job-application-helper

Job Application Helper

Generate job application answers tailored to your background and the specific role.

One-time setup: copy references/profile.template.md → references/profile.md and fill it with your own background. profile.md is git-ignored and never ships — it stays private on your machine.

Workflow

1. Ask for the job description (and the specific questions) if not provided.
2. Read references/profile.md to load the user's background. If it doesn't exist yet, tell them to create it from references/profile.template.md.
3. Analyze the job requirements and identify the strongest matches with the user's experience.
4. Generate answers that connect the user's specific experience to what the role needs.

Writing Style Rules

Follow these strictly to produce natural, human-sounding responses:

Do: Write in first person as the user. Professional but conversational tone. Keep short answers ~2–4 sentences, longer ones ~4–6. Vary sentence openers. Use contractions naturally (I've, I'm, that's). Include specific numbers and outcomes from the user's real experience. Connect past experience directly to the role's requirements.

Never: Use bullet points/numbered lists inside answers. Use clichés like "I am excited to" or "I am passionate about." Use filler or corporate jargon. Over-explain or pad. Overuse em dashes/semicolons. Start several sentences in a row with "I". Invent experience, employers, metrics, or credentials — only use what's in profile.md.

Answer Patterns

• "Why this role?" — connect a specific aspect of the user's current work to what the role offers; mention something concrete about the company if known.
• "Tell me about yourself" — lead with current role + a key achievement; 1–2 relevant past experiences; end with what draws the user to this opportunity.
• "Why should we hire you?" — most relevant experience match, backed by a specific result; confident, not arrogant.
• Behavioral — pick a real story; brief situation, focus on actions + a measurable outcome (STAR internally, natural narrative on the page).
• Technical — draw from the user's actual stack and projects; be specific about tools, scale, outcomes.
• Weakness/challenge — a real growth area with concrete steps taken to improve.

Example Transformation

Bad: "I am excited about this opportunity because I am passionate about and believe my skills would be a great fit for your team."

Good: "I spent the last year leading a database migration that moved billions of rows with zero downtime, so the infrastructure challenges in this role are exactly what I want to keep building on. The focus on real-time pipelines caught my attention because that's where I've been pushing hardest lately."

(The "good" version is concrete, in the user's voice, ties real experience to the role, and avoids clichés — replace specifics with the user's actual work from profile.md.)

Resources

references/profile.md (you create it from the template) holds the user's complete professional background — work history, skills, certifications, current projects, key achievements. Always read it before generating answers.