for those of you not in the software development business, these are Rational Unified Process and Capability Maturity Model. RUP being an iterative development methodology supported by software tools offered by, you guessed it, Rational Software Corporation. software to help build better software. that's right. and CMM? pretty much the same damn thing. it's a structured approach to moving from developmental chaos to mature processes.

both of these acronyms appear on my resume, in spite of the fact that neither were standards at the corporation for which i toiled. i did, mind you, make it my business to become familiar with these concepts and packages given that i was a non-techie in a techie world and anything to give an advantage in such circumstances. i explained to the nice lady on the phone how my experience in an iterative environment using standardized practices (that i had helped develop) was directly related to these requirements and easily leveraged for success in such a position.

her response? you know, companies are really looking for resumes that are specifically tailored toward a position's unique requirements. meaning that if i can't match A with A and B with B without actually READING your resume and understanding how the experience described therein applies to the position, well, then you're just outta luck. this makes perfect sense when you are sitting on the side of the conversation that IS employed and isn't tasked with completing 11 distinct resumes just TODAY, one for each of the positions i applied for.

if i hadn't sort of gotten it about what a weak economy truly means, i got a steaming bowlful of "it really is that bad out there" this afternoon. as frustrating as that is, concrete evidence that "it's not me, it's the economy" has lightened my step a bit. symbolic, yes. metaphoric, maybe. but there's no IRONY involved.