The strangest thing about job hunting: most people aren’t eliminated by “lack of ability.” They’re eliminated by “thinking they’re doing it right.”

This gets worse in July. When the market narrative is “off-season, no opportunities,” many job seekers automatically switch to autopilot: casually tweak the resume and send, casually prep for interviews and show up, casually browse and apply. Then they get rejected — confirming their own prediction: “Yep, it’s the off-season.”