Studies show 80 per cent of CVs do not make it past the first screen. It is not a Cinderella and Prince Charming courtship. Hiring decisions are made quickly, under pressure, and with limited context.

Clarity and relevance. It’s not fancy resumes, with graphics, tables and convoluted titles. Hiring managers are looking for resumes that are easy to read and decipher: clear formatting, bulleted achievements and text that draws your eye down the resume, without having to work too hard to interpret it.

As for titles, “Workplace Experience Curator” doesn’t appear in a search if the equivalent title in any other organisation is office manager. Your job title isn’t a branding exercise. If a recruiter can’t work out your job in three seconds, an algorithm can’t.

Seek’s senior economist noted that in 2025, applications per job advert have never been higher. It signifies record competition. Being “open to new opportunities” doesn’t mean you are ready. It just means you are one of the over 100 applications being viewed. Get with the hiring process and be in the 11 per cent being considered suitable.

This is where even skilled people can get stuck. They think their experience will speak for itself. They expect hiring managers to recognise their growth and ambition and believe the rest of the story will follow.

But in the initial stages of hiring, everything moves fast. There isn’t a chance to explain things later. The cost of an empty seat weighs heavy, and leaders are looking for hiring outcomes. Reviews of profiles are quick and shortlists get smaller.

Not because the standards are higher, but because it takes effort, time and resources to figure out unclear profiles. Candidates who are easy to understand move forward. Others, even if they are just as qualified, don’t.

I interview people every day. I often see restlessness, fatigue, and the desire for a change. But readiness is often not there. Hiring managers see the same “Are you sure this candidate is ready to move?″⁣.

When asked why they are looking for a change, it’s not that their work has suddenly become unbearable. But something has worn thin. Like “it is good, but it can be better!” For some, it feels that they deserve more. That’s usually when people decide they’re “ready”.

The issue is that this kind of readiness is largely internal. The intention-action gap describes the discrepancy between our intentions and our actual actions. If you want to be found, actions need to follow the intentions.

It’s often why testing or processes have become longer and more deliberate or why interviews are face-to-face and not online. Hiring managers want to see your commitment to the process.

Every year, people enter this period assuming the market will interpret for them. Every year, many are surprised when it doesn’t. Candidates are increasingly disillusioned with hiring practices, with contentment scores on the decline since 2021.

But being found isn’t about being everywhere at once. It’s about being recognisable when it counts. Hiring season doesn’t reward effort. It doesn’t reward intention. And it doesn’t reward how ready you feel for change. The market reacts to what’s legible.

Roxanne Calder, author of ‘Earning Power: Breaking Barriers and Building Wealth for Women’ (Wiley $34.95), is a career strategist and the founder and managing director of EST10 – one of Sydney’s most successful recruitment agencies.