Regardless of the quality of the resume and cover letter sent, a passivesearch is one that instantly puts someone in competition with literally hundreds (if not thousands) of candidates.
Sometimes it makes American religious belief look unsophisticated and jejune - in fact it merely represents, it seems to me, a truth about the nation: the search for God is not just a search in the lazy passive European way: it is a search with an end in sight.
The reality is that small touchscreen devices and voice recognition are better suited for searching, and due to the passive nature of TV viewing, I think people want to browse first and search second.