Looking for work

After sitting for comprehensive exams, but before my oral exam, I am whiling away the time by filling out applications for employment in the greater Houston area. Hoo boy! Things have certainly changed. Used to be you could submit your resume and cover letter. But not now. I think answered one question at least twice on every application I submitted. This is in addition to submission of resume and cover letter. It takes hours to do this, and the prospective employer wants to know things that don't seem relevant unless you have an offer on the table. I feel somewhat as though I am being played-- as though the HR department for the places to which I have applied need to have so many people apply to justify their jobs, not for the employers' benefit. I don't always know whether I have done everything perfectly, either, because there is so much information and lots of forms to fill out. I wonder why they need me to fill out information about work history and education when they also want a resume (and it's all in there?!). This redundancy is annoying. I work on a resume that looks great, only to be told to "copy/paste" into their textbox-- which promptly loses all the beautiful formatting and spacing. I guess it's my life lesson of the month: You are not as important as you think you are...