You've applied to 30, 40, maybe 60 jobs. You're qualified. You know you're qualified. And yet — silence. No callback. No 'thanks for applying.' Nothing.
So you start doubting yourself. Maybe you're not experienced enough. Maybe your industry is oversaturated. Maybe you're just bad at this.
Here's what's actually happening: most JSE-listed companies — and a growing number of mid-size South African employers too — use screening software to filter CVs before a human ever opens them. That software doesn't reject you for being unqualified. It 'loses' you. A table in the wrong place, a header with your contact details, a font it can't parse — and your CV disappears into a database a recruiter will never search deep enough to find. In a job market as competitive as South Africa's, that one formatting mistake can be the difference between an interview and total silence.
You didn't lose the job. You never even entered the room.
And for the applications that do get through? A lot of strong candidates still walk out of the interview empty-handed — not because they weren't good enough, but because they froze on 'tell me about yourself,' rambled through a behavioral question, or couldn't turn five years of solid work into a story anyone would remember by 5pm.