Job Search Obstacles

Friend: Can you look at my CV? A friend reached out after 18 years abroad. Me: Sure. I opened the file. Eight pages. No structure. No story. Just job titles, projects, and bullet points. Me: Why do you want me to look at it? Friend: I’m planning to return to India. Me: Great. Do you have a job in hand? Friend: No, I’ll return first and figure it out. Me: Don’t even think about it. Friend: Why? Because Job Search in 2025 is Brutal. Me: This isn’t the India of 2007. Back then, expats had an edge—global exposure, niche skills, fewer competitors. Today? That advantage is gone. Recruiters are overwhelmed. Hiring managers don’t have time. For every job posting, there are 4000+ applicants. A colleague who helps returning professionals told me: "Gopal, I had 250+ expats apply for one role. Not one got selected." The market has changed. People struggle because they: ⇢ Assume overseas experience is a golden ticket. ⇢ Don’t align skills with industry needs. ⇢ Have lost touch with networks back home. And it’s not just expats. It’s everyone. As a Business Leader, I See Hundreds of CVs. Most Are Forgettable. ⇢ No story. Just a robotic list of jobs. ⇢ No punch. Overused clichés ⇢ No impact. Too much focus on where they’ve been, not where they’re going. ⇢ Fancy templates, bold fonts, random icons. If your CV doesn’t grab attention in 10 seconds, it’s gone. "I Applied… But Never Heard Back." Sound Familiar? I hear it all the time: "I’ve sent out 50+ applications. Nothing." "My CV looks great, but no one is calling me." Most CVs never even get read. They’re: ⇢ Too long. ⇢ Too generic. ⇢ Focused on past experience, not future impact. A CV isn’t a career summary. It’s a sales pitch for your next role. Yet, people send the same version to 100 companies, expecting different results. Job Search in 2025: The New Rules If you’re still applying the old way, you’re already behind. ⇢ Be Visible. Your next job won’t come from a portal. It’ll come from your network, referrals, and reputation. ⇢ Fix Your Positioning. A sharp, strategic CV that tells a story beats a jazzy one every time. ⇢ Stop Applying Blindly. Forty targeted applications will get better results than four hundred random ones. ⇢ Upgrade Your Skills. The market has changed. Have you? Friend: Wow, is the job market really that hard? Me: It’s not about hard or easy. It’s about being prepared. The ones who get hired today: ⇢ Don’t just apply. They build relationships. ⇢ Don’t just list jobs. They tell compelling stories. ⇢ Don’t just wait. They take control of their job search. My friend sat back, silent. "I thought moving back would be easy," he said. I smiled. "It’s not about easy or hard. It’s about knowing the game before you play it." If you’re looking for a job today, don’t follow the old playbook. Because in this market, hope is not a strategy. #jobs #careers #resumes #cvs

I’ve reviewed 500+ applications as a recruiter at Amazon, Microsoft, and TikTok. This is the kind of resume that gets rejected in 3 seconds. I'll break down why such resumes fail to create an impact and how you can avoid such mistakes. Problem 1: Too much, too soon Two degrees, 15+ courses, and 30+ tools listed - all in the top half. Recruiters don’t need a tech stack dump upfront. Instead: ➡️ Start with a skills summary tied to impact-driven achievements. ➡️ Highlight tools you’ve mastered, not dabbled in. Problem 2: Responsibilities ≠ results Worked with IT to maintain PC and network health. Okay... but how did it matter? Reduced downtime? Saved costs? Improved performance by X%? Instead: ➡️ Write impact-focused bullets — e.g., “Reduced network downtime by 35% through system upgrades.” Problem 3: Irrelevant experience Amazon Prime Shopper role at Whole Foods is listed in detail. Unless applying for retail or logistics, this distracts. Instead: ➡️ Group unrelated roles under a single “Other Experience” section. ➡️ Focus on transferable skills like teamwork, deadlines, or inventory handling — but keep it brief. Problem 4: Projects without purpose Projects sound impressive but lack outcomes. E.g., “Built an AI model to detect human emotion.” Questions recruiters ask: What accuracy did it achieve? Was it deployed? How did it solve a problem? Instead: ➡️ Add metrics — e.g., “Improved emotion detection accuracy by 20% and reduced processing time by 15%.” Here’s the hard truth: Most resumes don’t fail because candidates lack skills. They fail because they fail to communicate impact. If you're not receiving calls from recruiters despite applying to 100s of jobs, it could be due to your resume. Repost this if you found value. P.S. Follow me if you are an Indian job seeker in the U.S. I share insights on job search, interview prep, and more.

