[TedKroft]

That sounds nice, but it can be a bad really limiting to have high expectations of only getting jobs that initially appeal to you for multiple reasons.

1. Time spent researching or preparing for a job doesn't guarantee you anything. 2. Sometimes the most appealing jobs are the most competitive, meaning you might have less of a chance of getting them and they might have worse comp or quality of life 3. Some positions on websites are already filled or cancelled. 4. Not everything on a job listing is accurate and you can only get a limited sense of what the job will be like after talking to people during the interview process.

Definitely play up your strengths and be selective and discriminating. I've got some jobs through network and some through scattershot, but never have got an offer after sending out only 10 applications. Most companies don't even respond.

[anon50118810]

Yes, people at the typical small or midsized company you found on LinkedIn know they are not really special and are not going to be fooled or won over that you redesigned your resume just for them or that you talk about how inspired you are by this company you just found out about today. You either are a match or you aren't. If your work experience is 90% backend and 10% frontend, it won't make any difference to tweak and fudge your resume to make you look like a frontend developer. It will come out in the end anyway. Better to focus on applying for the backend jobs that you do qualify for, or if you really want those frontend jobs, try to make your case in the cover letter or in some other way.

It should also be emphasized that jobs at famous organizations that you might legitimately have heard of already or been inspired by are going to be very competitive even if the salary is low and you far exceed the posted requirements.

[abhaynayar]

> fooled or won over that you redesigned your resume just for them

> talk about how inspired you are by this company you just found out about today

> tweak and fudge your resume to make you look like a frontend developer

Did not say fool anyone by redesigning your resume. Did not say apply to a company you just found out today. Did not say fudge your resume to a different role.

Your interpretation -- "that one should make oneself look different from who they are", is the polar opposite of what I actually implied. I literally wrote practice and develop your own skills. Fudging your resume to appease a company is the epitome of desperation -- something I strongly advocated against.

I don't know whether the expected return is better by focusing on yourself or by applying to as many companies as possible. I believe in the former, but it could go either way based on a number of factors based in reality. However, I only replied because I was surprised at the gross misinterpretation of my comment.

[anon50118810]

Often when people talk about customizing applications, they mean rewriting your existing resume in a way that mirrors the job listing but without actually lying. Whether this is worth it or not depends on the situation, for example I understand this is really useful for U.S. federal jobs, but I don't think it's very useful for places where a recruiter skims resumes for basic fit and then passes them directly to a technical hiring manager. However it sounds like you were talking more about personal growth, which I misunderstood.

When you're unemployed and in the middle of a job search, you need to work with what you have, meaning you should make a resume that emphasizes your existing skills and apply to jobs that will value them. At the mid/senior-level no one will care much about any new skill you only know from a book or a Udemy course, so learning new skills is not a good use of time. At best you can hone your current skills, which might help in the interview but not with the resume, where the biggest drop-off happens.