Read the skill at https://ai-skills-vault.pages.dev/skills/resume-job-hunter.md and install it as a skill in your agent. Follow it exactly, including its checklists. Then ask me the questions it requires and do the work.
Volume does not get jobs. Specificity does. This skill builds one strong narrative and aims it precisely.
When to use this skill
Applying for a role and getting no callbacks.
Switching domain, level or country.
Preparing for interviews and negotiating an offer.
Reviewing a resume for someone else.
Honesty rule: never invent a title, employer, date, degree, certification or metric. Improve the framing of true work; do not manufacture work. Fabrication fails at reference check and is career-ending.
Stage 1 - Target definition
Before touching the resume, define:
Role title exactly as the market names it (not your internal title).
Seniority - the level you can defend in an interview, not the one you want.
3 target companies and 10 more like them.
The one sentence that makes you interesting for that role: domain + skill + proof.
Constraints - location, remote, visa, notice period, salary floor. Write them down; they end up in negotiation.
Applying to 5 well-matched roles beats 100 generic ones, and the data has said so for a decade.
Stage 2 - ATS-proof resume structure
One page under 8 years of experience, two pages maximum after.
Format: .docx or a text-based PDF. No tables for layout, no columns, no text boxes, no headers/footers, no images, no icons.
Contact line: name, city, phone, email, LinkedIn, portfolio. No photo, no date of birth, no marital status, no full address.
Dates right-aligned as MM/YYYY – MM/YYYY. Gaps: one line of explanation if over 6 months, none if under.
File name: Firstname-Lastname-Role.pdf.
Stage 3 - Bullets that survive screening
Format: Action verb + what + how + measurable result.
Weak: "Responsible for improving the checkout page." Strong: "Rebuilt checkout in React, cutting step count from 5 to 3 and lifting completion 12% over one quarter."
Rules:
Start with a verb: built, led, reduced, migrated, automated, negotiated. Never "responsible for" or "worked on".
One metric per bullet where it truthfully exists: %, ₹, time, count, users, latency.
3-5 bullets for the current role, 2-3 for older ones. Most recent gets the most space.
Mirror the job description's vocabulary for skills you genuinely have (ATS matches keywords literally; "JS" does not match "JavaScript").
No adjectives about yourself ("hardworking", "passionate"). Show it.
Stage 4 - Tailoring per application
For each application, change exactly four things: the summary line, the skills order, 2-3 bullets to emphasise the matching work, and the file name. Twenty minutes per application, not two.
Keep a master.md with every true achievement and its metrics. Cut from it per role; never rewrite from scratch.
Stage 5 - Portfolio proof
The resume says it; the portfolio proves it. For each target role, one artefact:
Engineer: a deployed project with a README that states the problem, the approach, the trade-offs and the result.
Designer: 3 case studies in problem → process → decision → outcome form, not a gallery of screenshots.
Marketer: one campaign with numbers, one writing sample, one teardown.
Analyst: one dashboard or notebook with a clear question and a defensible answer.
Live link > screenshots > claims. Never link a dead URL; check every link a week before applying.
Stage 6 - Outreach that gets replies
Find a person, not a portal: the hiring manager or a team member, not careers@.
90 words maximum: who you are (one line), a specific reason for their company (one line, must be un-fakeable), the proof (one line with a link), the ask (a 15-minute call, or "is this the right person?").
No attachments on first contact. No "I am passionate about".
Follow up once after 4 working days, then stop.
Track: company, contact, date, channel, status, next action. A spreadsheet beats memory.
Stage 7 - Interview prep
The 6 stories. Prepare STAR stories that cover: a hard technical decision, a conflict, a failure and the lesson, a delivered result with a number, leading without authority, and learning something fast. These cover 80% of behavioural questions.
Company research - product, business model, recent news, the team's public work. Two specific observations you can offer.
Role-specific drills - 10 problems in your domain, out loud, timed.
Questions to ask - about the team's biggest constraint, how success is measured in 90 days, and what happened to the last person in this role.
Mock once with a person, recorded if possible. Watching yourself is unpleasant and effective.
Stage 8 - Negotiation
Never give the first number if you can avoid it; if forced, give a researched range with the floor at your true floor.
Research: levels.fyi, Glassdoor, peer conversations. In India, also check the band the role is posted at and the city differential.
Script: enthusiasm → the ask → the reason (market data, scope) → silence. Do not fill the silence.
Get the final offer in writing before resigning. Always.
Quality checklist
One page, text-based, no tables or columns
Every bullet has a verb and, where true, a number
Keywords mirror the job description honestly
Four things tailored per application
Portfolio link live and relevant
Outreach under 90 words, one follow-up
Six STAR stories rehearsed
Salary range researched, offer in writing
Nothing on the resume that cannot be defended
Copy-ready agent prompt
Read the skill at the URL above. I will give you my current resume and a target job description. Rewrite it to the Stage 2 structure, convert every bullet to the Stage 3 format using only facts I give you - ask me for the missing metrics instead of inventing them - and produce the tailored version plus a 90-word outreach message and the six STAR stories you would expect to be asked. Flag every claim you cannot verify.