“I applied to 200 jobs on Naukri, LinkedIn, Indeed… but no one even saw my resume.” This is what one of my students told me, eyes filled with doubt. And I wasn’t surprised. Because after reviewing 60,000+ resumes, I’ve seen the same painful truth: 90% get rejected by ATS before a human ever reads them. Not because the candidate isn’t talented. But because the resume is invisible. Here’s the reality: Recruiters spend 7 seconds skimming your resume. Job portals use ATS filters to auto-reject anything that doesn’t match keywords. And these small mistakes are costing thousands of people their dream jobs. Here are 10 game-changing details most candidates miss (don’t let yours be one of them 👇): 1️⃣ Missing Contact Info Sounds obvious, but 1 in 5 resumes don’t have a phone number or clickable email. ✅ Put your phone and professional email right at the top, ATS-readable. 2️⃣ No Clear Role Title “Intern” isn’t enough. ✅ Use: “Marketing Intern – Social Media Campaigns” instead. It tells the recruiter what you actually did. 3️⃣ Achievements Without Numbers “Handled client accounts” = vague. ✅ Try: “Managed 12 client accounts worth ₹3 Cr, improved retention by 25%.” 4️⃣ Ignoring ATS Keywords Job portals like Naukri & LinkedIn match resumes by keywords. ✅ Mirror exact job description terms in your skills/experience section. 5️⃣ Not Linking LinkedIn/Portfolio In 2025, recruiters expect proof. ✅ Always include your clickable LinkedIn URL + portfolio/GitHub/Behance links. 6️⃣ Using Fancy Templates That Break ATS Many Canva-style resumes look pretty but fail ATS scans. ✅ Stick to clean, text-based formats in Word/PDF. 7️⃣ Burying Skills at the Bottom Recruiters skim. ✅ Put a “Core Skills” section on the first half of page one. 8️⃣ Generic Summaries ❌ “I’m a hardworking professional seeking growth opportunities.” ✅ Instead: “Data Analyst with 3 years’ experience in SQL & Python, improved reporting speed by 40% at TCS.” 9️⃣ Overcrowded With Irrelevant Details Nobody needs your 12th board marks if you’re 5 years into your career. ✅ Cut the noise, keep it sharp, 1–2 pages max. 🔟 Forgetting to Proofread One typo can ruin first impressions. ✅ Run it through Grammarly + ask a peer to review. I’ve helped 50,000+ candidates land offers at companies like Google, Accenture, KPMG, Barclays, and Wipro by fixing exactly these mistakes. And trust me, your dream job isn’t far. It’s just one strong resume away. If you want my step-by-step guide on “How to Write an ATS-Friendly Resume” that got my candidates hired at top companies, comment YES and I’ll share it in my next post. #resumetips #atsresume #careercoach #jobsearchindia #interviewpreparation

I just reviewed 37 video editor portfolios and I'm officially frustrated. Why is hiring a good video editor such a massive pain point for every agency right now? Here's what I'm seeing: - Beautiful visual effects? Check. - Perfect transitions? Check. - Understanding of marketing psychology and consumer behavior? Completely missing. We don't need someone who can make videos look pretty but someone who understands why we're making the video in the first place. The best editor I ever hired wasn't from a film school. She was a psychology student who taught himself Premiere Pro because she was fascinated by how different editing techniques triggered different emotional responses. This isn't just my problem. Every agency owner I've spoken with is struggling to find editors who think like marketers, not just technicians. For the editors reading this: The opportunity is MASSIVE right now. While everyone focuses on learning the latest After Effects transitions, you could be: 1. Studying best performing ads to understand how to hook attention immediately 2. Learning how to structure a clear CTA sequence 3. Testing different edit pacing to optimize for conversion (not just retention) The agencies that will pay you 2-3x market rate don't need another technical wizard. They need editors who can directly impact the metrics their clients actually care about.

