Why the Job Market...

Feels Rigged
 
 
 
September 16th, 2025
~ Nicholas Brandenburg



I. The Brutal Math of Today’s Job Market
 
 
Here’s the part few job seekers realize: two-thirds of U.S. companies don’t use recruiters at all【1】. That means if you’re depending on an agency recruiter, you’re already invisible to the majority of the market.
 
And for the one-third of companies that do? Even there, your odds aren’t much better. As many as 75–80% of résumés never make it past applicant tracking systems【2】【3】. In other words, the system that claims to connect candidates with opportunity is quietly filtering most people out before a human ever lays eyes on their application.
 
The system isn’t broken because it’s inefficient. It’s broken because it’s efficient at the wrong things — efficient at saving time for employers, efficient at filtering candidates into oblivion, efficient at keeping the power imbalance squarely in place.
 
 
 
II. A Hiring Freeze on Top of a Broken System
 
 
Now add another layer of bad news: the U.S. hiring rate has fallen to its lowest level since the recovery after the Great Recession【4】.
 
That means fewer doors are open, fewer interviews are happening, and fewer résumés make it past the first digital checkpoint. If the train station metaphor fits: two of the three tracks are blocked off, and the only one still running is so overcrowded that most passengers will never get off at the right stop.
 
The math was already bad. Now it’s worse.
 
 
 
III. Why Candidates Keep Playing Anyway
 
 
So why do millions keep applying into the void? Because online applications operate like slot machines for careers.
 
Each application gives a quick hit of hope — maybe this one is different, maybe this time a human will respond. But the payout rate is abysmal. For most, silence is the default.
 
And the cruel irony: the more people play the game, the more companies rely on automation to cope with the flood. Efficiency for them. Frustration for everyone else.
 
 
 
IV. What’s Missing
 
 
Here’s the truth: the system was never designed to advocate for individuals. Recruiters work for companies. Applicant tracking systems work for efficiency. Job boards work for volume.
 
Candidates don’t need another AI résumé builder, another keyword hack, or another job board. What they need is visibility — and visibility doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when someone is actively pushing their résumé, their story, and their value into the right conversations.
 
Maybe the real fix isn’t to keep playing the same losing game. Maybe the fix is to have someone whose only job is to advocate for the candidate — not the company. This isn’t about leveling the playing field. It’s about gaining a meaningful competitive advantage in a system designed to keep most people out.
 
 
 
Sources
 
 
【1】 SHRM Benchmarking Data – Share of companies using staffing agencies.
【2】 Wired – “Job Applicants Are Hacking Résumé-Reading Software” (ATS filtering rates).
【3】 Jobscan – ATS statistics and candidate resume visibility studies.
【4】 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) JOLTS – Hiring rate data, post–Great Recession comparisons.

 
Source URLs:
 

1. SHRM – Percentage of U.S. companies that use recruiters (direct hire staffing agencies)

   https://www.shrm.org/content/dam/en/shrm/research/benchmarking/Talent%20Access%20Report-INDUSTRY-WHOLESALE%20RETAIL%20TRANSPO%20WAREHOUSE.pdf 

2. Wired – ATS filtering percent of resumes not seen by humans

   [Original Wired article: “Job Applicants Are Hacking Résumé-Reading Software”]

   https://www.wired.com/story/job-applicants-hack-resume-reading-software?utm_source=chatgpt.com  (Reddit anecdote supports the experience; Wired coined the concept.)

3. Jobscan – ATS usage stats

   https://www.jobscan.co/blog/fortune-500-use-applicant-tracking-systems/ 

4. BLS JOLTS – Hiring rate data (lowest since post–Great Recession)

   https://www.bls.gov/jlt/