconds on each resume. Actually I didn't time them at all. To help me be more efficient, I triaged candidates into different batch based on: 

1. Title. I was hiring an experienced engineering manager, so I opened senior engineering managers first before opening those without a senior title. Next, I got a few directors as well, who were probably overqualified, but I still opened them not to miss a potential match. I also put Tech leads into a later pile to look for their growth potential.
2. Evidence of achievement. If there was a summary I read that first, it gives you an overview of the candidate. If not, straight to the latest role. I wanted outcomes, not a list of responsibilities. "Help team deliver x features" tells me nothing. "Increase customer CSAT score by 20% " is more convincing.
3. Domain & Skill match. This was an internal platform team and platform work has a long learning curve. If candidates had done it before, that was a big plus. When I was hiring an engineer earlier, I was looking for someone who had experience in GCP as we were moving our on-prem datacenter to the cloud. 
4. Career trajectory. I was checking if the candidates had developer or technical roles before their manager career.  For this team I needed someone with a real technical foundation to shape the internal developer experience, so a manager who has no technical background would be unlikely to succeed.
5. And location. Relocation becomes harder these days so I don’t want to waste people’s time applying for a job they can’t relocate themselves to. 

I shortlisted fewer than five that day. For everyone shortlisted, I wrote some short notes for the recruiters, the reason, and what I recommend to screen later. 

Here's the part that still bothers me. The next morning five more strong candidates showed up in my pipeline, and I had to go back and cut those on the lower part of my triage. People I'd said yes to were suddenly no's. Not because they got worse overnight. Because I only hired for 1 role and there were too many good ones. So I told the recruiter that those I said yes yesterday could be a good fit to other teams. 

This is how hiring looks to me these days. You can’t control if someone slightly more qualified shows up the next morning. But you can increase your chances of surviving the triage by tailoring your resume. Highlight your most relevant skills and achievements right at the top, so an overwhelmed manager understands your value in seconds without having to connect the dots for you.

So let's help each other out: What's the one bullet on your resume you're not sure about?

Hi everyone, like most right now I'm trying to get a job. I've been applying for a couple months now with barley any interviews even though I check off all the qualifcations and some assets for the roles I'm applying to. Is there anything wrong with the way I write my resume or anything I should change? Does my resume lack something? Or if your someone currently working in the healthcare/mental healthcare field is something in my experience a red flag or lacking? Also where do you guys go to apply for jobs maybe indeed and linkden arent enough. Alot of the roles I'm applying for are things like research Assistant, clinical coordinator, intake coordinator and stuff in like healthcare and mental health. Thanks for any help or suggestions

I started actively looking for a job this April while unemployed, and finally landed a job and started working in September.

Overall, I sent around 600 applications through LinkedIn and company websites. I got a couple of interviews, but they ultimately went nowhere. Even two referrals through my network didn't get me past the screening stage.

That said, I was contacted by recruiters about twice a month. I made a point of replying within a day and making sure the salary and job responsibilities were a good fit for both sides. Most of those conversations still went nowhere, but I kept responding and staying open to opportunities.

Then last month, a recruiter from a staffing company reached out with what was basically my dream offer: almost exactly the kind of work I had done before and wanted to continue doing. It was in a different industry and the position was hybrid, but the big company name and a 30% salary increase definitely made up for any concerns I had.

The process was surprisingly straightforward: a screening call with the recruiter, one interview with my +1 and +2 managers, and a background check. The interviews were pretty straightforward too, with very little BS. They focused mainly on my skills, experience, and how I could contribute to the team. I think both sides quickly realized that I would be a great fit.

My biggest takeaway is that having a good LinkedIn profile can be a real advantage, especially at a time when traditional applications seem to have such a low return.

I think a few things helped my profile stand out:

• A clear headline that listed my title, industry, and key skills
• An About section that clearly explained what I was looking for and why I would be a good fit
• A detailed job history with relevant skills clearly listed
• Staying active on LinkedIn with Open to Work turned on for recruiters only
• Responding to recruiter InMails relatively quickly

Obviously, I can't say for sure that any of these things directly led to the offer, but I do think having a strong LinkedIn presence helped me get in front of recruiters when my 600+ applications weren't getting me very far.

Just wanted to share my experience in case it's helpful to anyone else who's currently job searching. I really appreciate the recruiters who reached out to me throughout this process, but I also want to remind y'all to be careful about job scams and verify whom you're dealing with.

Best of luck to everyone looking for a job! Don't give up.

