In partnership with

How can AI power your income?

Ready to transform artificial intelligence from a buzzword into your personal revenue generator

HubSpot’s groundbreaking guide "200+ AI-Powered Income Ideas" is your gateway to financial innovation in the digital age.

Inside you'll discover:

• A curated collection of 200+ profitable opportunities spanning content creation, e-commerce, gaming, and emerging digital markets—each vetted for real-world potential

• Step-by-step implementation guides designed for beginners, making AI accessible regardless of your technical background

• Cutting-edge strategies aligned with current market trends, ensuring your ventures stay ahead of the curve

Download your guide today and unlock a future where artificial intelligence powers your success. Your next income stream is waiting.

Get Your Guide

Hey There!

Welcome to Issue #172 of Jobseeking is Hard!

Today's issue is brought to you by HubSpot! If you're a free subscriber and value our content, it costs $0 to support us by clicking the ad and checking out the service. Show our sponsor some love for supporting Jobseeking is Hard! Thanks!

Happy Wednesday!

A lot of jobseekers are frustrated right now, and I understand why. People are doing what they’ve been told to do. They’re tweaking their resumes, tailoring bullets, and using tools that promise to match job postings, optimize keywords, and make their experience look more relevant. Some are even paying for services that claim to search job postings and do this automatically.

On the surface, it looks like a lot of changes are being made. So when the outcome doesn’t change, the frustration sets in. It feels unfair. It feels like the system is broken.

The problem is that “tweaking” has quietly turned into something else.
Most resume changes happening right now are based on a flawed understanding of how recruiters review resumes and what “relevance” actually means. Output reflects input, and the inputs people are being taught to use are flawed.

That’s what I want to talk about this week: what I’ve started calling Resume Slop.

I’ll also share how a Comprehensive Resume Review client who reached out immediately after a layoff landed a fully remote role, in the industry they wanted, with a pay bump!

This week we’re talking about:

• Why “tailoring” your resume isn’t working

• The difference between an accurate resume and an effective one

• The best (worst?) job posting of the week

And for Premium subscribers I’m:

• Debunking a popular decision-maker take on candidate “effort”

• Answering a Premium subscriber’s question about recruiter outreach…and how to think about it strategically.

Let’s get to it!

PROFESSIONAL, POLISHED, & POINTLESS

Resume Slop is the resume version of AI slop. It looks polished. It sounds professional. It checks the boxes people have been told matter. And it fails to do the one thing a resume actually exists to do: help someone decide whether to interview you.

People already understand AI slop in other contexts. It's content that technically makes sense, uses familiar language, and appears competent, but doesn't say anything meaningful or distinct. It's built by pulling from the same sources, trained on the same inputs, and rewarded for sounding "right" rather than being useful.

Resume Slop works the same way.

Most resume advice today treats relevance as a mechanical exercise. Match the keywords. Mirror the job description. Swap in the same action verbs. Adjust phrasing until it feels aligned. Run it through a tool and make sure "the score" improves. None of this is unreasonable given how hiring is often explained online. If relevance is framed as text matching, people will focus on matching text.

The problem is that’s not how recruiters evaluate resumes.

When recruiters review resumes, they aren't just checking for language similarity. They're trying to quickly understand what this person should be hired to do and whether their background makes sense for the role that's open right now.

Resume Slop fails because it avoids that work entirely. It optimizes for resemblance instead of clarity.

AI accelerates this issue by scaling sameness. When everyone feeds the same job descriptions into the same tools, the outputs converge. Resumes start to use the same phrasing, emphasize the same responsibilities, and lead with the same verbs. Very different careers end up looking interchangeable. From the jobseeker's perspective, the resume has changed significantly. From the recruiter's perspective, it hasn't changed in a meaningful way.

This is where the frustration really comes from. People are putting in effort, but it's aimed at the wrong target. They're adjusting words instead of direction. They're copying language instead of clarifying intent. They're trying to appeal broadly instead of making one thing obvious.

That's not what tweaking actually is.

Real tweaking requires judgment. It requires deciding what matters most for the role you're pursuing, what supports that story, and what distracts from it. It means accepting that relevance isn't about how closely your resume resembles a job description, but how clearly it explains why your experience fits the problem that role exists to solve.

This is especially hard after a layoff. The instinct is to show range, prove value, and keep as many doors open as possible. Resume Slop feels productive. Words change. Bullets change. But action without direction doesn't produce traction.

That's why so many resumes are technically accurate…but still ineffective. They document real experience; they just don't help the reader make a decision. When resumes start saying something specific, the response changes. Not because the experience suddenly became stronger, but because it became easier to understand.

Have a topic you want me to cover in an upcoming issue? Reply or email [email protected] and tell me what you want to know!

SHAMELESS PLUG

If your job search needs a little more help, Karpiak Consulting offers resume and LinkedIn services, as well as job search strategy coaching.

Who knows…maybe you’ll get interviews at a bunch of different organizations after being laid off like this client 🤷‍♂️

So how did I help this Comprehensive Resume Review client land a new job that’s fully remote, in the industry they wanted, with a pay bump after being laid off?

