It is not busywork. That resume goes to their client, and how you handle it is a test.
"My resume is fine. Why do they want me to redo it in their template?"
There is a real reason
The short answer: because that resume is what they will submit to their own client, so it has to match their standard, not yours. When this happened to me, the agency gave me their format and asked me to revise my resume to fit it. It was the document representing them to the client. Reformatting it was not busywork. It was making sure their reputation looked consistent, and showing them I could follow direction with care.
There is also a quieter reason. How you respond to this small request tells them a lot. If you reformat it cleanly and quickly, they learn you are easy to work with and detail-careful. If you resist or do it sloppily, they wonder how you will handle their actual clients. The reformat is a low-stakes test of a high-stakes quality.
Match their format exactly and gladly. It protects their reputation and proves your reliability at the same time. Both of those help you get hired.
Hold steady, BFF Team. We keep going together.
– Lala