New application hell

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So, the new concept for applying for jobs is a lot different. The new way of doing things is to customize your resume and cover letter for every job. Now, I used to do this before but it was always minor tweaks to a basic resume.

Resume filtering has become automated and somewhat sneaky. Companies are getting so many resumes for each job posting that there is now software to filter out those who don't meet their requirements. This is even more insidious than it sounds. In the past I would look at the job requirements and what the listing said they wanted and then change my resume or cover letter to match. The problem is that I would reword it . . . hey, isn't that the way we all got through school? Otherwise it's just plagiarism, isn't it? Not with the modern job search. Nope, if you don't take what they want verbatim off their posting and find a way to put it in your resume and/or cover letter (oxymoron alert) creatively verbatim. Yep, if you don't do a data dump of what is on the job posting don't plan on getting the call back.

And that has been the pain this job search. No call-backs. The only bites that have come have been places that have a revolving door process. They hire as many people as they can get and some will eventually stick. I guess I'd do that if there were no other options. I just believe that there have to be more/better jobs out there.

So, today I spent the day following this new process. Dang, it's a pain. I'm sure it's like everything. The start is slow and painful but it gets better and faster as you go along. It took me hours just to get out three applications/resumes.

I created a web page to post all the information as I come up with it so I can copy/paste chunks for new job postings. Feel free to check it out at travellis.uuuq.com/mondores.php

We'll see how it goes.