Rejection

The two paths every candidate must choose after getting ghosted for the 200th time

No one told you what to do after your 200th rejection email.

They told you to optimize your resume. To add more keywords. To subscribe to that AI tool that promises to send thousands of applications while you sleep.

But no one told you what to actually do when none of that works.

So I will.

What this newsletter is NOT about:

• This is not about resume hacks.

• This is not about beating the ATS.

• This is not about which AI tool sends the most applications per hour.

Instead, I will cover the decision you have to make right now. The one that separates candidates who break the cycle from candidates who stay stuck in it for months.

At the end of this newsletter, you will master:

• Why 500 applications won’t get you hired (but 20 might)

• The question you’ve been avoiding since rejection #1

• How to stop being a stranger and start being remembered

---

It’s 11:47 PM.

You’re staring at your inbox. Another rejection. “We decided to move forward with other candidates.” Copy-paste empathy. You’ve seen this exact email 47 times this month.

Your spouse is asleep. The kids are asleep. But you can’t sleep.

So you do what you’ve been doing for weeks. You open LinkedIn. You scroll through job postings. You click “Easy Apply” fourteen times. You tell yourself this is progress.

Tomorrow you’ll wake up and check your email. Nothing. Or worse... more rejections.

You start questioning everything. Maybe your resume isn’t good enough. Maybe you need more keywords. Maybe that AI tool everyone talks about will finally crack the code.

So you subscribe. You let it blast 500 applications over the weekend. You sit back. You wait.

Nothing changes.

And now you’re here. 200 rejections deep. Wondering what the hell to do next.

You have exactly two choices. Not three. Not five. Two.

Path 1: The Loop

You do the same thing tomorrow.

You tell your spouse “I had a productive day” because you sent 40 applications. You tell yourself “it’s a numbers game” because that’s easier than looking in the mirror. You tell your friends “the market is tough right now” because blaming the system protects your ego.

But at 2 AM, when no one’s watching?

You know.

You know that six months of the same approach won’t suddenly start working on month seven. You know that your savings are shrinking. You know that your confidence is shrinking faster.

You know something has to change. You just don’t want to admit what.

So you blame the ATS. You blame recruiters. You blame AI. You blame the economy.

And you’re right. The system is broken. The market is insane.

But here’s what that changes: nothing.

Your bills don’t care who’s to blame.

Path 2: The Break

You stop.

Not forever. Just long enough to ask yourself one question:

Why the hell am I not getting traction?

Not “why is the system broken.” Not “why don’t recruiters care.”

Why. Am. I. Not. Getting. Traction.

What’s under my control? What can I actually change?

This is the path most candidates refuse to take. Because it requires something uncomfortable.

Ownership.

#1. Why more applications won’t save you

Let me tell you what happens on the other side.

I’m a hiring manager. I’ve reviewed thousands of applications. And here’s what I see every single day.

Someone applies with a beautifully optimized resume. Keywords in all the right places. Bullet points that match the job description almost word for word. AI-polished. ATS-friendly.

Then they get to the interview.

And they can’t support a single thing they wrote.

I see you led a cross-functional initiative that reduced deployment time by 40%. Tell me about that.

Silence. Fumbling. Vague answers. Bullshit.

This is the era we live in. The era of exaggeration. People optimizing resumes to grab attention, then showing up empty-handed when attention actually arrives.

You think hiring managers don’t notice? We notice in the first five minutes.

Here’s the math nobody wants to hear.

You send 500 applications. Maybe 10 get past the ATS. Maybe 3 get a recruiter’s eyes. Maybe 1 gets an interview.

And if you can’t back up what you wrote? That 1 interview becomes 0 offers.

The spray and pray is survival mode disguised as effort… as strategy.

You feel busy. You feel productive. You can tell yourself you’re “doing everything you can.”

But activity is not progress.

Now let me tell you something about the world we lost.

Ten years ago, we heard a fable. Networking matters. Relationships matter. Who you know matters.

And it was true.

But then... the fable got buried.

The market got hot. Demand exploded. And suddenly, the “how great I am” narrative took over. You wanted to flip jobs? Easy. Send 5 applications. Maybe 10. Never 100.

In a week, you were interviewing. In a couple of days, you had offers to choose between.

But your network was still there. It never faded. You just... needed it less and less.

Great times, huh?

Now?

1,000 candidates per job. Sometimes more.

And guess what, mate? You need your network back.

Otherwise, good luck sounding different from the other 999. Good luck making an impressive profile stand out in a sea of (un)impressive profiles. Everyone optimized their resume. Everyone used AI. Everyone has the same keywords, the same bullet points, the same polished bullshit.

More than 70% of roles are filled through referrals and relationships. Not job boards. Not Easy Apply. Not AI blasting.

Relationships.

