[jmorton]

I think it is strange to rely on HR and recruiters as a filter. I would prefer someone to introduce themselves to the entire company: tell me what you can do and what you want to do, send me a reference to any relevant portfolio, and I'll take it from there. Hopefully this approach will discourage overly tailored cover letters, who knows. The article talks about this specifically, "the trick is parroting all the words in the job description but not just copying and pasting the text"

This is pretty much why I started building They Meet You (theymeetyou.com) during my spare time. The way the site works right now is pretty simple. You can write a message that is meant for anyone at a company (@customink.com), anyone that proves they have an email address there can read it and exchange their contact info.

[TDL]

While I think the problems discussed in the article need some resolution there is another issue that they do not discuss and which you allude to. Too many people are leading with their resumes and, more or less, blindly applying to jobs. Getting to know people in the industry you want to work in and the companies you would like to work at is a significantly better approach.