I’m looking for something that takes a CV (e.g. md, pdf, odt, whatever) and a site to the job post as inputs and outputs a CV that is tailored to the requirements listed in that job post, without significantly changing the CV in some way…
I know that LLMs would be best used for such a problem, but the issue is that I don’t have such a beefy computer to run an LLM locally… Maybe there’s something out there that doesn’t use an LLM? Anything that helps with applying and making sure that the CV is attractive enough to your average ATS, honestly.
perhaps not as automated as you’d like it to be, but i recently made a Bash tool for this purpose:
https://codeberg.org/aketawi/markpiler
instead of rewriting the whole thing each time, I store a selection of “snippets” which detail a particular skill or a background, and then compile a bunch of relevant ones together into a markdown resume, which can later be processed into HTML or PDF.
If this “partially automates” the problem, then it’s good enough for me. I think this is as close as close can get to what I’m looking for, I will try this out for sure, thanks!
* fingerguns
This is a good starter. I’d been looking at doing something like this with mailmerge on my resume template but I found the frequency I apply for jobs wasn’t often enough to bother.
If you don’t want to appear like a bot when applying I recommend doing this yourself like everyone else. The ATS will flag it
Nothing wrong with using the output as a starting point then editing it from there
I dont have any specific llms to recommend but if you do want to go that route you could always run it remotely through something like Google collab.
But I don’t know if I would trust the results of an llm doing this as any mistake would make your entire resume untrustworthy
There are a few services out there that do this. They are basically job tracking sites, but a lot of them now use something like chatgpt to tailor your resume to a job description. I do recommend these services to track jobs you applied to, but they are not always the best in rewriting your resume.
One thing I have done is create a section of skills that closely match the jobs I am applying for. You can then use chatgpt API and create a prompt. This makes it easier so that all you need to do is give it the job description and it will tailor those skills sets to the job and I then just copy and paste that into my resume.
Can you run the local llm at all? Just ask the question, go make a cup of tea, ask the next, go for a walk, ask again, play fourteen hours of Factorio…
Otherwise, there’s services like hordeai (I think that’s what it’s called) where you tap into people who volunteer compute resources to run your own model.
How tailored are you looking to make it? Looking at a job listing and that says “must have good organisational skills” and writing “I have good organisational skills” is a simple copy with a find and replace, but probably not going to land you an interview.
Not open-source but I’ve used chatgpt to write tailored cover letters based on my cv and the job description, and afterwards I’d tweak it to fix the things it got wrong.
You could always go to the old school version of general intelligence, and ask your family, friends, and mentors to offer advice.
The point is to not have to make 10,000 different resumes by hand.
OP was just talking about one job post.
If it’s just one job post, then automating it is not going to be very useful. I don’t think OP meant that. Seemed like they want to give a general CV/resume and then feed it each job posting and get customized versions for each posting. Many HR departments have keyword filters necessary to clear before it gets to a person. Otherwise, it takes only a few minutes to customize one time and would be much better to do manually anyway.
Problem is, these days it usually takes 50-100 job applications per interview depending on industry. In the software industry (in the US anyway), that’s about average. Last job took me about 500 applications and that led to 3 third-round interviews and 2 of them gave offers. Total I probably had around 8-10 first round interviews, not including the many 5-10 minute phone calls with headhunter recruiters that contacted me based just on my resume on LinkedIn and various other sites.
What field are people in that take so many applications?
I’m an automation tech lead and my app to interview ratio is 1:2 at its worst.
Software, any job that isn’t highly specialized. Even cashier jobs require at least a dozen before getting a callback.
I’m in software too. Maybe it is tougher competition outside Australia but I would imagine if you are firing off that many resumes in Software Engineering, you are probably doing yourself a disservice sending out so many variations. What if you get tagged for AI applicant and put into a spam list? What if a company gets 2 copies of resumes that are vastly different.
Also… How many cashier jobs would genuinely need any sort of tailoring though.
It’s just how HR does stuff in the US. Most applications have to go through an automated system for filtering before reaching a person, unless it’s a pretty small company. That system usually requires very specific criteria to get through. Like I remember applying for a seasonal job at Target, around the end of 2010 when I was laid of, and having to fill out a really detailed application online and take a bunch of personality tests. Turns out I scored too high on leadership and had too much professional experience to be a stock person/cashier, so I was rejected before it was sent to the store manager.
It’s not an accident or unintended consequence kind of thing either. It’s how they can have a job position “open” and have hundreds of applications, but still be understaffed and thus force workers to work what should be extra people’s jobs for no extra pay. It’s just how the mega-corp culture is in the US for the most part.
As for the software and some other very technical industries, it’s a similar cultural thing, but on top of that, most recruiters are not technically literate and so don’t know how to judge a technical person, but are made to filter applications before passing then on. My last job had a position open the entire 10 years I worked there and there were no interviews at the hiring manager or team level in all that time. It was an analyst position and I would have hired basically anyone who had the one bit of specialized knowledge if it was up to me. But I did the job of two people the whole 10 years and was never able to move up I the company because of it.
Only reason I didn’t leave sooner was that I didn’t have the funds to get a degree when I was younger and fell into a time when the crazy unsecured loans were not as much of a thing, and most companies filter out software related candidates without a degree up front, regardless of experience. Finally got a degree when I found a program that I could handle while also doing two peoples’ worth of work.
To your first point, yes. Some idiot twenty years ago said to a bunch of guidance counselors that software engineering would be a sure way to get money, so there’s way too many in the US; on top of this companies don’t want to pay even close to a living wage so they import H1Bs. Competition is ridiculous.
To your second point and exacerbating the first… Every company, practically, uses AI screening software, and before that just plain old applicant screening software. Your resume won’t get seen by a human unless you’re lucky enough to get through the layers of screening, so it’s an arms race to guess what they’re screening for and add that to your resume while not exaggerating too much so as to make the human after the screening process to not throw away your resume.
And at the end of this; especially in software but more and more in less specialized, less skilled positions, you have to still do 3+ interviews.
