Resume Gets Ghosted Before You Do

Gone are the good times where money was abundant in the economy. People were working 2–5 jobs without worrying about being fired. Companies had openings for every role in every department and the interviewers were all humans who were incentivized to hire. Most jobs were willing to train and roles paid more (adjusted for inflation). Instead of finding jobs, jobs would find you.

The reality hit fast—between 2020 and 2021, the U.S. saw the single largest year-to-year salary jump in history, nearly $5,000 in one year. But that high point didn’t last.

2025 has been sobering. In 2024, there were 150K record layoffs in the tech space with 50K more year to date. Layoffs are prominent for junior to manager roles across all industries, leading to a competitive job market with fewer opportunities. For the jobs that are available, the salaries are stuck in 2020 or in other cases pay far less.

You are not alone

Resetting expectations

Companies have changed their approach to hiring and it’s helpful to reset our expectations to match the new playing field in order to land a job. Here are the main changes we’ve seen:

• AI and automated systems are gatekeepers
  Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) aren’t new, but they’ve become stricter. Keywords, skills, education and alignment with the job description matter more than ever. Your résumé is being read by a robot before it ever gets to a recruiter.

• Experience is used to screen out candidates
  Years of experience, specific tool familiarity, and niche industry knowledge are now used as a filter. If your résumé doesn’t mirror the job description almost exactly, you may not even make it to the interview stage.

• Less training, more plug-and-play
  Employers want people who can step in on Monday and deliver results by Friday. That means less focus on transferable skills and more weight on direct, recent experience.

• Lower pay is normalized
  Companies are leaning into the oversupply of talent. They know people are desperate, and they’re pricing roles accordingly.

• Longer interview cycles
  Instead of one or two interviews, candidates are going through four, five, sometimes six rounds before a decision is made. It’s draining, but it’s also the new reality.

So what can you do?

It starts with a shifting mindset. Don’t take rejections personally. Recognize that the market is different now, which means you have to approach it differently. That may look like tailoring every application, leaning into networking more than ever, or even upskilling into a new niche.

The good news? People are still getting jobs every single day. The ones who succeed are the ones who adapt, stay patient, and keep playing the game long enough to get the right yes.

Make sure you subscribe and share so you don’t miss future posts on how to adapt and thrive in this new job market.

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Sources

National Average Wage Index (USA) : https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/AWI.html

Applicant Tracking Systems: Everything You Need to Know : https://www.jobscan.co/applicant-tracking-systems

Applying feels like a full-time job with no paycheck : https://www.reddit.com/r/GetEmployed/comments/1mumyy1/applying_feels_like_a_fulltime_jobwith_no_paycheck