It's tough. You can't take it personally. Most likely if you have a good buzzword list you're worth a conversation at least.

Another data point: 30 years exp, I just finished a job search for remote s/w. Total time to sign was about 5 weeks.

* 10 cold applications, all with good fits and detailed covers and research: 1 cold no; 1 few interviews then a no; 8 ghosts after bot ack

* 1 internal referral: got to final talks

* A few external recruiter engagements: two final talks; accepted one of these; and a few ghosts

External recruiters can be a pain but they have one superpower: the ear of their client.