u/SourcreamHologram

I sit in on hiring panels at my company (not a recruiter, just a team lead who reviews resumes). Last month a candidate had their full street address listed. Someone on the panel, waiting for the meeting to start, pulled it up on Google Maps. Then Zillow. Two minutes later we knew their neighborhood and roughly what their house is worth.

Nobody used it "officially." But I watched the salary conversation later and you could feel the assumption forming: this person is comfortable, they won't push back on the first number. That's the problem. It's not some evil HR conspiracy, it's just human brains doing lazy pattern matching with information you handed them for free.

Before the comments section arrives, let me handle the obvious objections:

"Don't they need my location?" Yes, city or metro area. "Austin, TX" or "NYC area" is plenty. It answers the only legit questions: are you local, do you need relocation, what's your time zone. Street address answers none of that better.

"Won't a missing address look like I'm hiding something?" No. Nobody has mailed an application response since roughly the Clinton administration. I've reviewed hundreds of resumes and never once thought "hmm, no house number, suspicious."

"Isn't judging candidates by address illegal?" Judging by protected characteristics is. But bias doesn't file paperwork. It leaks into "culture fit" and lowball offers where you can't prove anything. The fix isn't a lawsuit, it's not providing the data.

"When DO they need my address?" After the offer. Background check, payroll, tax forms. That's the correct moment: you already have leverage and a signed number.

"Does anyone actually do this Zillow thing?" It took my coworker under a minute while bored before a meeting. Assume the laziest curious person will see your resume, because they will.

Same logic for LinkedIn btw. Metro area, not suburb.

Deleted mine the same night. Took 10 seconds. Go.

Posting this because a month ago I was doomscrolling this sub at 2am convinced I'd wasted 4 years on a SWE degree. If that's you right now, maybe this helps.

Quick context: B.S. in Software Engineering, no impressive internships, live about an hour outside a major northeast city. ~90 applications in 5 weeks, 17 rejections, the rest ghosted me. Ended with 3 final rounds, 2 offers, accepted a Data Analyst role at 70k.

What actually moved the needle:

1. I stopped only applying to remote jobs. Remote postings get thousands of applicants and mine went straight into the void. Local and hybrid roles responded at a WAY higher rate. Funny enough, one of my offers ended up being remote anyway. The point isn't "remote bad," it's that local applicant pools are smaller so you actually get seen.
2. I went straight to company career pages. Biggest unlock. Smaller companies near me often don't post on LinkedIn or Indeed at all. I googled "tech companies near [my city]," "largest employers in [my area]," etc., and clicked through career pages one by one. Tedious, but that's where the low competition postings live.
3. I widened my search beyond "software engineer." I also applied to Data Analyst, Business Analyst, IT, and Programmer Analyst roles. Tons of jobs require programming without "engineer" in the title. Yes, I still want to be a SWE eventually. But a paying job where I write SQL and Python beats a months long resume gap, and you can pivot later with experience + projects. My mentors all said the same: get your foot in the door first.
4. I sent a lightly customized cover letter with every app. One template, swapped 2 to 3 sentences per company based on their mission/role. ~5 extra minutes each. No idea how much it helped, but it cost me almost nothing.
5. I mirrored keywords from each posting in my resume. Only skills I could actually back up in an interview. Don't lie. I bolded them so recruiters catch them on a skim, and added them to my LinkedIn skills too. For the resume itself I used the free Google Docs template from this post. Clean, ATS friendly, did the job.
6. I messaged recruiters instead of applying and praying. After applying somewhere I cared about: company's LinkedIn page > People > search "recruiter," "talent," "early career," filter by location, then a connection request with a short note saying I applied to X role and would love to learn more. Most ignored me. A few didn't, and one turned into an interview.
7. I treated it like a job. 5 to 10 applications a day, daily searches for "new grad," "entry level," "junior," everything tracked in a spreadsheet. It kept me sane. Seeing the numbers made rejections feel like statistics instead of personal failure. Also, watch out for scam postings targeting new grads. There are a lot.

That's it. No referrals, no connections. Just volume + going where other applicants aren't.

I got lucky with timing too, this isn't a guaranteed formula. But it beats sending 200 apps into the same oversaturated LinkedIn postings as everyone else.

Don't give up. It only takes one yes.

Posting this because a month ago I was doomscrolling this sub at 2am convinced I'd wasted 4 years on a SWE degree. If that's you right now, maybe this helps.

Quick context: B.S. in Software Engineering, no impressive internships, live about an hour outside a major northeast city. ~90 applications in 5 weeks, 17 rejections, the rest ghosted me. Ended with 3 final rounds, 2 offers, accepted a Data Analyst role at 70k.

What actually moved the needle:

1. I stopped only applying to remote jobs. Remote postings get thousands of applicants and mine went straight into the void. Local and hybrid roles responded at a WAY higher rate. Funny enough, one of my offers ended up being remote anyway. The point isn't "remote bad," it's that local applicant pools are smaller so you actually get seen.
2. I went straight to company career pages. Biggest unlock. Smaller companies near me often don't post on LinkedIn or Indeed at all. I googled "tech companies near [my city]," "largest employers in [my area]," etc., and clicked through career pages one by one. Tedious, but that's where the low competition postings live.
3. I widened my search beyond "software engineer." I also applied to Data Analyst, Business Analyst, IT, and Programmer Analyst roles. Tons of jobs require programming without "engineer" in the title. Yes, I still want to be a SWE eventually. But a paying job where I write SQL and Python beats a months long resume gap, and you can pivot later with experience + projects. My mentors all said the same: get your foot in the door first.
4. I sent a lightly customized cover letter with every app. One template, swapped 2 to 3 sentences per company based on their mission/role. ~5 extra minutes each. No idea how much it helped, but it cost me almost nothing.
5. I mirrored keywords from each posting in my resume. Only skills I could actually back up in an interview. Don't lie. I bolded them so recruiters catch them on a skim, and added them to my LinkedIn skills too. For the resume itself I used the free Google Docs template from this post. Clean, ATS friendly, did the job.
6. I messaged recruiters instead of applying and praying. After applying somewhere I cared about: company's LinkedIn page > People > search "recruiter," "talent," "early career," filter by location, then a connection request with a short note saying I applied to X role and would love to learn more. Most ignored me. A few didn't, and one turned into an interview.
7. I treated it like a job. 5 to 10 applications a day, daily searches for "new grad," "entry level," "junior," everything tracked in a spreadsheet. It kept me sane. Seeing the numbers made rejections feel like statistics instead of personal failure. Also, watch out for scam postings targeting new grads. There are a lot.

That's it. No referrals, no connections. Just volume + going where other applicants aren't.

I got lucky with timing too, this isn't a guaranteed formula. But it beats sending 200 apps into the same oversaturated LinkedIn postings as everyone else.

Don't give up. It only takes one yes.