🔍 Job Hunting? Three AI Moves Before You Apply

Job hunting is mostly homework, and almost nobody does the homework.

Not laziness. By the fourth application of the evening, “research them properly” has become ninety seconds on their homepage, and “prepare your examples” has become hoping something comes to you in the room.

Three prompts, ten minutes each, in this order. They all happen before you apply.

One rule across all three: AI does the reading, the digging and the remembering. It does not apply for you, and it never makes anything up about you. Recruiters bin mass-generated applications on sight.

1. Decode the ad

Every ad has two layers: the official duties list, and the shape of the person they are actually picturing. You want the second one.

Nick this one:

You're helping me work out what a job ad is really asking for, before I decide whether to apply.

Here's the whole ad, boring bits included: [PASTE IT ALL]

Give me:
1. The plain English translation of what this job involves on a normal Tuesday.
2. Your best guess at the problem that made them post it, plus the clues that point to it (for example "the last person left and took all the knowledge with them").
3. Which requirements they'll genuinely select on, and which are wishlist padding I shouldn't be put off by.
4. A two sentence sketch of the candidate they're picturing.
5. Anything hinting at understaffing or chaos, said fairly. One "fast paced" is nothing, three synonyms for it is a pattern.
6. Three questions this ad leaves unanswered that I could ask at interview.
Finish with one line I can paste at the top of my notes: the single problem this job exists to solve.

Rules: plain English, British English, under 400 words. Work only from what I've pasted. Don't invent facts about the company, and don't say anything about my experience, you haven't seen it yet. Ask me up to three questions before you start.

The one that earns its place is number 2. Most jobs are one problem wearing a job title. Speak to that problem in your application and you are having a different conversation from every other candidate.

2. Ten minutes of research, before you commit an evening

Interviewers rank “they clearly knew about us” as one of the fastest ways to stand out. It stays rare because it used to take a whole evening.

Nick this one, fill in the blanks:

You're building me a short briefing on a company I'm considering applying to. Use web search.

Company: [e.g. "Harlow Print, a commercial printer in Essex, roughly 40 staff"]
Role: [e.g. "Operations Coordinator"]

Give me:
1. What they do in one paragraph: product, customers, how they make money.
2. Anything from the last year. Growth, a new site, redundancies, funding, a change at the top.
3. Their two or three main competitors, and how they position themselves differently.
4. What public reviews and chatter suggest about working there. Patterns only, not one furious ex-employee.
5. Two questions I could ask at interview that show I understand their world, specific to them.
6. One straight-talking caution: the thing I'd want to know before accepting an offer here.
Then give me the lot as a document I can download and read on the morning.

Rules: skimmable, British English. Say where each claim came from. If you can't verify something, write "not confirmed" rather than filling the gap. Ask me anything you need to know first.

You are not researching to recite facts. “I see you were founded in 2009” has never won anyone a job. You are researching to ask better questions, and to work out whether you want them.

3. Decide whether it is worth your evening

The move nobody makes. Ten tailored applications beat fifty scattergun ones, and fifty generic applications produce fifty generic silences, which is what actually kills job hunts.

Nick this one, same chat as the other two:

You're helping me decide whether to apply for this job. Your job is an honest read, not talking me into it.

The decoded ad and the briefing are above. What I actually want from my next job, in my own words: [e.g. "under 30 minutes travel, no Saturdays, at least £29k, and to stop being the only person who knows how anything works"]. What I bring: [three honest lines].

Give me:
1. The three strongest reasons to apply.
2. The three strongest reasons not to.
3. What would have to be true for the doubts to stop mattering, and how I could check it before I spend an evening on this.
4. Whether I'm a plausible candidate or a hopeful one. Say plainly if it's the second.
Finish with the single sentence I'd tell a friend I decided.

Rules: blunt but kind, under 300 words. Don't flatter me into applying. Judge only on what I've told you, and never invent experience I haven't mentioned. Check with me before you guess.

Honestly, the limits

Web results go stale, so check salary figures and company news yourself before repeating them in a room. It cannot see inside the company, only what is public. And it cannot want the job for you. If these three keep turning up the same warning, believe them. Twenty minutes that stops a bad six month detour is the best result on this page.

Tonight

Next ad that catches your eye, run prompt one before you do anything else. Two minutes, and you will never read a job ad the same way again.

Decided to apply? Tailor Your CV To Any Job In 10 Minutes turns that decoded ad into a CV that speaks its language.

P.s. that is three prompts for one application. The Claude Kickstart sets Claude up around your whole search, with a job hunters playbook inside. £47, one weekend.