(I’ll write a whole newsletter on this. But for now, just sit with that number. 70%.)

You’re fighting for 30% of the pie. Against thousands of candidates doing the exact same thing you’re doing.

That’s not a strategy. That’s a lottery ticket.

Step back for a moment.

#2. What “stepping back” actually looks like

But stepping back doesn’t mean giving up. It means stopping long enough to think.

And thinking starts with one question:

What the hell do I actually want?

Not “I want a job.” That’s not an answer. That’s desperation wearing a mask.

What’s your next step? Why that step? What’s the ideal company? The ideal responsibility? What are your non-negotiables? What cultural traits matter to you? What are you running toward... and what are you running from?

Most candidates never ask these questions. They just apply to everything that matches their title.

Senior Engineer? Apply. Staff Engineer? Apply. Principal? Apply. Remote? Apply. Hybrid? Apply. Fintech, healthtech, adtech, whatever-tech? Apply, apply, apply.

And then they wonder why nothing feels right. Why interviews feel forced. Why they can’t articulate why they want this job at this company.

Because they don’t know. They never stopped to figure it out.

Here’s what changes when you get clear.

Your target list shrinks. Dramatically.

You go from 200 companies to maybe 20. Maybe 10. Maybe 5.

And that feels terrifying. Your brain screams “more applications = more chances!”

But that’s not how it works.

When you have 200 targets, you can’t research any of them properly. You can’t tailor your approach. You can’t build relationships. You’re just another resume in the pile.

When you have 20 targets, everything changes.

You can actually learn about the company. You can find the hiring manager. You can understand what problems they’re solving. You can reach out with something real to say.

You stop being a stranger begging for attention.

You start being a person they remember.

But shrinking your list only works if you have something worth remembering.

And right now? You probably don’t.

Not because you lack experience. Not because you’re not qualified.

Because your CV sounds like everyone else’s.

CVs are fucking boring nowadays.

Everyone sounds the same. “Results-driven leader with a proven track record of delivering innovative solutions in fast-paced environments.” “Strategic thinker passionate about leveraging cutting-edge technologies to drive business outcomes.”

What does that even mean? Nothing. It means you used ChatGPT like everyone else.

I did some tweaks on mine. Experimented. Got feedback. Changed again. Where the AI-driven buzz became the norm, I went the opposite direction.

Here’s my actual summary:

“We’re all products! That’s my core belief and the motto behind the teams I lead. Engineering must be more than fancy technical solutions. The customer pain comes first, always. I help product engineering teams become a business partner, drive customer value, move from 0 to 1 and 1 to 10, while keeping operational excellence. And when the uncertainty comes, I help them eat it with a good cup of coffee.”

This is me. My narrative. My voice.

Something AI won’t provide. AI is a pattern-matching tool. My experience is unique. Yours is too.

I’ve been using this CV for three weeks. Four interviews already.

Then you evaluate. Ruthlessly.

What’s working? What’s not? Where am I getting traction? Where am I hitting walls?

• Is it my resume? Am I getting callbacks?

• Is it my outreach? Am I getting responses?

• Is it my LinkedIn? Am I getting profile views?

• Is it my interviews? Am I getting to final rounds?

Every step in the funnel tells you something. But only if you’re paying attention.

If you’re applying to 100 jobs every weekend and getting nothing... something is broken. And “the market is tough” isn’t a diagnosis. It’s an excuse.

What’s broken? What’s under your control? What will you change?

Move fast. Adapt fast. Test something new this week, not next month.

#3. The mindset shift you need

I risk sounding like an asshole here, but let me share a slap in the face with you (as a mentor was kind enough to share it with me when I got laid off one year ago and entered desperate mode).

The market doesn’t care about your feelings. It doesn’t care that you got laid off. It doesn’t care about your bills, your stress, your sleepless nights.

The market rewards people who take ownership.

Ownership means asking “what can I change?” instead of “why is this happening to me?”

Ownership means treating every rejection as data, not as a personal attack.

Ownership means accepting that you might be doing something wrong... and actually doing something about it.

This is uncomfortable. I know.

It’s much easier to blame the ATS. To blame recruiters. To blame the economy. To blame AI.

But blame doesn’t pay bills.

Action does.

#4. Final words

You read this whole thing.

You nodded along. You agreed with most of it. Maybe you even highlighted a few lines.

And now you have a choice.

You can close this tab and send 50 more applications tonight. Tell yourself you’ll “think about this later.” Go back to the loop.

Or you can do something uncomfortable.

Stop. Think. Ask the question you’ve been avoiding.

I can’t make that choice for you. No one can.

But here’s what I know...

A year from now, you’ll either be in the same place, blaming the same system, sending the same applications.

Or you’ll be somewhere new. Because you decided to do something different.

Not tomorrow. Today.

Humanly yours,

Raphael :)