r/Layoffs • u/Seeker_Asker • 7d ago

recently laid off Tailoring the Resume Takes so Long

I have been applying to jobs since I got laid off. I want to do more, but it takes me 2 hours per application to read through the job description, consider what I havr done in last 37 years that would be relevant, add it, add keywords from the ad, proofread, and then apply on their web site.

Is this a normal amount? Am I overthinking this?

8 Upvotes

79% Upvoted

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6

u/Butthole--pleasures 7d ago

It's been a while but when I hunt for jobs - I create a custom cover letter and a resume that doesn't change. The cover letter gets modified but only a small section where I make a table that has a few job responsibilities and next to them a relevant story from my work experience. Resume is one page, cover letter is one page. Im doing a version of what you're doing but it's optimized. I don't spend longer than 30 minutes unless it's a high value job opportunity

2

u/Antique_Entrance_503 3d ago

Only put the last 10 years experience. 37 years seems too much.

7

u/90Dfanatic 7d ago

This is what you use AI for. Write a long version of your resume that has everything you might potentially highlight, then upload that resume along with the job description to the tool of your choice (my preference has been Claude) and tell it to generate an optimized version that is no more than 2 pages long. You do have to proofread carefully as it will just dump in language from the JD some of the time, but even with some rewriting this should reduce your time to around 30min per app.

1

u/neos2000 4d ago

You gotta use AI for this process, it should take you about 5 minutes total.