The reality is that most job postings aren't tied to actual jobs that need to be filled right now. These postings just hang out there on websites and passively

The reality is that most job postings aren't tied to actual jobs that need to be filled right now. These postings just hang out there on websites and passively gather resumes. Occasionally someone actually looks at the applicant pool for 10 minutes and picks a few. The rest are never responded to or dealt with in any way. You'll probably never get a response, or you'll get one three months after you've started another job. My personal favorite experience was being called (on my desk phone) by a recruiter in response to an application that I submitted, for a different job at the same company. I had applied 4-5 months previously, and had been working there for at least 3 months. One hand seriously has no idea what the other hand is up to. I sympathize with you, this can feel pretty bad as an applicant (especially if you've done a lot of work on your resume / cover letter just for that job). Once I realized how things work on the back end, I stopped caring or even thinking about jobs until an actual human reached out to me.