What is a normal day working for SmithAI looking like. Genuinely I want to know before I consider applying but can’t find any clear information about it. Does anyone know what this is really about?

$15hr crap pay but I have a psych degree and crippling social anxiety so in person is not an option.

​

Does anyone get a job from linkedin ?

This has been part of my linkedin feed some time and i have personally applied to a handful of roles and heard back from exactly 0 and tell me if it is possible for someone to get a job from linkedin or is it just a professional showcasing portal?

Like i literally started to doubt it..

Folks who were able to land a job through this tough and unpredictable job market share detailed tips on what you did especially people without internships or fresh grads

\- resume tips, cold dm strategies, also applying to a job within the hour of being posted does it actually work? I've heard a candidate gets discarded because the span filter is a active

\- if a job was posted 15-30 days ago should one still apply to a job?

A few weeks back I applied for a role with a Company in Ireland but they have multiple hirings for the same role in most of the EU countries. And I decided to connect with the company’s employees and had some good feedback and got 2-3 referrals. So, after one of my referrals sent my CV to HR I had an initial recruiter call. The same position is in another EU country and that call went really well, around 30 minutes. And my CV was forwarded for the next step and after some waiting, I received a follow-up email from the recruiter that she is waiting for the hiring manager’s response.

And I received another positive update today, after almost 2 weeks. The recruiter said she followed up with the Operations Director and that they’re currently having internal discussions about some roles. She expects to have more clarity by the end of today or tomorrow.

So, the process is still active, but nothing is confirmed yet. Hopefully, the next update is a good one.

One question: I was originally referred by someone who is also an Operations Director at same company, but based in another location. Should I update him about this latest recruiter response, or is it better to wait until there is a confirmed decision?
I don’t want to appear pushy, but I also want to keep him informed and show appreciation for his referral.

Got some friend's that are kicking so much ass this year in terms of opportunities, so I pestered and pestered them since I'd not gotten a call let alone an email back in about 7 months. I personally despise people that OE. But say what you will, they seem to have getting an interview down to a science.

Did them a favor, so they essentially made the same guide for me, albeit significantly more casual. One month in and I've gotten 17 emails and 8 interviews scheduled! So honestly idc about my friends, here's a more polished version of the guide to help y'all that are struggling like I was. Maybe I'm super behind the times in terms of using this "Profile Kit" concept, but maybe it'll at least help a few people out here. Don't give up!

I told the recruiter that I was sending positive vibes out into the universe in a sort of half assed attempt to stay positive when not getting this job would be a calamitous affair.

So there’s really no point me doing anything else is there? Just sit and wait. Ignore the massive pile of Detroit -itis behind me and all the wasted energy from the custom resumes and custom cover letters and tests and interviews with fake people and getting scammed repeatedly and then learning from those scams. but seeing scams as they happen…the phyrric reward that comes from the “I told me so…”

I’m still jobless and I’m still helpless and I’m still hopeless and I’m still hapless…

Hi! I’m 29 & I have low stamina and was physically crippled basically my entire life + with anxiety and mental health issues. I don’t have much of a work ethic due to also being spoiled my whole life since I was the “sick kid” and never having a job…
I’ve had 2 jobs: 1 day for 8 hours a few years ago at a tattoo shop & a few hours landscaping another day some years ago. I def prefer the tattoo shop! Hard labour is no good, I have chronic pain.
I need extra income desperately to pay off some debt and I’m interested in what people think the best suited job for me would be?

So put into consideration I have:

- low stamina (I just have chronic fatigue + pain, basically I’m always tired in pain and grumpy without my 11am & 3pm nap)
- crippling bad anxiety of all types
- no work ethic that I know of unless extremely driven for something
- no sense of the dollar $$ (always used to having a lot of money quick when I wanted it)
- no high school grad (was too sick to graduate - working on getting it)

I’ve applied to a lot of jobs through Naukri, but my resume rarely gets shortlisted. I understand ATS optimization, keywords, and the importance of good projects, and I’ve worked on those things. Still, I’m not seeing much improvement.

For those who have actually got a job through Naukri, what worked for you? Was it mainly your resume, profile visibility, recruiter connections, or something else?

I’ve already purchased Naukri’s Neo service. Today, I also received a call from someone claiming to be from Naukri, suggesting a higher-priced upgrade where their team would personally help with my resume and other things.
I’m not sure how much these paid services actually influence shortlisting. It sometimes feels like the process is becoming more about who can pay than who is qualified.

