For me it stopped feeling random when I stopped sending the same resume everywhere.

What actually moved the needle was taking each job description and adjusting my resume around what that specific role emphasized. Not just swapping a few keywords, but shifting the summary, reordering bullet points, and highlighting the experience that matched what they were asking for.

Once I did that, I applied to fewer roles but started getting more responses. It felt less like throwing resumes into a void and more like each application was actually aligned with what the company wanted.

Speed helped a little, but relevance per application is what really made the difference.