I work as a consultant (yes with an MBA LOL!) in banking.
I had a devil of a time during the Great Recession and was driven into dire poverty. I tried all the things this guy in the story is trying - I applied for all sorts of jobs. Nothing. It was just a pure waste of time.
Those who suggested cutting and pasting certain key words and phrases into their resume are correct. That’s definitely a good idea.
I work almost totally through headhunters now. Most of the headhunters who call me are Indian and its very rare that anything ever comes from dealing with them. They just look for jobs, do a keyword search of resumes and then call you up and plug your info into the job application.
What has been productive for me has been working with the same headhunters I’ve worked with for years....usually local to the market. They have actual connections to the hiring managers in the companies and have every incentive to send them good candidates rather than duds. If you do a good job after they place you a couple times, they know you’re solid and they’ll keep placing you with other roles.
Also, I’ve worked mostly with the same few banks. After they hire you and you do a good job, you can cite this manager and that one etc in their bank who you worked for before. They’ll just contact a few of those managers and after getting assured that you’re a solid worker, they’re happy to have you. Once one or two big banks hire you, others figure your solid and they’ll hire you.
BUT....it was absolute hell breaking in. It took me YEARS before anybody would give me one freaking chance in this industry. My experience in other industries was apparently worthless (this industry tends to be very snobby that way). To anybody who thinks I have it good now, you have no idea how many chit sandwiches I had to eat before finally getting to where I am.
The way I broke into the industry where I worked for a couple of decades was a bit of luck.
It was a new business, nobody knew how to do it, and I had great public speaking skills and proved it at the interview.
They wanted to be dazzled with nonsense—and they hired me to do exactly that to potential clients.
;-)