If You Do X, Then Y. Guaranteed.
The advice follows a familiar shape. Do this, and that will follow. Follow the rules, and the door will open. It is a tidy promise, and it rarely holds.
One person optimises their CV for weeks. Every keyword from the job posting, carefully placed. The system scores it well. No reply comes. The role had already been filled internally; the listing simply hadn't been taken down.
Another has spent twelve years in care work. She has held teams together through night shifts, navigated conflict, sat with people in difficult moments. When she is told to lead with numbers and measurable results, she has nothing to offer. The advice was never written for her kind of work.
A third is coached not to say "I don't know" in interviews. Say instead how you would approach finding out. What this teaches, quietly, is a way of not being honest. And then everyone wonders why interviews feel rehearsed, on both sides of the room.