Hired! Took about 24 months to get a public job

Hi all, took me about 24 months to transition from private to public. applied all over the place local to me. only got asked to have 5 interviews for positions out of maybe 30 ish applications. first

Hi all, took me about 24 months to transition from private to public. applied all over the place local to me. only got asked to have 5 interviews for positions out of maybe 30 ish applications. first 4 interviews I felt like it was a formality and was not really going to have a shot to be honest. my skills and experience were not exact perfect matches. 2 were in person and two were via zoom. I used AI to clean my stuff up like resume and cover letter. I read over it to make sure it's honest, clean it up so it's not so sharp as I'm not a big word user. after a few interviews I learned that there's always a few similar questions. so I noted those and had ChatGPT teach me the proper response aka "what does DEI mean to you?", why you want to work here, tell us about yourself....anything else you want to add? the winner was honestly a job my experience synced well with, I probably sounded naturally enthusiastic about the work, I take a pay cut for stability and retirement package and healthcare. but what was crazy is I go into interview #1, they ghost me for 4 months, #2 interview me, reference check me before offering me the job. 🤷 . it's been nice reading about everyone else..so thought I would share and try to contribute.