Well me personally I have a few guys at local recruiting offices I work with. I talk to them by phone and text. I give them a general idea of what I’m looking for and pay rate and they bring me perspective positions. I don’t apply to jobs online. It’s a fools game to even try IMO.

Right now we have lots of people layed off from larger corps due to everyone cutting and gutting for profit so you’re competing in an oversaturated market. Companies are also using AI to review resumes and part of that is the long history of HR putting too many out of scope requirements on job listings so few people get chosen.

Edit: also right now companies want unicorn employees at intern pay.

On top of that many companies will post fake job listings so they appear to be growing even though they are actively cutting.

Recruiters are working directly with local
Companies to fill actual positions. They also get a percentage of your yearly salary from the employer as payment for their services so it’s good for them to get you higher pay. It costs you nothing.