I am wondering whether I should include a "research plan" as part of my research statement for the academic job market. My concern is that my research plan may not exactly match the projects being pursued at the places I'm applying, so I worry that by putting the research plan in a research statement I may reduce my chance of getting an interview in job application.
Of course, I can write a research plan for each research position, but it will take a lot of time for me to write different research plans for all the position I am applying for.
In your response, please include your background, so that readers can better evaluate your answers: what kinds of jobs have you applied for, what kinds of applications have you evaluated, location, etc. (Otherwise it's too hard to separate the knowledgeable advice from the rumors and best guesses of someone who doesn't know anything. Also, the "best answer" will presumably depend on the type of position.)
Best Answer
I can only speak of applications for academic jobs in the US (I'll note, I've only been involved on the hiring side very marginally in one postdoc hiring cycle), but in this case contemplating "avoid putting [one's] research plan in [one's] research statement when applying for a job" seems completely paradoxical. That's the only thing that belongs in one's research statement, so leaving it out would be counterproductive. (EDIT: this refers to an earlier edit of the question, but the point remains that that the whole point of a research statement is to give a plan for future research you would like to do).
It seems that you are asking whether it would be a good idea to lie about what your research interests are in hopes of getting a job; this seems like a very bad plan. You could write a couple different versions of your research plan for different institutions that emphasize different sides of your research, but I expect that there's simply no hope of writing a good research statement about something that aren't your interests.
A far better idea would be to email faculty at institutions where you are interested in jobs, explaining sides of your research/interest which would appeal to them.