This is true in Europe, but much less so in the US. There is no standard format for a résumé here, and the advice on what companies are looking for is in consta

This is true in Europe, but much less so in the US. There is no standard format for a résumé here, and the advice on what companies are looking for is in constant flux and also constantly contradicting itself. They must be no more than one page—the first page should be work experience, while the second should be education and skills. They should contain only experience—they should focus on skills. They should be absolutely plain and professional—you must use some kind of fancy design to stand out from the crowd. In general, my understanding has been that the résumé should be showing what you've done, learned, and can do, while the cover letter should tell why you'd be good at doing it there in particular. But I've seen job ads that had very specific things listed as expectations for cover letters, and I've seen stories from hiring managers who act exasperated that "no one" has these particular elements to their cover letters (or résumés), which were never communicated, and seem to just be that particular hiring manager's random expectations. It would be great if there were some kind of standardized format for all of this information, and some assurance that companies that try to buck the standard will suffer for it, but we really don't have that.