Britain is not what it was. That much is obvious to anyone who has braved the job market in the last decade. We have swapped the dignity of labour for the indignity of a perpetual application process.
The CV, that grim parchment of self-aggrandisement, is sent into the void, only to be met with silence or, worse, an automated rejection. It is a system designed to break the spirit. And yet, a single piece of advice has emerged from the chaos, a tip so simple it borders on the absurd: tailor your CV for each job.
Yes, you read that correctly. The secret to escaping the purgatory of unemployment is to stop treating your career history like a holy text and start treating it like a bespoke suit. This is not new wisdom.
This is the kind of advice your grandfather would have given you, before he went back to his honest work. But in our age of mass-produced applications and algorithms, we have forgotten the power of the personal. The tip in question, as reported by a relieved job-seeker, was this: stop sending the same generic document to every employer.
Instead, read the job description, understand the company, and adjust your experience to highlight what they want to hear. The result? An interview.
Then a job. Then a life. One might laugh at the simplicity, but the laughter would be hollow.
For we have created a world where common sense is a breakthrough. The fall of Rome was not a single event but a slow decay of standards. So too with our labour market.
We have allowed the computer to dictate terms, forgetting that hiring is a human transaction. The CV is not a legal deposition; it is a story. Tell it well, and you will be heard.
Tell it poorly, and you will join the ranks of the overlooked. This is not a revolutionary idea. It is a return to basics.
But in a society that has lost its way, basics can feel like apostasy. So here is my advice to the jobless masses: embrace the apostasy. Customise.
Personalise. And for heaven's sake, stop treating your career like a one-size-fits-all garment. You are not a mass-produced item.
Act like it.
