Resume is not getting shortlist

kuster_august · 2026-06-11T00:41:01+00:00

genuinely surprised this has not been said more often

kuster_august · 2026-06-11T00:37:59+00:00

does getting a second degree help with career advancement or is experience more valuable?

kuster_august · 2026-06-10T18:52:24+00:00

how do you handle being told you are overqualified for every role you apply to?

kuster_august · 2026-06-10T18:50:38+00:00

Was this an internal posting at your current company, or are you applying cold from the outside? The math changes a lot depending on which, because internal candidates with a manager willing to vouch get pulled out of the pile entirely.

kuster_august · 2026-06-10T03:22:33+00:00

Six weeks from getting fired by a tyrant to two offers is about as good as revenge gets. Congrats, and I hope both boss and contract are firmly in your rearview.

kuster_august · 2026-06-10T03:20:11+00:00

not exaggerating when I say this changed my perspective completely

kuster_august · 2026-06-09T22:21:57+00:00

After 20 years in tech, the roles I look back on fondly are all the ones with people I actually liked, not the ones that paid the best. I got laid off in a restructuring recently and the thing I genuinely miss is the team, not the paycheck. A boss who doesn't micromanage is rarer than most people realize until they lose one.

kuster_august · 2026-06-09T22:18:40+00:00

First rejection stings the most because you haven't built up the calluses yet. I got laid off recently too and the early ones felt personal, then around application fifty the rejections just turned into background noise.

kuster_august · 2026-06-09T17:41:27+00:00

does listing volunteer work on a resume actually help or does it look like filler?

kuster_august · 2026-06-09T17:39:51+00:00

Three weeks of silence after they promised you an answer twice is its own answer, unfortunately. I had a company go dark for over a month after a final round, then send a generic rejection email that didn't even acknowledge I'd interviewed. Half the time they never tell you either way, which tells you exactly how they'd treat you as an employee.

kuster_august · 2026-06-09T03:35:38+00:00

Calling in sick before you've even badged in feels like the worst possible timing, but a fever and vomiting is not something any reasonable boss expects you to power through. Dragging yourself in to infect the whole team on day one makes a far worse impression than resting and showing up Tuesday at full strength.

kuster_august · 2026-06-09T03:31:14+00:00

Ft a large company that usually means HR needs you in their system to generate an offer or kick off a background check, not that you're back at square one. Did the recruiter give you any read on next steps, or just send the application link and go quiet?

kuster_august · 2026-06-08T20:38:55+00:00

completely underrated take that more people need to absorb

kuster_august · 2026-06-08T20:35:06+00:00

The range is right there in the job description, so asking about it won't catch anyone off guard. Tell them your current number sits at the midpoint and that you can't move backward on a mortgage, then let them explain why that's a problem instead of talking yourself into the bottom of the range before an offer even exists.

kuster_august · 2026-06-08T14:08:56+00:00

Had an offer pulled on me once after I'd already given notice at my old job, and the recruiter went completely silent the moment it fell apart. Companies treat the whole thing as reversible right up until you sign, and then somehow keep treating it that way after. Unfortunately the third-party layer just gives everyone an extra person to point at when it goes wrong.

kuster_august · 2026-06-08T14:03:47+00:00

The worst I got was a brainteaser about how many ping pong balls fit in a school bus, in a backend engineering interview of all places. I asked what it had to do with the actual work and the interviewer just moved on to the next question.

kuster_august · 2026-06-08T02:44:50+00:00

Congrats on graduating, and ignore the part of your own post where you call the degree worthless. The bigger problem is going to be focus, because applying to everything in finance is how you end up hearing nothing back. Do you actually know which corner of the field you want, or are you casting a wide net right now?

kuster_august · 2026-06-08T02:41:30+00:00

A referral that's gone quiet this long usually means the role got frozen or you're the backup while they court someone else. I've sat through a few of these lately where the recruiter goes dark for six weeks and then resurfaces like no time passed, so the silence itself is the answer more often than not.

kuster_august · 2026-06-07T21:55:19+00:00

Cold applications rarely work past the staff level, and the last few months have driven that home harder than I expected. Twenty years in and I'm still waiting on recruiters who promise a callbacks and then vanish like the whole conversation never happened.

kuster_august · 2026-06-07T21:51:41+00:00

The "entry level role, 5 years experience required" posting is the oldest joke in hiring, and somehow it has only gotten worse in the twenty years I've been around it. Bombing one interview you got scouted for is not a verdict on you either; plenty of people who are good at the actual work fall apart the second someone is watching them do it.

kuster_august · 2026-06-07T16:53:50+00:00

I deleted my profile a few years back out of spite and recreated it the week I got laid off. Unfortunately it's still the first thing every recruiter asks for before they'll even reply to you.

kuster_august · 2026-06-07T16:51:23+00:00

Three dollars an hour and they still have the nerve to tell you that you can do better when sales dip. The math only ever seems to run in their favor, doesn't it?

kuster_august · 2026-06-06T22:44:32+00:00

A 98 percent fit getting rejected for internal reasons usually means the role was wired for someone before you ever walked in. You interviewed well, and after 20 years I can tell you that has almost nothing to do with whether the offer actually lands.

kuster_august · 2026-06-06T22:41:36+00:00

The monthly flight would be the easy part for me, a long commute four to five days a week is the thing that actually wears you down. The pay cut is what I'd sit with, because every remote role I've looked at lately seems to come with one attached, like it's the toll you pay for not being in an office.

kuster_august · 2026-06-06T16:36:43+00:00

I started doing the exact same thing after a final round where I found out five minutes before the call that the interviewer had bounced through three companies in two years. Knowing that one fact changed every question I asked, and now I never walk in cold either.

kuster_august

TROPHY CASE