Cold-applied to ~150 roles, 3 callbacks. One referral got me 4 in a week. What flipped it for you?

I spent two months mostly grinding the apply button. ~150 applications, tailored resume, the whole ritual — 3 callbacks total and none of them got past a recruiter screen.

Then someone I met at a meetup referred me internally at his company. Suddenly 4 conversations in a single week, and recruiters actually replied to my follow-ups.

I knew referrals helped but I didn't expect the gap to be this wide. For those of you who broke through — was it referrals, one strong project, rewriting your resume, or just raw volume? Trying to decide where to put my energy for the next month.