Can’t Get a Job? This Is Why Employers Aren’t Noticing You.

Recently, a job seeker contacted me and said he was exhausted. He had sent out dozens of applications and heard nothing back.

When I reviewed his CV, I immediately recognized the same mistakes I see again and again.

If you’ve been applying, tweaking your CV, and still not getting noticed, chances are at least one of these mistakes is quietly holding you back from getting employers’ attention.

Let's start with the most important one.

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Mistake # 1 - No Connection

I think we've all had (or still have) that one friend you go out with and never get a chance to talk.

All you hear is "Me-Me-Me".

At first, it's interesting to hear their updates, but eventually you feel bored and left out, because the whole point of meeting (at least in your mind) was to connect.

And connection is not a one-way street.

The same thing happens with job seekers in their CVs, motivational letters, networking conversations, and interviews.

They only talk about themselves and forget the other side of the conversation - the employer.

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What Employers Want to Hear?

While businesses value many things, the truth is simple - a company needs cash flow to survive, and your work has to contribute to it.

The person hiring you wants to understand how your skills and experience help the company:

• get more clients

• save time

• generate more revenue

That's the bottom line (unless you're applying to an NGO).

❌ And this is where many job seekers go wrong.

They list what they have, but never explain why it should matter to the employer.

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Connect Your Experience to Company Needs

Let's say there's a job seeker who speaks Spanish.

On a CV, it's just a word in the "language skills" section. But for an employer, that skill can help:

• open a new market

• offer customer support in another language

• understand customers better and improve a product or service.

When a job seeker links their experience to a real business need, they stop talking about themselves and start talking to the employer. This is the difference between simply listing a skill and actually creating a connection.

Here’s a simple question to keep in mind when networking, writing a CV/ motivation letter, or answering interview questions:

👉 If I have this skill or experience → why it's helpful for this company?

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Mistake # 2 - Listing Responsibilities Instead of Achievements

As an employer, you want to make sure the person you hire can actually get the work done. Obviously for that, you need some proof.

Can this person understand my company's problems and clients? Has the person dealt with similar challenges before? What could prove that, besides the motivation?

🔑 The right answer: Previous achievements in metrics.

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Don't be like Patrick

You open your inbox and see a CV from a job seeker named Patrick. He has worked for a Company X for three years, and his work experience says:

• Promoting the company's services through the blog and social media.

  
  

• Collaborating with multidisciplinary teams, streamlining marketing planning, monitoring and reporting processes, designing and implementing solutions.

"Great job, Patrick!" but how can I be sure that any of this actually helped get more clients or generate more money?

Patrick could have:

• Promoted services that resulted in zero new customers ☹️

• Posted actively on social media with no engagement

  
  

• Written blog articles that never appeared in Google search results.

What Patrick has done is the most common mistake of job seekers:

❌ describing responsibilities, not outcomes. And on top of that, mixing it with AI buzzwords that mean absolutely nothing.

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Be like Robert

You go ahead and open another CV, this time from Robert. It says:

• Writing monthly SEO-optimized technical articles in English for a U.S based audience, driving 10,000+ unique monthly visitors and generating 15–25 leads per month via organic search.

I can already hear you saying: "But i don't have examples like that!"

And I'll tell you this: everyone has something.

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How to Write Strong CV Achievements (Even Without Numbers)

I specifically asked a senior recruiter from Estonia the same question, and here’s what she told me:

"It doesn’t always have to be about revenue growth or big sales numbers. If you don’t have exact figures, focus on processes or outcomes.

And she added: "If you don't know what you have improved or changed for better during your time at the company, it might sound harsh - but why would anyone want to hire you then?"

💡I recommend reading my interview with four Estonian recruiters who shared CV tips for foreigners. Although it focuses on Estonian job market, you'll find a lot of good examples that are still highly relevant across Europe.

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Mistake # 3: Making Your CV Only for ATS

Chances are you've heard something about ATS. If not, then simply said it means that in many companies, the first pair of eyes that sees your CV isn't a "real one".

ATS (Application Tracking System) decides whether your CV moves forward or gets filtered out before any human being even sees it.

Now, it's important to understand that not all companies use ATS. And not all job seekers want to work for fast growing startups, large international companies or Fortune 500-type organizations where ATS is most commonly used.

For instance, if you want to work for a small family owned tourism company in Spain, you will never win their attention with "ATS-only" kind of approach.

Why? Read again Patrick's example.

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What ATS Can Read 🧐

There are endless speculations about what ATS can and cannot read. Some say ATS can only read text from left to right, meaning that a two-column CV with a fancy design might break its command and result in lost data.

Others say ATS cannot read graphics or visual elements. Meaning that if you express your skills like this:

ATS doesn't understand what that mean and simply ignores it. And to be honest with you - even a person responsible for hiring cannot fully understand it.

Another common belief is that ATS calculates a "score" based on how well your CV matches the keywords in the job ad. Because of that, there are plenty of websites that scan your CV and the job ad where you want to apply, and tell you how well it supposedly matches an ATS reader.

Why Your "ATS-Perfect" CV Still Gets Ignored

Some job seekers I've helped, have been relying heavily on these tools, telling me things like: "But I have an 87% ATS score, and I've sent my CV to 100+ companies and still don't get interviews."

In the process, they have lost the human touch — especially important when applying to small or mid-sized companies or when networking directly. Their CVs have become stuffed with keywords, but say very little about what they can actually do.

And most importantly - if your original CV is weak and lacks original data, no AI tool can magically fix it. You’ll just end up with a CV that sounds like everyone else’s and do not stand out from the crowd.

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How to Start Standing Out to Employers

I help job seekers uncover what needs to change in their job search strategy, understand what truly makes them stand out, and communicate that clearly and confidently.

With the people I work with, we focus on the hidden job market — creating opportunities instead of waiting for them.

If this approach resonates with you, you’re welcome to reach out!