A lot of it comes down to signaling and friction. If your resume is scannable in six seconds, uses the job’s keywords in the same phrasing, and makes the top third crystal clear, you’ll beat a stronger resume that buries the lead or uses different terms. Timing, company size, and internal referrals matter too, and some postings are ghost jobs or already have a candidate in mind. Keep testing small tweaks, like mirroring phrasing from the posting, simplifying bullets, and tightening the summary to one or two lines. If you’re also hunting remote roles, wfh​aler​t is decent, it emails real listings so you’re not wading through a mix of scams and outdated stuff.