Who Are Job Seekers Writing Their Resumes For?

Lately, there's been a lot of debate around resumes—their length, content, and how they should be written. Over the past year, advice about resumes has become overwhelming and often contradictory. With resume experts and career coaches multiplying daily, job seekers are caught in a cycle of confusion, trying to follow advice that rarely leads to results. They’re bombarded with tips, apply to countless jobs, and hear little to nothing back.

Amid all the noise, many job seekers struggle to find truly helpful guidance, as credible voices get buried under an avalanche of conflicting information. But the question I keep coming back to is: Who are we writing these resumes for?

Recently, a respected thought leader posed an interesting question about our obsession with one-page resumes. In today’s world, where AI is scanning resumes for keywords and matching candidates based on specific criteria, does resume length even matter anymore?

AI systems don’t care how many pages your resume is; they’re looking for keywords and ranking you based on that. A one-page resume often doesn’t capture the depth of experience—especially for someone who has spent years building their career. So, in a world increasingly driven by automation, the focus on keeping resumes short seems misplaced.

But here’s where things get complicated. Not all companies use AI in their hiring process. Some can't afford it, while others use it poorly. This creates a fragmented hiring landscape. If your resume is too short, you might get overlooked by AI systems because you’ve left out important details. If it’s too long, you risk losing the attention of human reviewers who prefer something more concise.

And this is where frustration really sets in. Job seekers are applying to hundreds of jobs and hearing back from only a handful. Meanwhile, recruiters say they’re overwhelmed with unqualified candidates. The advice for job seekers to customize every resume and somehow guess what each hiring manager wants is like telling them to play a guessing game every time they apply for a job.

So, what’s the solution?

Here’s a simple idea that could save everyone time and frustration: verified job postings. Think about social media, where profiles are verified with a check mark. What if companies did the same thing for job postings? A verified job listing could indicate that AI is used in the hiring process, signaling job seekers to optimize their resumes accordingly. If AI isn’t involved, job seekers would know to tailor their resumes for a human reader.

This would not only help candidates tailor their resumes more effectively, but it could also slow down the flood of applications, making it easier for hiring managers to find the right match. It’s a small change that could make a big difference.

In today’s race to cut costs and maximize efficiency, we’ve created a cycle that isn’t working for anyone. A simple verification system could be the first step toward fixing the broken hiring process. If it works for social media, why not for something as important as finding the right talent?