The Brutal Truth About Today’s Job Market
When I coach candidates for job search, I routinely find that they have been sending out job applications—in high volume—to scores of companies. They believe applying in high volume is a potent strategy because “something might stick.” I mean, if you throw 100 darts at the dartboard, 1 or 2 will hit the mark, right?
Unfortunately, success in the job market demands a lot more than high volume, ad hoc applications.
The job market is tougher than ever. With AI-generated Resumes and cover letters, pretty much anyone can now look impressive on paper. Features that used to help you stand out—like good grammar, fancy templates, or catchy buzzwords—don’t make recruiters sit up anymore.
Here’s the unvarnished truth: the hiring process is harsh and unforgiving. Recruiters are flooded with Resumes, and superficial tricks like shiny words or phrases don’t excite them anymore.
Today, the only thing they care about is “Value.”
Degrees, fancy job titles, even strong references don’t matter nearly as much as clearly showing that you can help the company succeed—because, frankly, the only reason you are valuable is you have the skills, knowledge, and acumen to help your company succeed. What good are you—or any of us—otherwise?
Consider these points to see how rough things are:
- I read on Reddit that a company received over 16,000 applications for just 20 IT jobs [1]. That means 800 people fighting for each spot. There are other similar stories on Reddit, X, and LinkedIn—across India and the US.
- AI and Machine Learning roles now attract over 250 applications each [2]. This is a hot field and so you have hundreds of candidates chasing every single job opening.
- ~88% of professionals in India were considering a job change in 2024 [3]. More people are turning to LinkedIn every year, making it even harder to get noticed. Plus, if you’ve ever applied on LinkedIn, you know that just about every vacancy with a top company receives a thousand or more applications within 48 hours.
- In Bangalore, India’s tech hub, there are about 218 applicants for every job posted on LinkedIn [4]. I wrote about Bangalore’s high-volume activity on LinkedIn in a previous post.
A job search, today, is no walk in the park. To get noticed, you absolutely need to show the market What’s In It For Them (WIIFT).
WIIFT = Value
Whether you’re chasing an internship or a C-suite job, there is an urgent need to demonstrate high value on your Resume. Value is what wins you attention, trust, and eventually the offer letter.
Read on to find out how you can clearly articulate and demonstrate high value on your Resume.
Why Value Is the Currency of the Business World
Think about the last gadget you bought. You didn’t shell out hard-earned money because the box came in your favourite shade of blue—you paid because the product added value to your life.
Ditto with LinkedIn: the platform rakes in roughly $15 billion a year because it delivers value to two large groups at once—job seekers hunting for opportunities and companies searching for professionals. You are on LinkedIn because you see Value in it—there’s something in it for you.
Businesses operate on the same principle of Value exchange. A company hires you for one reason: They believe your value outweighs your cost. If your contribution equals $1M in new revenue and your salary is $250K, you’re an asset. If it’s the other way around, you’re a liability.
Strip away the noise, and every stakeholder—CEO, recruiter, line manager, even the AI ATS—is silently asking the same blunt question when reading your Resume: “What’s in it for me?”
If your Resume answers this question better than the next applicant—that is, it demonstrates high value—you win the interview. Do it for every vacancy you apply to, and recruiters chase will you and you’ll win multiple interviews.
And it’s not just about lateral hiring—if you master the art of articulating your value, internal promotions will come faster. Your career, almost magically, will take on a snowball effect.
Value isn’t a nice-to-have; it’s a mandatory requirement in this hypercompetitive world. The sooner you understand this and begin implementing the necessary changes, the sooner you stop scraping by and start accelerating.
Why Most Job Seekers Struggle to Show Their Value
Here’s where the wheels come off for most job hunters: their Resumes read like job descriptions, not success stories. They copy-paste responsibilities—“Responsible for managing social-media calendar”—and wonder why nobody cares.
Hint: responsible is recruiter-speak for boring.
