[bdunn]

Your resume is like a sales lead. As someone who made a living selling these to mortgage brokers, they'd routinely ditch the low credit leads before making contact - they knew it'd be too hard to "close" that lead.

So I think Patrick is arguing that more qualification is necessary - it sounds like employers are seeing this resume as a low quality lead. Meet some people who can help you, do something that tells an employer "this person might make me more money!", etc.

[patio11]

I suppose from the employer's POV a resume is a lead, but from the job seeker's POV, the notion that there exists a possible target for a resume/cover letter is a lead. There is a time and focus cost to sending out a resume/cover letter (or doing stuff that actually works, like trying to get a coffee date with a decisionmaker there). You should not spend your limited time on opportunities which are unlikely to convert into mutually rewarding relationships. Getting your resume circular-filed is the least mutually rewarding relationship I can think of in the employment space.