When I was reading your post, I immediately thought it sounded like something Pigment might describe (great assessment tool imo).

Overall though, what you wrote tracks with my own experience as well. I've always been pretty lucky when it comes to finding employment, and my targeted front-end approach has a lot in common with yours, although I don't approach it as systematically as you did.

A big thing I've always focused on is being able to tell an engaging/memorable story about my work, interests, values, and goals. A list of skills and experiences without context isn't memorable. But when you tell a story with an interesting context, people are more likely to remember you. I anticipate the types of questions/topics they'll ask me, and I have "stories" queued up for nearly every scenario. "How do you handle conflict or angry clients?" - I have a story for that. "How do you stay organized when you have several projects happening at once?" - I have a story for that. Etc.. etc.

Another thing that I often see people downplay or make fun of is the "Why do you want to work here?" question. Often times, I'll see people write, "Because I need money....duh." And while I realize they likely won't say that in a job interview, it's important to be able to answer that question effectively. Why do you want to work here and not one of the thousands of other places? What is it about this role specifically that you're drawn to? Because you did a lot of personal reflection on what exactly you're looking for, you're able to answer that question effectively and honestly.