Last week, Dawn Jordan, a former operations vice president at Bank of America and one of eight unemployed MBA’s that the Wall Street Journal has been following as part of their “Laid off and Looking” series, wrote a piece about the “one size fits all” advice she’s come across time and time again in her job search.

“It seems like 95% of the information, advice and tools I have encountered are totally generic,” Jordan wrote. “They speak to the unemployed population en masse instead of speaking to me.”

Jordan happily announces that she has a few job offers after months of searching (my guess is that her stint as a columnist for the WSJ helped jolt her resume ahead of others), but does not credit any tools or resources for career hunters, saying those currently available are outdated and impersonal.

“It is the lack of personalization and customization in the information available that has been the biggest surprise,” she says. “For an industry so reliant upon building relationships, in my opinion as a job seeker, they are missing an opportunity.”

She quoted some general networking advice found on a career site and then provided the following as her criticism:

“From my perspective, the problem with this is that it only scratches the surface. It’s not bad information. It is just too general and it fails to offer tangible ideas or examples on execution. It’s a one size fits all piece of advice that really doesn’t fit anyone well.

What would I like to see offered as a better answer?

Based on my experience, I’d still give people examples of who should be in their career network as listed in the example above. Then I’d tell them to forget about focusing on a getting a specific job when they talk to people. Instead, I’d tell them to focus on that person and build that relationship. I’d advise them that you can have one thousand contacts in your network but the only meaningful ones will be the ones you’ve taken time to cultivate.

I’d advise them to start building a meaningful network by chatting up the other parents on your kid’s ball team. I’d tell them to talk to people when they walk their dog. I’d also tell them that it is critical to talk about yourself and your interests—not just the type of job you are looking for—when you attend designated networking events. In turn, people should find out the same information from those they meet.”

Jordan ends her piece by saying she came to the aforementioned conclusions on her own, no thanks to any so-called career seeker resources.

While I think some career professionals who put a lot of time and energy into doling out advice on the topic might find Jordan’s conclusions to be disheartening, I think there is a bit of truth in what she has to say. As a blogger trying to find the latest and best in career advice, career news, etc. I do stumble upon many similar articles, blogs, columns, and resources. And when I embarked upon writing a career advice column,  I knew right away that I did not want cover topics that have not already been tackled a million and one times.

My conclusion? I decided not to spew out unsolicited advice that falls into that one size fits all category and I decided to answer individual questions. Of course I try to keep the columns and the blog accessible to a larger audience and in answering specific questions that don’t “fit all”, so to speak, I find I reach a larger number than often expected.

So, while I think Jordan’s complaints have some merit to them, I hope to take advantage of what she calls a “missed opportunity” (though I do see a lot of other great blogs and work being done, that perhaps she failed to come across) and become a resource for personalized and customized advice. Just ask!

Visit the Contact page or ask me a question via my Twitter. I will answer all career questions personally or possible in a column or blog post. And if I don’t have the best answer, I’ll find someone who does.