The thing is that you don't get anything by investing more effort into an online job application. It's all a big stochastic dumpster which might spit out a hire

The thing is that you don't get anything by investing more effort into an online job application. It's all a big stochastic dumpster which might spit out a hire or two every so often. You're better served by finding 20 companies you want to work for and finding a way to speak live to someone who works at those companies and then applying through them.