Q: The job search process is excruciating. It seems like the recruiting process is not geared toward fitting the best employees to the right jobs, but geared so that human-resources people can reduce skilled, industrious people to mere keystrokes on a tidy little template.

– DJ

A: J.T.: I know it’s frustrating. The one thing that seems to get the best results is to focus on HR staffers as human beings. Try to connect on a personal level. Ask them about themselves: “How did you get your job?” or “What do you like most about working here?”

Dale: OK, but if you’re going to see the human beneath the bureaucrat, you need to understand why that person is trying to reduce you to a “tidy little template.” HR staffers have a box on an organizational chart that comes with a list of job requirements: That’s the template. They hold a mental picture of the right applicant and reject those who don’t look right, rather like an eyewitness in a cop drama going through a book of mug shots – no, no, no, no, maybe, no, no.

J.T.: And that’s why you, as an applicant, should work to humanize the process. When applying for a job, why not bring a typed piece of paper with your career summary? I know there is never enough room on the application to share the whole story, but nothing says you can’t bring the story with you. I actually had a client with a history of job-hopping write a summary of his experience and how it had prepared him for his next move. He attached it to every application and took it to interviews. It worked.

Dale: That’s because he added to the application process, managing to move himself outside the bureaucratic routine without seeming like a rebel, and thus alarming the bureaucracy. He managed to stand out in a way that showed that he fit in.