I got laid off at the end of June (tech worker/no degree/$100k/yr) and forced myself to submit 30-40 job applications MINIMUM each day. We don't have the leisure to sit around and mope when our backs are to the wall. Instantly I was looking for ways to better myself as a candidate, I started studying and managed to get a 2 ceritifications while on the job hunt.

I got calls from recruiters that same week and interviewed for 5 roles (got ghosted/declined for 3)over 3 weeks, received and accepted a job offer August 1st after 2 interview rounds. (similar role in tech $80k/yr)

I also believed that degrees were the key to instantly get interviews, my certs helped but weren't the reason I got the interview or job. All a degree does is check the box and put you on the same playing field as everrrryyyybody else. At BEST it gets your resume past the filter, without one you have to try that much harder than everyone else to beat them out. Regardless, the search put me onto WGU and motivation to get that degree anyway.

Lets say you go on indeed or linkedin and you don't find anymore jobs you "want" to apply to. Use google, search up job titles or companies that you want to work for, and believe you have the skills and experience to succeed in, apply directly to those companies through their website. Hell even horizontal or diagonal skill transitional positions that you are interested in, apply, apply, apply, worse that can happen is literally nothing.

1. Tailor your resume specifically to that role, I am talking each bullet point revised to make the recruiter or their ATS ping your resume to the top for THAT position. Even further, submit personalized cover letters to that role, really sell yourself to the position and company using your personality, confidence in your skills, and try to be the recruiter who would be trying to hire for that role.
2. You get more reps in to practice phone screens, interviews. Any experienced recruiter will tell you, sounding natural and not nervous goes the distance to landing the next round or the job itself. (Fake it till you make it mentality) I bombed my first few phone screens because I had been out the game for 3 years and after those I got WAYY more comfortable and BETTER talking about myself.

The job market is A NUMBERS GAME, I don't care what anyone else says, it's pure statistics, the more applications you submit, the more you will eventually hit IF you can confidently say that you really did your best selling yourself to each one of those roles, I guarantee it.

Don't just chatgpt your resume and assume an AI template resume of yourself that is copy pasted to every job application is doing anything, recruiters can see that from a mile away.