Today, a VP of Product reached out asking if I’d be willing to have a “quick backchannel conversation” about a candidate he’s considering hiring. His reasoning? “You only get the best side of someone during the interview process.” That request stopped me cold. I said yes—but only so I could tell him directly that backchanneling is not a practice I agree with or participate in. I only proceeded because I happened to have positive firsthand experience with the candidate, and I wanted to advocate for them. But I left that conversation unsettled. Let me be clear: - Backchanneling is unprofessional. - It’s slanderous when done to discredit someone. - And if you’re still employed at the same company as the candidate, it can be illegal. No one should ever speak off-the-record in a way that could jeopardize someone else’s opportunity for employment. If a candidate wants you to serve as a reference, they'll ask you directly. And if you're hiring, respect the process: interview thoroughly, ask for thoughtful references, and make an informed decision based on facts—not whispers. Backchanneling is lazy hiring dressed up as due diligence. It violates trust. It fuels bias. And it has no place in a professional, equitable hiring process. Let’s do better. ___________________________________________________________________ 🔄 UPDATE: I want to add a few clarifications based on the thoughtful discussion happening in the comments: The VP of Product who reached out to me was a leader at another company—someone I didn’t know personally. “Backchanneling” refers to the common (and problematic) practice of contacting former managers or colleagues of a candidate for an unofficial reference—without the candidate’s knowledge or consent. I’m grateful for the positive and constructive dialogue this post has sparked. Thank you all for engaging with honesty and care. 🙏

Clearly, the approach to job application assessment will have to drastically change as unmanageable waves of applications - a lot of them being AI generated - are now hitting recruiters. I'm seeing fairly common job openings now often gathering over 1,000 applications within a day of being posted online. A lot of them submitted at odd times, usually the second when the job posting is scrapped by an AI. With the emergence of AI in recruitment, many candidates have put their job search in the hands of an AI agent. These AI bots will scrape relevant job postings, analyze requirements, and then generate an entire application, with cover letter, CV, etc. It can apply to a few hundred roles daily, and will continue doing so until it's switched off, which could never happen as candidates may want to continuously test the market. When looking at these applications, cover letters look exactly the same, using the now familiar AI generated phraseology, and CVs are so similar that they are often assumed by recruiters to be originating from scammers and other impersonators. From a volume perspective, it's impossible for a human to effectively find the right skills and candidates from a stack of 1,000 applications. And old school keyword based assessment are no longer effective because AI bots are peppering generated CVs with keywords founds in the job posting, when they are not copying and pasting entire sections of the job spec. What are the solutions? In the short term, from my perspective, beyond using the usual behavioral signal screening (e.g., time spent on job descriptions, etc.) and adding friction to the application process (e.g., limit how many roles someone can apply to, ask simple thoughtful questions to make sure they’ve put in real effort), I believe firms should start rethinking assessment relative to skills and roles. More specifically, 1). Embed more pre-qualification assessments or simulations before a recruiter spends time reviewing the application (e.g., role-relevant assessments, skills quizzes, situational judgment tests, etc.) early in the funnel to make sure that candidates meet basic requirements. 2). Build talent pools (vs focusing on requisition based recruitment). Basically, proactively building groups of interested and qualified people we can reach out to when the time is right. This requires more planning and a mature TA org though. 3). Ultimately, firms should actively embrace resume-free screening for selected roles. Basically, we skip the CV entirely and ask for proof of ability (e.g., a test) etc. In the long run though, I'd be interested in seeing how the most advanced assessment suppliers will innovate in the areas of candidate identity, skills & reputation portability and recruiter-side AI used to contextualize fit (e.g., using career trajectory, digital footprint, etc.) #JobApplication #CandidateAssessment #TalentAcquisition #Skills https://lnkd.in/eMGpHD2c

