how many applications does it take to actually get one human response these days?

I've been applying for a couple of months now and haven't made it past an initial screening call. Most of what comes back is auto-rejection from LinkedIn or a company portal, with no context.

And it's not like I haven't taken any action to course-correct. I went back to my university's learning and development team, sat with mentors from the same industry, and we reviewed my CV thoroughly. We went deep, understood what a hiring manager would want to see, and then reframed my sentences accordingly.

Then I even tried going through a recruitment agency to get my CV in front of companies directly. That didn't move the needle either.

At this point I'm not sure if the problem is the CV, the roles I'm targeting, or whether any of it is even reaching a human before something filters it out. That last part is what I keep coming back to.

Has anyone actually figured out what changed their response rate? Not the usual advice. What worked for you specifically?