On Resumes and work (read: I'm a lazy, spoiled child)

Okay, so I'm still unemployed- to start this funfest off.

The interwebs have had no shortage of advice for peppering up my resume. What's funny is that these recommendations are so often contradictory. And I'm not talking small contradictions either... We're talking straight 180 degree flops. One good example- I've heard from people whose job it is to help with student resumes that you should include things that you learned from previous jobs instead of specific duties you had. Contrarily, I've heard from job recruiters/interviewers that you should absolutely note specific duties so as to convey your abilities that have been proven in the workforce already.

It's things like this that highlight a growing trend in my life (and I'm sure many other young people in similar positions): Everyone wants you to follow procedures in order to progress in life. No one wants you to follow the same procedures.

Let's give an example my fellow college students/graduates should be intimately familiar with- formal paper writing. Every academic pursuit seems to use a different set of highly stringent rules for citation, footnotes, page numbers, and certain grammar rules; Chicago, MLA, APA, etc. Of course, this isn't some deathly important controversy, it's just kind of... well, annoying.
As if that wasn't enough though, these individuals paper styles change their own rules on a yearly basis, despite most of the changes being absolutely unnecessary. An example of an MLA change I had to deal with from one year to the next was the position of the name relative to the number used in page numbers. Why does that ever need to change?!

This brings me more specifically to the topic of resumes and applications. Every company page for online applications seems to have a different format that they want you to follow in order to collect the same damned information each time. This is a flat-out problem. I could apply to ten jobs using the same format for resume uploading in the time it takes to go over and re-write all of the same information I already had on the resume that they had me upload in the first place. There is no reason whatsoever for there to be no unified resume style for the purposes of online application. It would make everyone's life easier, and it would drastically reduce confusion by new job applicants who are not used to resume writing.
What's more shocking to me, and this is more of a critique of America in general than anything, is that our school systems do not prepare us for this unless we go out of our way to seek the knowledge. I had to sit through several years of math classes that I will objectively never use, but our education system couldn't see fit to teach me how to write a resume? Or fill out an application? Or how to get a loan? Or how to sign a lease? Or things to look for when doing any of these? It's absurd the amount of effort America goes through to teach completely useless material while avoiding teaching things that would legitimately aid students in their everyday struggles.

[Side note: Don't get me wrong, math is important if you're going into a field where math is important. But if someone isn't interested in math by the time they're through algebra or pre-calculus, something tells me that extra class or two won't turn them away from their passion for art or theater or philosophy.]

Can we agree on a damn system, people?

-
Waddles

(Abrupt end because I don't really know what else to say on the topic at this exact moment.)