Right now, tech is having a rough time in the job market. Maybe it was your turn to be laid off, or maybe the company rescinded the offer after you accepted it. Either way, many people are having a tough time now.

The main takeaway from this is to ensure at a glance, the reviewer can see why hiring you would benefit the company. Making it easy to visualize this for the reviewer would make it easier for you.

Keep in mind that the reviewer might not be a technical person or a person at all. So, use clear and simple language with lots of keywords.

Why hire you

Assuming you get past the AI stage, how do you grab the attention of the reviewer?

You need to state what you did and, importantly, how that helped the company. For example:

• Made the homepage faster

That's bad on purpose. A much better example would be:

• Significantly improved homepage speed by 2 seconds, amplifying user satisfaction and retention rates

The main reason why this is better is because it makes clear what you did and why it helped the company. Having a snappier experience on the homepage is something most companies would want. Another reason is the retention rates and user satisfaction, depending on the position and how frontend-focused it is.

While it is recommended to redo your resume for every job you want, in practice, make a good one or a few that they alternate depending on the job you're looking for. For example, a full-stack developer would have three: one for the backend skills, one for the frontend skills, and one that covers both.

Sadly, it is a numbers game

Sadly, it is a numbers game. Apply to enough jobs, and you should land one in time. Yes, you do need to be prepared. Have a nice resume, do some LeetCode questions, and handle the culture interviews well. The market is tough right now, so we just need to ride it out.