Are you coming from the software world? If you are, you may be surprised to learn that semi companies actually reply to their job posts. They never had the problem of having tons of matches to sort through.

Being a specialist field, networking is probably the most effective approach.

The other alternative might be to go to the specific company's HR careers pages. It's not like there's hundreds of potential employers.

I have heard this elsewhere. Agree that seems to be the best tool out there.

Would depend a lot on where you live I expect. Do you live anywhere near Eindhoven ?

I am unfortunately not! I am US based.

If you are in the US, you probably already know who the players in your area are and can approach directly. Frankly though, the small number of firms and positions is a sign it’s time to change careers.

I was thinking more about fabless jobs. Maybe you’re thinking fab / process engineering jobs?

The funnel for design is a little wider. Nevertheless, if you aren’t early in your career, I suspect you’ll find that most firms are not interested in people who do not have specific experience building something fairly close to their current product. If none of the handful of players in your segment are interested, see above.

I suppose there could be some shift in market dynamics now that the political leadership here has decided to shut down what’s left of the talent pipeline. I think most firms will just accelerate their shift to more stable geographies, though.