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by abhaynayar 1307 days ago
> 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.
1 comments
anon50118810 1307 days ago
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.

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