That reminds me of something sort of similar I observed. I was driving with a friend who drives all day for a living. He said that the fellow drivers told him that if you want to get over and you're in heavy traffic, roll down the window, and say "Hi there, do you mind letting me in?" I watched him do it and sure he showed me putting on his blinker didn't work at all, but the direct ask always worked.

times sadly changed very quickly in 18 months. Recruiters are flooded with applicants, they won't respond as often to a cold message. I would indeed say it worked maybe 7/10 times for me in 2019-2023, but this year it's been barely 2/10.

Some are just "ghost jobs", some are on a hiring freeze but want to look like they are growing. Some may simply be apathetic. I had recruiters contact me, schedule a call, and then ghost the call and any follow ups. That's unheard of for me in 2023 or before.

Do you make a separate profile for each job you apply for? That sounds like a lot of extra work.

I usually just wait for recruiters to contact me, which is easy, but I've got to admit it doesn't give me a lot of control.

Yup, I would say I got 9 in 10 jobs this way.