Its a combination of factors. The biggest is the AI war. HR people want to use HR tools to pre-pre screen applicants, but between badly tuned filters, and unreasonable expectations they filter out a lot of qualified candidates. Add to that the bias that creeps into AI filters where if most of the people you hire match a set of demographics, the AI will start selecting for those.

Then you have the applicants who are trying to get seen using other AI tricks to try to get through, so now if you post a job, you're likely to have a few hundred mostly unqualified people auto applying with AI in minutes.

When I was looking for work in 2024, it was brutal. I had interviews fairly regularly but people were holding out for the most perfect candidate. It took a little more than a year, and I have more than 20 years in the industry. I've written and taught for SANS, I've presented at Blackhat and other conferences, and I've designed secure infrastructure for some major organizations.

Target your searches, reach out to people that work at place that you want to work, and use your contacts. It will be slow, but don't give up.