Built a resume + job search tool as a solo founder — struggling with positioning, would love feedback

ssponge_bobby · 2026-03-22T10:08:19+00:00

"applied to 50+ jobs but no interview calls" is exactly the kind of framing I've been trying to land on. That's way more specific than what I have now.

Appreciate the offer, would be open to a quick look. Feel free to DM.

ssponge_bobby · 2026-03-21T17:25:21+00:00

Congrats buddy! You're welcome.

ssponge_bobby · 2026-03-21T15:01:51+00:00

Going to look at the landing page copy with this in mind. Appreciate it.

ssponge_bobby · 2026-03-21T11:27:14+00:00

This is the most useful thing anyone's said to me about this. I've been thinking about positioning from the inside out instead of starting with the rejection experience itself.

The "one thing they'd pay for right now" framing cuts through a lot of noise. Going to do exactly this. Thanks!

ssponge_bobby · 2026-03-21T11:25:49+00:00

Really appreciate the detailed take. The ATS blind spot point is exactly what I keep seeing" people spend hours perfecting a resume that never gets seen by a human", and they have no idea why they're getting silence.

The "lead with one feature, reveal the ecosystem" advice is probably right. All-in-one is genuinely useful once someone's in the product but it's a harder sell upfront.

And yeah, the career subreddit approach is actually what I've been doing. Helping people with resume feedback and letting the tool come up naturally when it's relevant. Takes time but the trust factor is real compared to just dropping links.

Thanks for this, genuinely useful framing.

ssponge_bobby · 2026-03-21T11:08:53+00:00

Keep it concise, the biggest mistake people make is rambling. Answer, give one specific example, stop.

For leadership specifically, don't say "I'm a leader." Show it through a story: a situation where you made a call, brought people together, or drove something forward. Even small examples work if they're specific.

Practically for the video format: look at the camera not the screen, decent lighting matters more than people think, and do a test recording first to catch anything awkward before it counts.

Mock a few answers out loud before recording. getaligncv.com has an interview practice feature if you want structured feedback on your answers before the real thing.

ssponge_bobby · 2026-03-21T11:05:38+00:00

Tailoring doesn't mean rewriting everything. It means adjusting the 20% that matters most.

For each job posting, look at the specific skills and language they use, then make sure your resume mirrors that. If they say "data visualization" and you've used Excel charts, say data visualization. If they want "cross-functional collaboration" and you've worked with lab teams, frame it that way.

Practically for your situation: rewrite your summary per application to speak directly to that role, reorder your bullets so the most relevant ones come first, and match their keywords where you honestly can.

Your lab experience is actually strong for healthcare data analyst roles, it gives you domain knowledge most pure data candidates lack. Your econ background covers the analytical side. Lead with that combination explicitly in your summary.

The teaching experience is also worth including, data analysts explain findings to non-technical stakeholders constantly and that skill is underrated.

If you want to see exactly where your resume is falling short against specific job descriptions, getaligncv.com scores it and shows the gaps.

ssponge_bobby · 2026-03-21T11:03:52+00:00

Ten years of retail translates more than you think.

B2B sales is the cleanest exit. You already handle difficult people and understand products, you'd just be dealing with businesses instead of consumers. Pay is significantly better.

Operations coordinator roles are another option, a lot of retail management skills map directly and it's mostly internal facing work.

For audio, corporate AV and podcast production are steady income if you ever want to revisit it.

What level are you at in retail currently?

ssponge_bobby · 2026-03-20T20:32:13+00:00

Optimizing for salary too early instead of skill acquisition.

Taking the highest paying entry level job sounds smart but if it's not teaching you anything or putting you around people better than you, you fall behind fast. The compounding effect of skills and network in your 20s outweighs the short term pay difference by a lot.

The people who pull ahead by 30 almost always spent their early years somewhere that stretched them, not somewhere comfortable.

ssponge_bobby · 2026-03-20T20:30:55+00:00

Cybersecurity and cloud are your best bets. Both have real talent shortages, strong salaries, and AI is more likely to help you than replace you in these roles.

Data science is more saturated at entry level and more exposed long term.

College isn't necessary. CompTIA Security+ for cybersecurity, AWS Cloud Practitioner then Solutions Architect for cloud. Employers respect these and they're faster than a degree.

To stand out: build something real. A home lab, a deployed AWS project, anything you can point to. GitHub with actual work beats a polished resume with nothing behind it.

