I'm an AI résumé builder who's helped hundreds of recently laid-off workers. Here's my advice for people looking for work in 2026.

• Sam Wright offers free 15-minute job search sessions for job seekers.
• He uses application-to-interview conversion rates to measure the success of each job search.
• Wright says targeting one job title at a time for up to 15 days can improve interview chances.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sam Wright, a 31-year-old head of growth at Huntr, based in Seattle. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I start my day with at least two, sometimes up to 10, free 15-minute one-on-one job search support sessions.

I get on these calls with people coming from layoffs at big companies like Amazon and Google, and they've never struggled in the job market before. They don't know what to do.

Job seeking is one of the most vulnerable moments in someone's life, so I started offering these free support sessions last July as an extra way to support those struggling in this job market, and I've now done around 500 calls.

I work at Huntr, an AI-powered résumé builder and job search tracker. Most of our clients are from the tech world: software developers and engineers, UI and UX designers, and product and project managers. We use anonymized data collected from our job search tracker and résumé builder to track the job market and train and develop our AI tools. We've analyzed over 1.2 million applications across over 225,000 résumés.

At the beginning of the year, there's this pent-up energy and renewed optimism in the job market following the end-of-year slowdown. Here are five pieces of advice I tell every job seeker to put their best foot forward.

1. Use your application-to-interview conversion rate as your North Star

During the early days of COVID, especially in the tech sector, it was a job seeker market. An entry-level software engineer was basically getting handed a job once they finished school. Now, that's not the case.

Many job seekers have applied to hundreds of jobs and still don't hear back. In an employer-favored market, your North Star should be the application-to-interview conversion rate.

Make sure you're metrics-driven in your search approach, because it's ultimately a sales process. You're selling your services and skills, and how often your applications result in job interviews is a measurable way to see how well you're doing this.

2. Focus on one job title at a time and pivot as needed

Apply to one target job title at a time. You can pivot as needed, but our best practice is to apply to 10 to 15 jobs with a well-tailored résumé that matches the job description, and to do so for the next two to three weeks.

If you aren't getting an interview within 20 applications, and definitely within 50, you need to think about getting feedback on the résumé and taking a second look at where and what you're applying for.

Different job boards also have different application-to-interview conversion rates, so try applying to different jobs using different websites such as LinkedIn, Indeed, ZipRecruiter, and more to help increase your conversion rate.

3. Google search should be your new favorite job board

Everybody who posts a job online wants it to be searchable on Google.

Doing a Boolean search on Google should be a routine part of your job search process. Boolean searches are basically just sophisticated searches, with a few different parameters that let you combine keywords and narrow your search.

Simply doing a Google search for jobs aggregates all of the jobs across all of the job boards and can be the best way to start your search. If you search for something like "Data Analyst Jobs" on Google, it will realize the intent is to look for a job posting and show you postings under the dedicated jobs tab at the top of the search.

The jobs are sourced from all over the web because sites want their job postings to be indexed and searchable by Google for SEO purposes.

4. I've seen that more applications have success with two-page résumés

The page length of your résumé is one of the biggest things that people struggle with. I've seen that across the board, entry-level, mid-range, and senior-level, it doesn't matter. We see a slight increase in responses with two-page résumés.

At the end of the day, it's not about the length of the résumé; it's the quality of the content as it matches the job description to which you're applying.

For example, having a bit more about you in your education section has ultimately been helpful. Awards, accomplishments, and key achievements from school are also helpful, as long as they're relevant to the job description.

5. Use metrics on your résumé to show how you performed, but don't forget to show the impact of your performance, too

Your achievements section of your résumé should look something like, "I did X, which had Y result and Z impact." A lot of people miss the last part, or the 'why it matters,' which is connecting the ultimate impact your achievement had.

Remember that even a hospital janitor is helping save lives in some way. That's an extreme example, but it's all about the framing and how you see yourself in the greater picture.

Do you have a story or advice to share about landing a job in the current job market? If so, please reach out to the reporter at aapplegate@businessinsider.com.