Things i experienced when looking for someone to pay me.
recruiters: right now, I think if they don't work directly for the company, they're not worth the effort to talk to.
process: with scheduling, most take ~1 stage / week, with 3 stages (chat, tech, chat). What's variable is the part after the final stage, and it can be slow..... I think if it takes too long, it's probably not worth it either (a view into company efficiency).
tech round: I think I've had a few initial requests to do leetcode, a few take homes to write code, but the majority have been system design whiteboarding.
Me: fresh out of school (Msc), 0 work experienc, and in the Netherlands (meaning I didn't speak Dutch and needed visa sponsorship in the future). Also, this was 6 months into a global pandemic...
I mostly targeted local (Amsterdam) area companies, which to be honest, the market isn't great. Response rates were low and generally slow, and I actually only got a single proper job offer... (I did get another one ~6 months later).
Me: 1 year of experience, bored with the Netherlands, world is indecisive about whether the pandemic is over.
I spread out job applications across Europe, with a bit of Germany, Switzerland, Nordics, but a stronger focus on the UK/Ireland. I think I got a similar response as the first one, difference being that it was mostly large companies that were interested / willing to go through immigration. I got 2 solid offers here, neither were great on salary...
Me: 1.5 years of experience, based in London. I was on a visa, but any new employer would still need to sponsor the visa.
I don't know if it's just the market, or because I look like I have more experience, I got aws certs, or I wrote more (less edgy?) text in my CV, but I got a near universal positive response to just posting my cv, with the majority responding within 3 days. I did manage to get 3 offers here.