Everything we've done so far has one purpose: get you in front of a human.
Once you're in an interview, the game changes entirely. You're not competing with 400 other applications anymore. You're competing with maybe four other people they liked enough to call. Your odds just went from roughly 1 in 100 to roughly 1 in 5 or better.
That's the whole reason this course is focused on the application process. Interview prep is a whole other skill set, and a whole other course. But you can't interview well if you can't get interviews in the first place.
So the mindset for this entire phase is simple: **everything I'm doing right now is to get the interview.**
- Is this resume getting past the screen? Is it getting the interview?
- Is this cover letter getting read? Is it getting the interview?
- Is this follow-up helping or hurting? Is it getting the interview?
If the answer to "is this getting me the interview" is no, fix it or drop it.
This also means your measure of success during this phase shouldn't be "did I get the job yet." It should be "am I getting more interviews over time." If you're not getting interviews at all, something upstream is broken. If you're getting interviews but not offers, the problem is downstream — that's an interview skills thing, not an application thing.
Track it. Adjust. Keep moving.