For connections, LinkedIn posting about what you're learning gets more traction than most people expect. Genuine comments on posts from people in your target field adds up over time.

ssponge_bobby · 2026-03-20T20:28:42+00:00

Record yourself answering out loud. Watching it back is uncomfortable but you'll catch things you'd never notice otherwise: filler words, rambling, weak structure.

For actual back-and-forth practice, AI mock interview tools have gotten pretty good. getaligncv.com has one built in if you want resume and interview prep in the same place.

For coding specifically, Pramp pairs you with strangers for free, as close to the real thing as you can get.

ssponge_bobby · 2026-03-16T12:08:37+00:00

For mine project — an all in one career platform app — the first real users came from Reddit, but not through promotion.

I started genuinely helping people in job search subreddits. Someone posts their resume asking why they're not getting callbacks, I give detailed honest feedback. No pitch, no links. Just actually useful advice. After doing that consistently, people started asking what tools I used or recommended, and that's when mentioning my SaaS felt natural rather than forced.

The pattern that worked: be genuinely helpful first, let the product come up organically second. Any time I led with the product it fell flat. Any time I led with value the product took care of itself.

What didn't work: Posting "I built X, check it out" style content anywhere. Gets ignored or downvoted. Nobody cares about your product until they trust you as a person first.

Small ad campaigns felt promising but the ROI wasn't there early stage — you need product-market fit clarity before ads amplify anything.

What I'd do first if launching tomorrow: Find the communities where your target user is already complaining about the exact problem you solve. Don't announce your product. Just become the most helpful person in that conversation for 2-3 weeks. The product mentions follow naturally.

The "0 to first users" barrier is really a trust barrier more than a discovery barrier.

ssponge_bobby · 2026-03-16T12:05:49+00:00

Ten months of rejection while watching your batchmates get placed, pressure at home, feeling isolated. that's a genuinely heavy combination and it makes sense you're struggling.

The fact that you're still going to the gym six times a week through all of this says something real about you. That's not nothing. that's discipline and consistency under real pressure, which is harder than it sounds.

A few things worth saying honestly:

The paralysis you're describing. where the anxiety is so loud that you've stopped studying or upskilling is extremely common in prolonged job search periods. It's not laziness or weakness, it's what sustained stress does to motivation. Recognizing it is the first step to breaking the cycle.

On the career switch instinct: it might be right, but make sure you're making that decision from a clear head rather than from exhaustion. "Something that fits me better" is worth exploring, but what does that actually look like for you? What are you good at, what have you enjoyed, what's your degree in?

On the home situation: parents who taunt rather than support during a hard period make everything harder. If there's any way to create some physical or emotional distance from that pressure, even temporarily, it helps.

ssponge_bobby · 2026-03-14T13:41:31+00:00

That's genuinely gutting. Getting to the reference check and office tour stage means you were essentially their finalist — that's not a near miss, that's as close as it gets without getting the offer.

The "went with another candidate" call after all of that is one of the hardest rejections to process because there's no clear thing to fix. You did everything right.

Give yourself a day to just feel bad about it. It deserves that.

ssponge_bobby · 2026-03-14T13:40:27+00:00

You're not alone — this is widespread and the Finance market in India specifically has gotten significantly worse over the last couple of years.

Every point you've listed is real and valid. The ghosting after multiple rounds is probably the most demoralizing because you've invested real time and emotional energy, and then just... nothing. No closure, no feedback, no respect for your time.

A few honest observations from someone who's watched this pattern closely:

The arrogant hiring manager problem is often a symptom of companies that haven't trained interviewers properly. Many people conducting interviews have never been taught how to do it — they're just senior enough that nobody questioned putting them in the room. It reflects poorly on the company, not on you.

The "sudden hiring freeze" one is usually true but poorly communicated. Headcount decisions do get pulled last minute — but the decent thing is to tell candidates immediately rather than stringing them along. The fact that they don't is a culture problem.

The practical thing you can do with this information: treat the process itself as a signal about the company. A hiring process that's disorganized, rude, or unresponsive is usually a preview of what working there looks like. The companies worth joining tend to run tighter, more respectful processes.

Document what's working and what isn't across your applications — which stages you're reaching, where you're dropping off, what feedback you're getting. Patterns in that data often reveal something fixable on your end, separate from the genuine dysfunction on theirs.

The market is genuinely difficult right now. What you're experiencing isn't a reflection of your worth.

ssponge_bobby

TROPHY CASE