Not to mention there's a regional bias here. There are plenty places around the continent that just don't have many cool "startup" type jobs. (Or if they do there's a feeding frenzy for them because everything else in the area is insurance/finance, etc.)
I'm aware of that, and have done a lot of hiring from the midwest, fwiw. I've been in a position where I don't have a ton of time for mentoring, so I tend to hire senior engineers who are used to running with looser requirements than they may get from a bigcorp, and don't mind juggling a main project with a small backlog of cleanup or bugfixes. I learned this filter after not doing it, and having candidates used to a more structured environment flail. That said, like I mentioned originally, if you can demonstrate in your resume (perhaps even with a "What I'm looking for" section) that you have the skills necessary to thrive, I'll overlook this point.
There are simply too many candidates to give everybody a fair chance, and a good number of candidates left over post-filters who will require fewer interviews to narrow down to a hire. Resumes are about marketing yourself to get to the initial screening call so that you can make your case that you are qualified. It sucks, but if you haven't been dealt the lucky cards and you want to break into startups, I think it's probably useful to know the filtering that you're up against.