“Life After School Is Very Different, Especially for Agriculture Graduates.” This post is for final-year students and fresh graduates. Because what comes after school is rarely talked about honestly. After graduation, the first thing that hits you is confusion. Not laziness. Not lack of ambition. Confusion. You start asking real questions. Should I get a job? Should I start a business? Should I upskill? Should I go straight into farming? You apply for jobs. Then reality shows up. “3–5 years experience required.” Experience you don’t have, because no one gave you the opportunity to gain it. So you decide to “do the right thing” and look for a farm job or internship. You get invited for an interview. And that’s when another shock hits. You realize classroom knowledge and field experience are very different things. They talk about pests, diseases, seasons, losses, and decision-making. And you suddenly understand something important: School prepared your mind, not your hands. Then you watch course mates from other departments start landing jobs. Slowly. Quietly. And you begin to feel stuck. If care is not taken, that season can mess with your mind. You start doubting yourself. You start questioning your choices. Some people even slip into depression. Then another pressure comes. “You studied agriculture, so you must farm.” You begin to feel guilty for wanting something else. So you force yourself. You raise money. You invest. Sometimes without enough real-life experience. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. When it doesn’t, it hurts. Another painful part? You meet people in the field who never went to school, doing very well. And sometimes they mock you. “Why did you spend five years studying what I’m doing easily?” That question can break you. You start asking yourself: Did I waste my time? Did I choose wrong? No. You did not waste your years. School may not give you everything, but it gives you perspective. It shapes how you think. How you analyze problems. How you adapt. There is a difference in mindset and it matters. This is why I always say this: “GET A SKILL WHILE YOU’RE STILL IN SCHOOL” Anything you genuinely enjoy. Business. Fashion. Tech. Hair. Phone repairs. Anything. That skill sustains you while you figure things out. It buys you time. It gives you breathing space. It removes panic from your decisions. And let me say this clearly: Studying agriculture does not mean you must own a farm. Nobody said that. Agriculture has many paths. It’s okay to pause. It’s okay to pivot. It’s okay to learn again. Soon you would find your path. If you’re in that confusing stage right now, you’re not failing. You’re transitioning. And that stage? It’s more common than people admit. If you’re a student or fresh graduate reading this, where are you right now: confused, learning, or figuring it out? Feel free to share your story or opinions in the comments. Repost if you agree with me😊

Nothing is the same as it used to be 5 years ago. The way we consume content. The way we communicate. The way we learn things. The way we do work. The way we talk. Everything changed. So, why are we still using the old methods to get a job? Sending out resumes and cover letters, waiting for responses, and going through multiple rounds of interviews—no longer aligns with the fast-paced, digital world we live in. Here’s how you can modernize your job search: 1️⃣ Leverage Social Media: Use platforms like LinkedIn to build your professional brand. Share your work, engage with industry leaders, and connect with potential employers. 2️⃣ Create a Digital Portfolio: Showcase your skills and projects online. Use websites like Behance, GitHub, or a personal blog to highlight your achievements. 3️⃣ Network Virtually: Attend virtual conferences, webinars, and meetups. Networking is no longer confined to physical events. 4️⃣ Utilize AI Tools: Use AI-powered platforms to tailor your resume and cover letter to each job application. Tools like Jobscan and Resume Worded can help optimize your documents for applicant tracking systems (ATS). 5️⃣ Apply Strategically: Instead of applying to every job opening, focus on positions that align with your skills and career goals. Use job search engines like Indeed, Glassdoor, and LinkedIn Jobs to find the best matches. 6️⃣ Prepare for Remote Interviews: With remote work becoming more common, be ready for virtual interviews. Ensure you have a good internet connection, a quiet space, and practice using video conferencing tools. 7️⃣ Showcase Soft Skills: Employers value soft skills like communication, teamwork, and adaptability. Highlight these skills in your resume, cover letter, and during interviews. 8️⃣ Stay Updated: Keep up with industry trends and continuously upskill yourself. Online courses, certifications, and webinars are great ways to stay relevant. The job market has evolved, and so should your job search strategy. What new strategies have you tried? Share your experiences and tips below!