Last week I applied to 10 jobs.
One rejected me.
The other nine will probably never say anything at all.

And weirdly… that is what finally pushed me to change my entire strategy.

First, let me be clear: there is something wrong with the market.
Ghost jobs are real.
Getting ghosted is real.
Broken processes are real.

I have the receipts.

I have been tracking every direct application in a spreadsheet (this does not even include recruiter-led processes):

85 applications.
35 responses.
6 interviews.

The average time for a straight rejection? 12 days.
The average time before someone invites you to an interview? 19 days.
My longest delay before starting a month-long process was 30 days.

From what everyone else is posting, I think I am actually doing pretty well.

Still, it is exhausting.
I tailor my resume for every single application just to survive the AI filters. A typical application takes an hour. That is an hour of focused work poured into something that may never acknowledge my existence.

So I am not done applying, but I have stopped relying on applications alone.
I am still reaching out to old colleagues, of course. I am just not putting all my hope there – a lot of them do not have openings that fit, or their companies are dealing with layoffs of their own. It is a brittle time everywhere.

The part of the job search I control vs the part I do not

Applying for jobs is necessary, but most of what happens afterward lives outside my control.

I can customize the resume.
I can write the thoughtful note.
I can fill out the same fields I already uploaded as a PDF.
And when I hit submit… everything shifts to the companys side of the table.

They decide if my resume gets seen.
They decide if the recruiter reaches out.
They decide if the process moves forward.
Or if the process quietly evaporates into nothing.

I do not control any of that.

For a while, I was acting like I did control it – refreshing inboxes like they might magically update if I stared long enough. They never do.

But writing every day?
Posting a few times a week?
Commenting thoughtfully?
Publishing a blog?

That is the part of the job search I actually control.

It is the only part that feels like forward motion.

Why generative effort feels better than passive effort

I am fully aware there is some irony here.
Once you hit “post,” generative effort is passive too.
You wait to see what happens, just like an application.

But the passivity is different.

With job applications, you are waiting for permission – waiting for someone to let you advance, let you interview, let you matter. All the power sits on the other side of the table.

With writing, posting, and sharing?
You are waiting too, but you have already created something that exists in the world whether anyone responds or not.
Your work keeps accumulating.
Your presence keeps compounding.
People can stumble onto it tomorrow, next week, or three months from now.

Applications expire in silence.
Generative work sticks around and keeps working for you.

Both require patience.
But one drains you, and the other builds you.

And in this market, I will take the type of “passive” that actually leaves a trail behind me.

I have given myself a simple plan:

  • write a few posts a week on LinkedIn
  • comment on a handful of posts a day
  • publish on my blog
  • turn off notifications on X (for sanity)

And honestly?
It has been fun.
I am enjoying the writing.
I am enjoying the conversations.
And watching the view counts rise on LinkedIn is weirdly addictive.

And it is already paying off.
A recruiter reached out this week because of something I wrote.

None of this guarantees anything, but then again, nothing in this market does.

So I am going to keep showing up, keep writing, and keep building the small things I actually control.

Because at the end of the day, momentum is the one thing the market cannot take away from me.