I’ve applied to between 550-600 jobs since December and hardly heard anything back. The past two weeks recruiters started reaching out to me and at this point I’m at least having early round discussions with 5 companies. They’re mostly smaller and somewhere in the health care space, but I went from virtually 0 to having something. Obviously it’s early stages so you can’t count on anything, but it looks like things may be picking up again.
Went a couple months without much beyond form letter “we have decided to move forward with candidates who better align with our needs” rejections. Got one internal apply going now for the sad mega Corp I’m at (but a better team, I’m told), and one referral got a call back.
I think referrals are still the way to go. Sadly even that only goes so far.