Get very smart about who you apply to. Seriously, stop responding to ads right now and spend the next week studying job postings. Look carefully at every statement. Ask yourself, "why would someone put this in a job posting?" Don't just assume you know, think about it and ask yourself if there's something you missed. Memorize the posting, before you reply.

Then when you finally answer the ad, you'll be so far inside the person's head that it will look like God himself sent them the PERFECT candidate.

You need to be patient and to sharply cut down on the number of ads you're answering. So pick the good ones, the ads that look like they were written by engineers. The ones where you can see the thought processes of the people hiring.

In my job search, I sent out exactly one reply to exactly one ad, to the company that hired me.