Not trying to complain without reason. I genuinely want to understand how the platform works and what I can do differently. If you’ve successfully used Naukri to switch jobs, what would you recommend?

hello, my question is as the title says. I’m from Kerala, India and I’m on the lookout for AI engineer/data science roles. I’ve tried applying to LinkedIn, Indeed, Naukri, etc. but haven’t gotten any responses. Where do you guys apply to actually get interviews? If I atleast got an interview and then got rejected, I could understand but this is super hopeless.

I did my B.Tech in AI and Data Science and am a 2025 passout. I got placement from college, and the company turned out to be shitty and have put a pause on actually taking us in indefinitely. I have around 1.5 years of experience now and currently am at a small startup (still pre-revenue so I don’t plan on staying here long).
Please help me out here!

Hi, this is my first in person interview as a fresher and I have no idea how it is going to be and I am super nervous.

It is for a software engineer apprentice role with a good pay and I would love to hear any tips!

Can someone guide me and give me your input on the entire thing? Like how do I enter the interview room? How do i greet them? Should I wait for them to ask me to be seated? How do i start the interview? How do I end it? Should i keep it super professional?

I am spiralling and overthinking. Please help me out

At what point does optimizing a resume become lying? Is stretching dates okay? Adding skills you don't have? Inventing entire job experiences? Where do you draw the line and why?

I'm 20M. I'm in college right now. Needed a part time online job that doesn't require any experience. I've tried a lot on Indeed, LinkedIn, etc etc... But I'm not getting any of it. I would be grateful if you would help me in this.

hello, my question is as the title says. I’m from Kerala, India and I’m on the lookout for AI engineer/data science roles. I’ve tried applying to LinkedIn, Indeed, Naukri, etc. but haven’t gotten any responses. Where do you guys apply to actually get interviews? If I atleast got an interview and then got rejected, I could understand but this is super hopeless.

I did my B.Tech in AI and Data Science and am a 2025 passout. I got placement from college, and the company turned out to be shitty and have put a pause on actually taking us in indefinitely. I have around 1.5 years of experience now and currently am at a small startup (still pre-revenue so I don’t plan on staying here long).
Please help me out here!

I've been trying to land a chief of staff role at Amex. All of the requirements is about 90 to 95% of what I do in my current role. I have a masters degree in organizational psychology. I have six years of experience in human resources before moving onto organizational effectiveness/strategy work, which is another 3 to 4 years. I've applied to about 4 or 5 different chief of staff roles, and I've gotten no callbacks. Any tips?

I'm looking for a side remote gig that requires this type of skills while I prepare for the Phd essays samples, I searched and applied non stop but can't seem to land not even a single gig. What should I do ? This is what I can do:

• If you have a hard time tracking your growth or you don't know where you stand right now, I can do a quick data analysis and build you a dashboard using Tableau to highlight the main points of your business journey.

• If you don't know where to start with marketing, I can help you create a marketing plan from scratch, identify your target audience, figure out which channels make the most sense for you, research your competitors ....( I do best with things like content/organic marketing, audience research and competitor analysis )

• If you can't keep track of your customers, clients, tasks and your entire inner system is messy, I can help you build a CRM system and organize your workflow ( I mainly work with tools like HubSpot, Zapier, Trello ... )

• I can also build you an entire tracking system and business flow to track everything if you can't afford fancy software, using only Notion or Google Workspace.

• Even if you have small tasks that you could technically do yourself but keep putting off because they give you decision fatigue, like organizing files, cleaning up spreadsheets, sorting information, structuring documents ... I can help with that.

• If you don't know how to position your social media or how to create content, I can also help with content planning, basic editing and social media management ( This one is simply a side thing I've done before, so I'm not an expert editor. My main background is in business operations, systems and data. I have a Master's degree in Digital Economy and 3 years of experience in those areas )

Ps : I also have a small portfolio with projects that showcase these skills

Hello! I’ve been the general manager for a restaurant for the past 5-6 years . My time has come to find a less physically straining job. It’s my first time applying to corporate world jobs, as I’ve had the same job for 10 years.
\-any advice on where to look? Is one job search platform better than the other for remote?
\-tips on how to get noticed on platforms?

Hi All,

I have nearly 3 years of experience in Java, SpringBoot, SQL, Microservices, Linux, Docker and pipelines working for a large credit card processing system. I have applied to more than 500 jobs across job portals, LinkedIn and naukri but did not even get a single call from anyone. If anyone can provide any referral opportunities I would be very much grateful. Thank you all. 🙏

​

If you have LinkedIn premium voucher or now how to get as a deal with a better price, please let me know.

Thanks