I'd like to apply to an company's own listing directly (whether it be LinkedIn, StackOverflow, the company's own web site, etc.) but this seems to be a straight ticket into a black hole.

At this point in my career, I've probably interviewed at 200-300 companies. I think I can count the number of times I've received a positive response for a position I applied to directly with one hand.

All my interviews have been from recruiters (whether it be third-party or in-house) reaching out to me, or friends referring me.

Maybe my resume just sucks?

I can honestly say out of around 60 job submittals (I’m very focused) over 20 years and 7 companies, going through recruiters, I’ve never been ghosted, I always knew where I stood in the process and have only had maybe 4 rejections. The rest I took myself out of the running for when I got the offer I wanted. Even out of the four rejections, I at least went through the whole process of phone screen and in person.

I’m no special snowflake I’m just your bog standard enterprise developer/architect and honestly I just started taking my career seriously in the last ten years. Five of the mentioned 7 jobs were in the last 10 years.

My problem isn't ghosting. Correct me if I'm wrong, but ghosting means you start communications with the employer, but at some point they cease contact.

My problem is getting a positive response in the first place from any company I apply to directly. I apply online, wait anywhere from a few days to a few weeks+, and either get no response at all, or a generic "sorry, but no thanks" e-mail.

On the other hand, going through a recruiter, he/she has been able to sell me to the employer much more effectively. When I go through a recruiter, I'd say I've been able to at least get to a phone screen 90%+ of the time.

I reckon a large factor is that recruiters often have connections to hiring managers.

I’m “starting the conversation” when I send out the resume. When I go through a reputable recruiter my resume never goes down a black hole.

I’ve gotten a phone screen 100% of the time my resume has been submitted by a recruiter - the only exception was an immediate response from the company that they filled the spot already.

Not that I am a special snowflake, but if you know the qualifications that the company is looking for up front, you can tailor your resume to highlight those qualifications. If you don’t have the qualifications you don’t bother submitting your resume.

This times a hundred. I've been ghosted so many times applying for internships and looking for work after I graduate. I would at least like a letter saying this position is closed now, so fuck off, but they never do that. I hate it so much.

You can try taking the recruiters fees out of my salary offer but if your offer is 15% less than the three or four other offers I usually have - good luck with that.

I’ve worked with local recruiters almost exclusively over the past 20 years. If I send you a resume directly, I have no way of knowing whether you looked at, how much of your job req is fluff, what the necessary and nice to have skills are etc.

When I work through a recruiter, they’ve already been debriefed by other candidates who interviewed for the same position and they can tell me what the interviewer prioritizes.

I’ve also worked with recruiters from the other end as a hiring manager (actually Dev lead), I would call the recruiter back and give feedback.