Reasons you may not hear back after applying.

Do you ever get frustrated after applying for a job then waiting and waiting... well Meghan Brio of Glassdoor.com has written a piece for Business Insider with 5 reasons why you may never hear back.

Her reasons include:

• You really aren't qualified.
• You haven't key-word optimized your resume or application.
• Your resume isn't formatted properly.
• Your resume is substantially different from your online profile.
• The company received 500 resumes and yours was #499.

notice a pattern? These are all resume/application centered. Her suggestions?

• research interesting companies on social media.
• start a blog in your area of interest and/or expertise.
• get professional resume help.
• if at all possible don't wait until you are out of work to find your next job.
• network.

I commend her for having research the company as suggestion #1. I have many posts that may help with research tips and networking. As a job seeker who is blogging about an area I have experience with, I can say that this second tip is good advice... but I can't say yet if it has made a positive impact on my job search. I would like to think that it has.

What do others think? Is this type of general/generic advice helpful? Have you read a piece such as this, made a change or improvement based on that piece and seen tangible positive results?