Most opportunities never get posted. They go to whoever asked first and didn’t make it weird.

Hiring and inviting are inconvenient, so people solve them with whoever is already in mind. A posting is what happens when that fails. Which means the competitive part happens before any process starts, and the qualification for it is simply being known and having said you were interested without applying pressure.

Tell three people what you are looking for, plainly, and then leave it alone. Say it once and let them come back to you. Following up hard is what turns a useful message into an awkward one.