its not entirely on the employee side of things
i know from personal experience, i retired from being an auto mechanic after 15 years, joined the Air Force and subsequently used my GI Bill to become a helicopter pilot as well as gaining my A&P through practical experience. So, working in the helicopter tour business was only seasonal so I tried every off season to get a job at any of the auto parts stores during the winter, no dice. plenty qualified to do the job.
heck i even remember one time going in to get a muffler for my truck, trying to explain to the guy its a custom exhaust system, blah, blah, blah and he proceeds to say "let's look in the system"
so after a while the manager comes by both of them saying well we can't help you
after arguing for over 20 minutes with these two i point at the book on the shelf behind them and politely ask to see it, flipped to the back and cross referenced by the size and inlet/outlet i wanted and had them look it up "yep got that one in stock" i swear both of their jaws hit the counter "never knew you could do that...."
that's just one example of a job i know without a doubt I could do. yea i would be green as any noob in some regards but I would ripen a whole lot quicker given the chance.
so,,, yea... if you can't get past the electronic job application how you supposed to get a job. i'm not that old at 41 but i remember a time if you walked in the door asking about the job wanted sign in the window they would throw you into the deep end of the pool and see if you could swim or not right on the spot.