A Reddit post recently went viral after a software engineer shared how they applied to 1,147 jobs before finally landing an offer. Five months. Three offers. Over a thousand rejections.

The post wasn’t a motivational cliché. It was raw, practical, and painfully relatable.

After being laid off from a Series B startup, this engineer did what many of us would: took a short break, updated LinkedIn, refreshed the CV, and started applying. Forty applications later, nothing. Not even a rejection email.

That’s where things got real.

The Market Isn’t Broken. It’s Overcrowded

Job seekers today aren’t struggling because they’re underqualified. They’re struggling because visibility has become the hardest part of the process. Hundreds of applicants hit “Easy Apply” for the same job. AI filters screen out CVs before a human ever sees them. And employers are inundated — not necessarily with the wrong talent, but with too much of it.

For candidates, that means the old rules don’t work anymore.

What Worked for This Candidate

By June, the engineer decided to treat the search like a project. They rebuilt their CV from the ground up, cutting it from three pages to one and a half, quantifying every result, and matching keywords to each role.

They automated where possible, used outreach tools to contact hiring managers directly, and practised interviews every day. Over time, they tracked every metric: 400 direct emails, 47 phone screens, 19 technical interviews, and finally, 3 offers.

It wasn’t luck. It was structured persistence.

The Emotional Side No One Talks About

Amid all the strategy and tools, one line stood out:

“This process nearly broke me. I’m a senior engineer with solid experience, and it still took 5 months.”

That honesty is something we rarely see on LinkedIn. Because behind every success story are weeks of silence, self-doubt, and financial pressure. And while candidates adapt, employers need to remember that hiring isn’t a one-way street; it’s a shared human process.

Lessons for Employers

The post should make hiring teams pause. Not because it’s shocking, but because it’s ordinary. If even highly skilled professionals are applying hundreds of times before hearing back, something isn’t working.

Feedback, even brief, matters. Clear job descriptions matter. Transparency around timelines and expectations builds trust, even in rejection.

Resilience, Redefined

What this engineer’s journey really shows is resilience redefined, not just waiting for something to happen, but actively experimenting, learning, and staying grounded through uncertainty.

In their own words:

“The game is rigged, but not impossible. You only need one yes.”

To the engineer who shared their story on Reddit, thank you. Your honesty helps countless others feel less alone in a process that can feel endless. And it reminds everyone involved in hiring, on both sides of the table, that empathy, persistence, and transparency still matter most.

Source: Reddit user’s post shared on r/work (October 2025)