You can already improve your statistical chance by pre-filtering jobs based on required skills etc. Say, you end up with a list of 10 out of those 1000 jobs and

You can already improve your statistical chance by pre-filtering jobs based on required skills etc. Say, you end up with a list of 10 out of those 1000 jobs and then apply to those. Depending on how active your job hunt is, you might even spend 15 minutes per application and tailor your CV to the job description (use the same keywords, highlight relevant experience, the regular stuff). You would already have greatly improved chances and you would not be what employers have a problem with. Remember: If they are able to hire you without a recruiter they save a LOT of money, so they WANT you to apply directly. Btw: The problematic mass-appliers I was refering to are the ones that apply to every damn job on the entire website. Yes, we have those. No, I don't understand their motives either. The only thing they achieve is work for the job site and the HR department, ultimately resulting in the usage of automated pre-filtering that also harms actual applicants.