I find that most of the resumes I receive are from are poor communicators, and folks without much passion for or understanding of testing. Most also seem like shotgun-style cookie cutter applications sent to many positions without much thought about what they’re applying for. In that context, someone who takes the time to find out what we do and speak to how their skills and interests might match is *much* more likely to get a call from me.

One part of my context is that there are many folks out there who are pretty excited about what http://www.freebase.com is doing. That means I can write a job posting that encourages folks to put a bit of effort into showing me they understand what we’re doing and have something to contribute. As I understand it, this is helping good candidates to sell themselves – letting me know that they deserve careful reading and at least a screening call.

That said, some folks can easily demonstrate skill and passion just through what’s on their resume. Adam, from what I know of you I’d guess that your resume itself conveys plenty of both. This is particularly true of folks who are more senior, and are active professionally in some way (participating in an open source project, blogging about testing, active in a testing community like the Association for Software Testing, etc.)

I think for a job you are excited about and believe you’re qualified for, the question is how can I sufficiently communicate why I should get an interview? In some cases a well-written cover letter might well help with that – it certainly has helped me, both in getting hired and in hiring great testers.

I find boring cover letters to be a waste of time. If there isn’t something in the cover letter that doesn’t catch my attention right away I don’t bother with it. But if it makes it past my initial skim AND tells me something interesting then that person may get an interview even if the resume doesn’t have everything I’m loooking for. I’m really looking for personality in a cover letter…at the end of the day I’m hoping to find someone I want to work with afterall.

I second that. Cover letters are a waste of my time. I recycle them too. Create a linked in profile and make it fun and interesting and let it speak for your personality. At the end of the day, I just need your resume.

Getting a new job /should/ be an easy task if you have decided to be the best you can be. And if you have decided and acted on that, the jobs come to you.

Market bubbles popping or changing markets might be a scenario where that doesn’t appy.