Tom Sorensen - The hidden math of executive job hunting: 3 months, 300 applications, 3 interviews

Industry Focus

27 Oct 2026

Managing Partner of Tom Sorensen | NPAworldwide Recruitment
Email: tom.s@tomsorensen.in.th
Web: www.tomsorensen.in.th

Every week, I speak with senior executives who share the same story. Hundreds of applications. Almost no response. More and more frustration.
A regional C-suite leader recently told me, “I have applied to more than one hundred roles. Three interviews. Zero offers.”
This pattern is no longer unusual. It is becoming typical. Over the past 12-18 months, I have talked to, or heard of, expats in Thailand who have been made redundant. Every week, that is. So many that you can call it a trend. Not to be replaced by a Thai executive, but because of cost savings.

The uncomfortable truth behind the numbers

Most executives assume job hunting is a volume exercise. Send more applications, increase exposure, and you think it improves your odds. But math does not support this belief.
Applicant Tracking Systems eliminate the majority of executive profiles before any human review.

Around 70 to 80 percent of resumes never reach a recruiter
Small keyword mismatches trigger automatic rejection
Formatting inconsistencies reduce parsing accuracy

Executives interpret silence as competition pressure, but in many cases, software simply filtered them out.

The ghost job problem executives rarely consider

This is no longer a secret for most. But many executives still believe every posted role on LinkedIn, Indeed, and other job boards represents an active hiring need. Sorry to tell you, but reality is different.
Organizations post roles for multiple reasons, even though there is no immediate hiring need.

Talent pipeline building
Internal benchmarking
Budget justification
Market mapping

So, executives compete for advertised positions that were never intended to be a regular vacancy.

3 tips to increase your chances we find you

Executives benefit from abandoning the application volume mindset. Don’t just click the Quick Reply on any job board, because it will often lead you to a big black hole. Never to be seen again. Sadly. So, replace quantity with precision, and focus on these three high-impact areas.

Market visibility

Define a clear professional narrative.
Your LinkedIn profile is now more important than your resume. It’s where we find you.

Relationship activation

You have to network when you don’t need one! That’s my mantra.
Engage industry networks, former colleagues, board members, and specialist recruiters.

Search alignment

Target companies, sectors, and leadership contexts where experience directly matches business needs.

Executive careers rarely move through anonymous submissions. They move through conversations, credibility, and positioning. The math of executive job hunting does not reward effort alone. It rewards strategy.

An executive shared this openly on LinkedIn

This comment appeared on my LinkedIn feed yesterday. A senior leader I know wrote this publicly on his LinkedIn profile. It should concern every senior executive because this pattern is becoming impossible to ignore.
This is not an isolated case. It is repeating across the market. What do you think? What if this were you?
Quote: I submitted an application for a CMO role. My background is a strong match to the role description, based on my education, global work accomplishments and Board experience.
Two minutes later, literally, I received an "After reviewing all the candidates..." rejection email for that CMO role.
Yes, closure is good, and no, I do not expect to get interviewed for every job I apply for. But this process shows a distinct lack of respect for the candidate population.
If nothing else, I now have one fewer company and one fewer recruiting company to ever consider working with. Unquote.