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by anon50118810 1312 days ago
OP here. I agree with not customizing the resume, that's not sustainable for a necessarily high-volume job search. I'm lucky enough that my background is in a relatively popular field, so it's a much better strategy to just apply to places that are already a good fit for my existing resume. Definitely not going to do micro-tweaks to a resume based on whatever happens to be in the listing. Keep in mind recruiters spend literally seconds per resume. However a simple cover letter is generally a good idea and also a good place to add or highlight skills that may be especially relevant but not in the resume.

Strangely enough, despite what you might think from HN, I haven't run into a ton of LeetCode algorithm-type puzzles at the places I've been looking.

1 comments

I wrote above that I don't understand _not_ customizing the resume, but I understand why it would seem not sustainable for a high volume job search.... can't say I wouldn't force myself to do it though as I think not doing it increases the chance of having to apply to more jobs.
It depends on what we mean by customizing. If you're strong in two different areas, for example both web development and devops, and you're open to both types of positions, you should have two resumes. However once you have these resumes, you should look for positions that fit the resumes and not vice versa.

Beyond that I don't think it's worth tweaking a resume for each ad, for example modifying word order. Nothing wrong with it exactly, but the gain is minimal because no one reads your resume that closely, and I think it encourages the wrong mindset for what is unavoidably a numbers game.