Study these three classic traps that keep candidates stuck in the slow lane:
- Copy-paste syndrome – Lifting text straight from the vacancy ad or copying a friend’s Resume. Zero differentiation. Similarly, getting your Resume written by AI tools or people who mass-write Resumes—here too, your Resume will end up looking flat and hackneyed. Your Resume is a marketing document, and marketing is fundamentally about differentiation. If your Resume cannot differentiate you from your competition, it has failed.
- Task talk vs. result talk—Listing duties (“coordinated meetings”) instead of outcomes (“cut meeting time 30 % by introducing 3-point agendas”).
- Soft-skill soup – Overloading on empty traits—“team player,” “detail-oriented,” “go-getter.” Recruiters have seen them a million times; none of these motivate them to interview you. Instead, let your leadership and behavioural traits naturally emerge from the results you have delivered.
You could be a high-value candidate, but even high-value people look low-value on paper when they ignore results and employ trite and overused words and phrases.
The Three Big Signals of Value on a Resume
Recruiters—myself included—scan for three credibility markers before deciding whether to dig deeper.
- Pedigree (Where you studied)
An Ivy-League or IIT degree can get you a foot in the door. But even that shine fades fast if your achievements don’t back it up. - Brands (Where you’ve worked)
A stint at Google or Tata gives you an instant halo. If these companies hired you, then the perception is you are competent and valuable. - Results (What you’ve delivered)
This is the trump card. Revenue lifted, costs slashed, systems streamlined—hard numbers that prove you move the needle. Craft your bullet points like mini case studies. My comprehensive job search course—Raj’s Advanced Guide to Writing a Results-oriented Resume Writing—goes deep into this.
- Pedigree (Where you studied)
I know from experience that you don’t need top-tier companies or degrees on your Resume to shine. I’ve seen mid-tier graduates beat Ivy alum by showcasing killer turnarounds—like doubling sales for a tiny manufacturer or cutting defect rates in half at a local plant. Lead with results and you level the playing field—or even tilt it your way.
How to Start Communicating Your Value Today
Grab a red pen and audit your resume line by line.
- Nix “responsible for”: Swap in verbs plus outcomes: “Launched,” “Optimised,” “Scaled,” followed by a key metric.
- Quantify everything: Percentages, dollar/INR figures, time saved—numbers always leap off the page and grab attention. “Improved customer retention” becomes “Boosted retention 18 % in six months, adding ₹6.2 crore in annual recurring revenue.”
- Time-box your story: A recruiter skims each Resume for roughly ten seconds. If yours can’t answer “Why should I hire you?” in fewer than ten, keep refining.
- Borrow credibility: If you’re lacking big-name logos, talk about industry awards or highlight process certifications—anything that says, “I have solved (or learnt to solve) important problems.”
- Challenges: A hero is only as good as the challenges he’s overcome. Amplify your challenges—budget constraints, limited manpower (small team size), a rushed deadline, extreme competition with opponents offering heavy discounts. The more challenges you have overcome, the more attractive and valuable you become.
Do this exercise today, not “someday.” In a couple of hours, you’ll transform your sleepy and weak Resume into a high-value pitch that wins multiple interviews.
No Value = No Leverage
Let me put it plainly: you’re not competing in a job market—you’re competing in a value market. Employers are willing to pay good money for people who are results-oriented. When you create and communicate results and outcomes, you become highly valuable to the marketplace.
If you sit down and reflect on this, you will find it liberating. Because while there are many variables in a job search that are outside your control—value is a lever you control.
Lead with value, and doors will swing wide open. The market can’t ignore you when you make it see what’s in it for them.
References
[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/developersIndia/comments/17lh3hl/16000_application_for_20_job_openings
[2] https://www.panna.ai/score/us/insights/great-indian-job-hunt
[3] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/jobs/hr-policies-trends/three-fastest-growing-jobs-in-2024-according-to-linkedin/articleshow/107250237.cms
[4] https://www.panna.ai/score/us/insights/great-indian-job-hunt
