Why am I applying for jobs but not getting interviews?

Are you not hearing back at all (pre-interview rejection), or getting interviews but not offers (interview-stage rejection)? These are different problems with different fixes — this guide focuses on the first: not getting to interview stage.

Applying for roles a level above your demonstrated experience, or in a field where your CV doesn't yet show relevant evidence, will produce silence regardless of how well the CV is written. Be honest about whether the roles you're targeting match what you can currently prove.

Open the job description and list its essential criteria. Then check your CV against that list, line by line. If you can't point to where each one is evidenced, that's very likely part of the problem — not the CV's formatting.

'Strong communicator' and 'excellent problem-solver' are claims, not evidence. Replace them with a specific example: what you did, in what context, and what the outcome was. Specific, checkable detail reads as far more credible than a list of adjectives.

Beyond content, check the basics: is it clearly structured and easy to scan, free of typos, and is every section of the application actually complete? These are worth checking, but treat them as one factor among several — not a magic ATS-beating formula.

If you're applying to a genuinely wide range of loosely-related roles, narrowing your targeting is usually more effective than applying to more of the same. There's no fixed 'right' number of applications — use this as a prompt to review quality, not a reason to stop applying.

Pick your three most recent applications. For each: did the role match your level? Did your CV evidence the essential criteria? Was it tailored, not reused as-is? If the answer is no more than once, that's likely where to focus next — start by checking your CV against a live vacancy.