I found it best to just create a 1 good resume and change the first sentence of your introductory paragraph to align with the role you're applying too; that shows the HR person you paid attention to what you applied too. Sort by latest on indeed, linkedin, etc and shotgun apply to positions that you are qualified for. Even if you have a 0.5% chance of getting interviewed and hired with your application, you're bound to land something within a couple of months if you do this every single day.
Another tip would be to have any employment when applying for jobs, even if it's something completely shit like working as a part-time grocery bagger. You are something like 15% more likely on average to get interviewed if you have a job vs unemployed; that turns 10 applications into 11.5 applications; that turns 50 applications into 57.5 applications.
In a sort of angry knee-jerk response, I tried styling my resume after one I found on reddit (later turned sidehustle slop here:
https://sheetsresume.com/resume-template). My initial resume had a bunch of "about me" and my whole education lined out, but honestly having it boiled this far down makes it a lot more appealing to write a one-off application. I do change a word here or there to fit the application, but other than that, my resume is my past and it ain't changing. I haven't straight-up lied yet, but might be my next modification.
I generally avoid introductions or "I'm applying for this job because-". It's valuable text real estate and it adds nothing unless you use it as a chance to put in one of the few hints of humanity in your resume. "- in case you're looking for a wacky wahoo office drone, who don't mind wiping down the kitchen" or whatever. At this point, filling out the competence buzzwords is to be expected - the actual humanity behind not so much. The more humor I apply, especially before AI boils it down, the better. I've seen some quips that had even me fooled.
It's real rough knowing that 80% of jobs are given through internal rearrangement or 'network' (meaning one guy on linkedin goes "can you use
@This Guy?"). I don't mind applying to everything for the next 3 months, but knowing I could've included a short video here or sent it on a personal email there to get the interview is unnerving. I have a feeling I'm downplaying going on unemployment, knowing what hell it was last time, but this time around I've worked manual labor for 2 years and 8 months in an office; surely... surely that'll help.
I'm basically just parking my ass til my old job opens up, hoping to get my mental health back on track and maybe replace drinking and dooming with going on walks or even finding social things to attend. I really feel like this is the time I have to change shit up in my life, and moving ain't really a possibility right now.
The only way to actually increase your response rate on job applications in 2026:
I feel like most posts I read including this are directly aimed at IT and techbro type shit. Most administrative data input monkey jobs I've seen, they still prefer to hire the person as opposed to the skillset. At least I like to tell myself as much. You shouldn't have to straight up fabricate job history if you've already been around the block a bit, but I guess other countries are more cutthroat about employment.