Are you suggesting that one should find hiring manager and email them ? What do you mean by pitch them ? How do you find hiring manager's email address ? Many

Are you suggesting that one should find hiring manager and email them ? What do you mean by pitch them ? How do you find hiring manager's email address ? Many companies have formal procedure in place where they want you to apply through ATS system ( sucks ! but true ) If you just start emailing hiring manager they will simply mark your email as spam. Beside , how do you know hiring manager's email address ? Unless you know hiring manager in person , which I highly doubt for OP , your advice is most non-sense thing I have ever seen. Many applications that I have sent over are through ATS and 95 % online. If you are hiring manager and you are saying "Your resume plays virtually zero role in this whole process" then I pity you. Hopefully you correct your stupid attitude and don't write something non-sense just for sake of writing advice.