It's not you.
From the viewpoint of the applicant, the probability of anybody even reading your resume declines as the number of applicants skyrockets.
This has been going on for a while and nobody can deny that the chance of any one person getting hired keeps decreasing because of that. This is what anybody can notice right away.
Both employers and applicants have had to face the dramatic loss in ability to select a suitable candidate, not nearly as well as the established hiring process used to be capable of.
Lots of candidates have already accepted that there were almost no chances left for them to select the most appropriate employer from a variety of outstanding opportunities. And so many times the ideal employer is one to which specific qualifications match the candidate best. That ship sailed a long time ago.
The candidates who can compromise and go outside their established background have the best chance since that might be the only openings on the market. After a while employers get accustomed to it, and it sinks in that qualifications are not as important as they thought they were, even if it's not true.
They're not going to find the perfect employee no matter what they do, as long as it's too crowded.
Now it looks like that attitude has crept down the applicant funnel all the way to those who achieve the most promising interview milestone.
In the best case scenario you're still talking to somebody who can be almost 100% sure that you are not the ideal candidate before you even walk in the door. No matter what your qualifications are. The system has already screened that rare bird right out of the dataset, and they know it. It's just too crowded and it's been that way for a while.
If things don't turn around, more of these employer ships will be leaving the dock too, destination unknown :\
You don't game the system, you need a workaround. If you know someone working at a decent company these networking contacts are better than ever, get you in the door and talk to somebody who doesn't expect a perfect qualification match as much as they would before either.
Depending on where you go and how lucky you get playing the odds of course :\
