[patio11]

All in all, she’s probably applied to 100+ companies over the last 6 months, but she hasn’t received a single call back.

Your wife should consider sending in an unsolicited resume to be a no-op and, instead, start meeting people who either a) are hiring managers or b) can refer her to hiring managers.

Her goal in achieving connection with the hiring manager is to secure a coffee date or other informal conversation. Her goal for this conversation is qualifying the company, impressing the hiring manager, and convincing the hiring manager to either invite her formal application or respond positively when she suggests moving to a formal application.

This is one of the huge knowledge gaps in the engineering community regarding getting jobs. Unsolicited applications are not how most people get hired. This is particularly true of smaller employers.

[akulbe]

Did you write your Twitter posts before, or after, this comment? :)

You say this so succinctly there. I used to think it was all about the resume. It's actually one of the least effective ways to apply for work.

One other thing to consider doing... offer to work for free (or reduced pay, where laws prohibit free work) for a short period of time. It lets them see what you can do, and removes much of the risk.