My situation is somewhat different but there's similarities. Also over 50 (barely), skills are not exactly outdated (Azure data engineering/analytics), but bee

My situation is somewhat different but there's similarities. Also over 50 (barely), skills are not exactly outdated (Azure data engineering/analytics), but been looking for a job since being laid off early in the pandemic (going on 1.5 years gap on the resume). Took a few months hiatus in 2020 since the job market was pretty much dead and got a few certifications. Just this month got 4 rejections, partly because of big gap on the resume (specifically mentioned in one of the rejections). Being older white non-veteran male doesn't help either. What I'm finding interesting is how people surprised that it has been difficult to find a job if you were laid off during or right before the lockdowns. I don't think people realize how difficult it has been to find a job in this environment. I'm also not observing "labor shortage" which is presumably the result of a "big resignation". Companies are taking their time responding to the applications and scheduling interviews, recruiters and HRs routinely disappear if you don't follow up, a huge percentage of my applications never get answered at all without a way to follow up (I only apply where I see some fit with my skillset), requirements are very specific and at times not realistic. Applied for a position which required min 5 years of experience with Azure Synapse which only went live in 2020. Another company was/is looking for BI director with experience in developing strategic roadmaps, setting up data governance, master data management, building and managing a distributed team, who also has recent 5+ years hands-on experience setting up new BI environment in Azure, designing the data model, building ETLs with Azure Data Factory, and building and maintaining PowerBI dashboards (I was deemed "not hands-on enough").