Apply to fewer roles, better prepared
Sending dozens of applications a week feels productive. But a recruiter reads for one role, and a CV sent as it is rarely answers their question.
A lot of job hunters share a routine: open a job site, save everything that looks close, and send the same CV to all of it. Two weeks later the inbox is still quiet and all that is left is the tiredness.
The trouble is rarely the number of applications. It is how each one is read.
A recruiter reads for one role
Whoever screens your application is trying to answer one question: can this person do the job in this posting? A general CV answers a different one — everything you have ever done. The part that matters most is often buried in the middle, and easy to miss.
Ten applications prepared properly are usually worth more than a hundred sent as they are.
Choose first, then prepare
Start with openings whose core requirements you already meet. Read the description carefully, find out how the team works, then reorder your CV so the experience they want most is at the top. Each application takes longer, but each one gives the reader a reason to finish it.
Keep track, then follow up
A shorter list is easier to keep track of. Note the date you applied, any deadline, and who you were in touch with. If a week or two passes with no word, one short, polite message is often enough to bring your application back to the top.
Applying to fewer roles is not doing less. The effort moves from pressing send to preparing each one.