[qez2]

It's true that both sides of the arms race make things worse. But the thing is, at risk of sounding like a child: companies started it.

We've all heard the complaints, "why does this job make me submit my resume, and then fill out a form with all the same information on my resume??" and "why is this job listed as entry level when it requires 3 years of experience??", and "this job posting isn't even maintained, it only exists so someone can say they did due diligence before they hired their friend" -- these are all very valid complaints. And also a few of my complaints: why is every job posting super long, require a large amount of highly specific technologies that can easily be learned on-the-job, and also paradoxically really vague about the /actual/ checkboxes that they'll be using to screen out your resume? And what is the point of cover letters; what am I supposed to say on the cover letter that wouldn't be covered on my resume?

Companies have been doing this BS for many years. I don't blame people at all for adopting strategies which let them spam applications. I haven't even heard one coherent argument, from the hiring managers who claim to despise it, why spamming applications is supposed to be bad in the first place.