Their body of work was solid. There were years of leadership, programs, initiatives, and real responsibility behind it. Coming off a layoff, the resume tried to capture all of that at once, to appeal to as many jobs as possible, which is a completely normal reaction. The problem wasn't what was included…it was that nothing clearly told the reader what this person should be hired to do next.

When resumes try to show everything at the same time, experience competes with itself. The reader is left to decide what matters most, and in a fast-moving hiring process, that usually doesn't happen.

The review centered on narrowing the lens. The experience didn't change…the way it was presented did. What mattered most for the next role moved to the front. Everything else supported that direction instead of distracting from it. Instead of listing skills, the resume showed how those skills were actually used. Instead of naming initiatives, it explained why they existed and what changed as a result. Instead of making the reader guess, it gave them a clear takeaway.

That's the difference between a resume that's "accurate" and one that's "effective."
.
If your resume feels like it contains good experience but doesn't clearly point to what's next, especially after a layoff, that's usually a focus problem, not a qualification problem.

It's a story, not a history. Make sure the experience quickly makes sense for the role you applied to. That’s how you get an interview.

If you’re feeling like your resume isn’t telling your story the way it should and don’t know how to frame your experience, our services can help. 

BEST (WORST?) JOB POST

OF THE WEEK

Here’s the job post that got the most people talking on my Instagram this week!

Cheat code: select “No”

If you come across an irritating job posting, email it to the newsletter or DM me on Instagram and I’ll add it to the list to post!

Today's issue is also brought to you by You.com! C’mon give it a click…it costs $0 and helps support your favorite job search newsletter 🙂

AI is all the rage, but are you using it to your advantage?

Successful AI transformation starts with deeply understanding your organization’s most critical use cases. We recommend this practical guide from You.com that walks through a proven framework to identify, prioritize, and document high-value AI opportunities. Learn more with this AI Use Case Discovery Guide.

Get the Guide.

PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER QUESTION

“Can you discuss how to successfully engage recruiters? My recruiter outreach has gotten me nowhere, that I can tell.”

Check out the Premium Section below for my answer! Not a Premium Subscriber? Upgrade here: www.JobseekingIsHard.com/upgrade

Why upgrade? For less than $0.63/day, you get:

• Subscriber-Only Discounts: Get exclusive promo codes for Karpiak Consulting services, available only to Premium subscribers. Whether you're updating your resume, need a LinkedIn profile review, or want expert help tailoring your applications, these occasional discounts make expert support more accessible.

• Extra Tips & Advice: Gain exclusive insights, strategies, and advice from a recruiter with over 20 years of experience in the field. Discover what hiring managers truly value and how to stand out at every step of your job search.

• Access to Previous Issues: Explore a library of knowledge with all 100+ past issues of the newsletter. Each edition is packed with proven strategies, practical advice, and real-world jobseeking stories to give you an edge in today’s competitive job market. From resume tips to handling tough interview questions, you’ll find answers to every challenge.

• Exclusive Q&A: Have questions about your job search? Premium subscribers can ask Adam directly! Questions will be featured in upcoming issues, with detailed answers tailored to real-world scenarios, ensuring you get the guidance you need.

• Bonus Content: As part of your Premium subscription, you’ll receive 20 additional job search tips delivered to your inbox over the next 20 days. This includes advice on avoiding common mistakes and maximizing your job search strategy to land interviews faster.

Jobseekers, have a great rest of your week, and good luck with those applications!

-Adam

PS!! If you're enjoying the newsletter, let people know! Forward it, post it on social, tag me, whatever...the bigger the discussion, the better! The idea is to help as many people as possible!

About Adam- Recognized as a leading voice on hiring and workplace trends, Adam has been recruiting and providing career advice since 2003, developing high-trust relationships based on honesty with companies and jobseekers. A highly sought-after speaker, he has appeared in numerous outlets, including Bloomberg News, Business Insider, LinkedIn, and CNNMoney. You can find out more about Adam's resume and coaching services here.

AFFILIATES

NOTE: As an affiliate to these services, we will receive compensation if you purchase products or services through the links provided.

SALE! SAVE 40% ON COURSERA PLUS FOR 3 MONTHS!

$35.40 per month, for 3 consecutive months (regularly $59 per month)

You can save 40% on 3 months of unlimited access to thousands of top-rated learning programs with a Coursera Plus monthly subscription. That’s over $70 in savings—and more than a month of free learning!

Make this the start of something new for your career. Build in-demand skills, discover new career paths, and earn multiple job-ready certificates through expert-led instruction from leaders at Google, IBM, and more at a special low price.

Sign up here!

https://imp.i384100.net/c/4709194/2979777/14726

BETTERHELP: 15% OFF YOUR FIRST MONTH OF ONLINE THERAPY

Mental health is a massive part of your career. Anxiety, depression, self-worth issues…all become more intense the longer a job search goes on. With my link, get 15% off your first month of online therapy with BetterHelp!

​http://www.betterhelp.com/jobseekingishard

Subscribe to Premium to read the rest.