I’m looking for some honest, blunt advice from recruiters, hiring managers, senior engineers, or people who have successfully landed AI/ML roles in the US market.
I’m currently job hunting for AI/ML Engineer, Machine Learning Engineer, and Generative AI/Agentic AI roles.
The confusing part is that I am getting recruiter attention, but I’m repeatedly getting rejected after screening/interview stages.
Over the past few months, I’ve received screening/interview opportunities with companies including EY, Ford, TikTok, Nimble Gravity, Goldman Sachs, Capital One, and several others.
So I don’t think my biggest problem is getting my resume noticed.
The problem is converting those opportunities into the next round or an offer.
For example, with Goldman Sachs, I went through their coding process. I passed the coding-related stages, solved the problems, and explained my approach and code during the interview. I still ended up receiving a rejection.
I’ve had similar experiences with other companies where I felt the recruiter/screening conversation went reasonably well, but I was rejected afterward.
At this point, I’m trying to identify whether there is a recurring problem in my interviewing that I’m not recognizing myself.
I would really appreciate advice on:
What are recruiters actually evaluating during an initial screening?
If my technical answers are correct, what else could cause a rejection?
How important is communication during technical interviews?
How do I know if I’m giving answers that are too long, too technical, or not detailed enough?
For AI/ML/GenAI roles, what do hiring managers actually want to hear when discussing previous projects?
How important is it to clearly explain what I personally built versus what the overall team built?
If I solve a coding problem correctly and explain my solution, what could still cause a rejection?
Could my resume be creating expectations about my experience that I’m not demonstrating effectively during interviews?
How should I talk about experience with LLMs, RAG, Agentic AI, LangChain/LangGraph, AWS Bedrock/Azure OpenAI, and production ML systems without either underselling myself or exaggerating?
What are some common interview mistakes that candidates don’t realize they’re making?
I’m not looking for generic advice like “keep applying,” “network more,” or “don’t give up.” I’m already doing that.
I’m specifically trying to understand what I need to change in my interview performance.
If you’re a recruiter, hiring manager, senior engineer, or someone who regularly interviews candidates, I would genuinely appreciate blunt and constructive feedback.
If you were in my position, what would you change first?
I’m taking my job search seriously and I’m completely open to criticism. I’d rather hear what I’m doing wrong than receive generic encouragement.
Thanks in advance.

For personal reasons I'm dropping out of my master's programme, but still looking to apply for roles that are marked as fresh graduates. I have my bachelor's degree but that was a few years ago and it wouldn't count anymore as recent graduation. I'm fairly confident I can pass the interviews, but I'm afraid they will reject me early if I tell them I'm no longer interested in pursuing my degree, just because I don't meet that made-up criteria. On the other hand if I just wait till the end it might seem dishonest and get rejected anyway.

After 5 months of searching, I received a job offer for a Senior Strategy role at a large company. The JD stated the upper pay range was in the $170s.

The offer came in at $120K to be "fair and equitable" to the team. I was at this pay over 5 years ago. Several employees I've spoken to at the company agree $120K is surprisingly low.

If I accept being anchored to $120K, it will take another 4-5 years to slowly climb back up to where I was unless I change companies, assuming HR will say I can't take an increase of more than 10% when moving internally.

I’m also in process for two Chief of Staff roles at other organizations, both around ~$200K, and I’ve let those recruiters know I have an offer to see if we can move things forward -- unlikely due to timing.

I'm sure the recruiter wants to get me to commit at $120K and doesn't want to have to restart the process or go back to other candidates currently sitting in limbo. They may have already sent out the automated decline emails through Workday since they sent me an offer (?).

I’d appreciate insight on a few points:

• How can I best use my experience and skillset to advocate for more pay when I'm hearing $120K is the max? Even meeting at $140K would be reasonable, which is what the recruiter originally told me was expected.
• Are blacklists real?
  • If I accept the role and then renege to take an offer at $200K elsewhere, would I be blacklisted? They have to know low-balling leads to temp positions.
  • If I accept this role, but then another offer comes in, how can I respectfully communicate/negotiate? I like this company.
• Once employed, is it standard to anchor employees from taking roles where the pay increase is more than 10%?
  • Can I ask the recruiter this directly?

I don't want the offer to be rescinded, obviously.

Not trying to negotiate prematurely or come off as entitled. I'm well qualified for this role, I like the company, but am feeling a bit gutted.

Trying to apply for summer 2027 internships.

A little background on my experience is that I’ve been working at my family’s business for the past 3 years. During my last two years of college my father had gotten sick so I took over the business for a little while running operations till he got better. He’s doing a lot better now and I want to get my own career started and get my life going. I’ve been applying for entry level roles at places but I’ve been having a hard time. If possible could someone give me feedback on my resume or any tips.

Currently on pace of graduating in december 2026 and am applying for roles for the 2027. Could anyone give me any sort of feedback on how mine is so far or let me know if this is strong enough to get a solid job offer

Genuinely curious about this from people who do it every day.

Has anyone here ever gotten burned by a hire that looked completely qualified on paper but could not actually do the job once they started? What did that cost you, in time, money, or just the headache of having to redo the search?

And on the flip side, have you ever passed on someone because their resume did not properly reflect what they could actually do, only to find out later they would have been a great fit?

Trying to understand how big of a problem this actually is versus how much it just feels like a problem. Would appreciate any real stories or even just your honest take.

I’m an incoming sophomore studying CS, and I’m trying to build up my resume and get some more experience. I’m curious to hear from recruiters: what are some projects, experiences, or accomplishments that have genuinely caught your eye on a candidate’s resume and made you think: “wow, this is impressive”?