It’s just how HR does stuff in the US. Most applications have to go through an automated system for filtering before reaching a person, unless it’s a pretty small company. That system usually requires very specific criteria to get through. Like I remember applying for a seasonal job at Target, around the end of 2010 when I was laid of, and having to fill out a really detailed application online and take a bunch of personality tests. Turns out I scored too high on leadership and had too much professional experience to be a stock person/cashier, so I was rejected before it was sent to the store manager.

It’s not an accident or unintended consequence kind of thing either. It’s how they can have a job position “open” and have hundreds of applications, but still be understaffed and thus force workers to work what should be extra people’s jobs for no extra pay. It’s just how the mega-corp culture is in the US for the most part.

As for the software and some other very technical industries, it’s a similar cultural thing, but on top of that, most recruiters are not technically literate and so don’t know how to judge a technical person, but are made to filter applications before passing then on. My last job had a position open the entire 10 years I worked there and there were no interviews at the hiring manager or team level in all that time. It was an analyst position and I would have hired basically anyone who had the one bit of specialized knowledge if it was up to me. But I did the job of two people the whole 10 years and was never able to move up I the company because of it.

Only reason I didn’t leave sooner was that I didn’t have the funds to get a degree when I was younger and fell into a time when the crazy unsecured loans were not as much of a thing, and most companies filter out software related candidates without a degree up front, regardless of experience. Finally got a degree when I found a program that I could handle while also doing two peoples’ worth of work.

To your first point, yes. Some idiot twenty years ago said to a bunch of guidance counselors that software engineering would be a sure way to get money, so there’s way too many in the US; on top of this companies don’t want to pay even close to a living wage so they import H1Bs. Competition is ridiculous.

To your second point and exacerbating the first… Every company, practically, uses AI screening software, and before that just plain old applicant screening software. Your resume won’t get seen by a human unless you’re lucky enough to get through the layers of screening, so it’s an arms race to guess what they’re screening for and add that to your resume while not exaggerating too much so as to make the human after the screening process to not throw away your resume.

And at the end of this; especially in software but more and more in less specialized, less skilled positions, you have to still do 3+ interviews.