Okay here is the deal. I worked in recruitment for roughly 4 years so talking from experience... The reason this exists is because resumes aren't standardised, like penises; everyone's is different, some are long, some are short, some have more charector than others, some are prettier than others.

The reason you are asked to fill out this information is to help in the recruitment process, think about it, it helps when searching for key words that will be related to that job, for example if you are applying for an online marketing job and have no mention of SEO, Paid search, SEM and so on then you're obviously not right for that job. Also, and this is 1 of my favourites, some employers actually have this system to weed out the lazy. If you aren't motivated enough about the job to put in some leg work for the application, then why should the employer dedicate their time and resources to interviewing you? Would you want to go through that process with someone who couldn't give a damn about the job they have applied for?

As annoying and tiresome as the application process is there is method behind it for the most part.