Sending out lots of (literal) letters into the ether was certainly a thing out of engineering grad school in the early 80s. But other than on-campus interviews,

Sending out lots of (literal) letters into the ether was certainly a thing out of engineering grad school in the early 80s. But other than on-campus interviews, there weren't a lot of options. And it actually worked. But it did require some physical effort. I can imagine today the automation of everything makes similar approaches difficult.