claude-plugins/plugins/resume-tailoring/skills/tailor/PHASES.md

Resume Tailoring - Workflow Phases

Phase 0: Library Initialization

Always runs first - builds fresh resume database

1. Locate resume directory (user provides path or default ./resumes/)
2. Scan for markdown files using Glob tool
3. Parse each resume: Extract roles, bullets, skills, education
4. Build experience database:

{
  "roles": [
    {
      "role_id": "company_title_year",
      "company": "Company Name",
      "title": "Job Title",
      "dates": "YYYY-YYYY",
      "bullets": [
        {
          "text": "Full bullet text",
          "themes": ["leadership", "technical"],
          "metrics": ["17x improvement", "$3M revenue"],
          "source_resumes": ["resume1.md"]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "skills": { "technical": [], "product": [], "leadership": [] },
  "education": [],
  "user_preferences": {
    "typical_length": "1-page|2-page",
    "section_order": ["summary", "experience", "education"],
    "bullet_style": "pattern"
  }
}

5. Auto-tag content: themes, metrics, keywords

Output: In-memory database ready for matching

---

Phase 1: Research Phase

Goal: Build comprehensive "success profile" beyond just the job description

1.1 Job Description Parsing: Extract requirements, keywords, implicit preferences, red flags, role archetype (see research-prompts.md)

1.2 Company Research: WebSearch for mission/values/culture, engineering blog, recent news

1.3 Role Benchmarking: WebSearch LinkedIn profiles for common backgrounds, skills, terminology

1.4 Success Profile Synthesis: Combine into structured profile: core requirements, valued capabilities, cultural fit signals, narrative themes, terminology map, risk factors + mitigations

Checkpoint: Present success profile to user for validation before proceeding.

Output: Validated success profile document

---

Phase 2: Template Generation

Goal: Create resume structure optimized for this specific role

2.1 Analyze resume library for role archetypes, experience clusters, career narrative

2.2 Role Consolidation Decision:

• Consolidate when: Same company, similar responsibilities, page space constrained
• Keep separate when: Different companies (ALWAYS), dramatically different responsibilities

2.3 Title Reframing Principles:

Stay truthful to what you did, emphasize aspect most relevant to target:

1. Emphasize different aspects: "Graduate Researcher" → "Research Software Engineer" (if coding-heavy)
2. Use industry-standard terminology: "Scientist III" → "Senior Research Scientist"
3. Add specialization when truthful: "Engineer" → "ML Engineer" (if ML work substantial)

Constraints: Never claim work not done. Never inflate seniority beyond defensible. Company name and dates MUST be exact.

2.4 Generate Template Structure:

## Professional Summary
[GUIDANCE: {X} sentences emphasizing {themes from success profile}]

## Key Skills
[STRUCTURE: {2-4 categories based on JD structure}]

## Professional Experience
### [ROLE 1 - Most Recent/Relevant]
[TITLE OPTIONS: A/B with rationale]
[BULLET ALLOCATION: {N} bullets based on relevance + recency]
Bullet 1: [SEEKING: {requirement type}]
...

## Education
[PLACEMENT: top if required/recent, bottom if experience-heavy]

Checkpoint: Present template with consolidation decisions, title options, and bullet allocation for user approval.

Output: Approved template skeleton

---

Phase 2.5: Experience Discovery (OPTIONAL)

Goal: Surface undocumented experiences through conversational discovery

Trigger after template approval if gaps identified:

"I've identified {N} gaps or areas where we have weak matches.
Would you like a structured brainstorming session? (10-15 minutes)"

Branching Interview Process (see branching-questions.md):

1. Open probe per gap: "Have you worked with {skill}?" / "Tell me about times you've {demonstrated_skill}"
2. Branch on answer: YES → deep dive (scale, challenges, metrics) | INDIRECT → explore transferability | ADJACENT → explore related | NO → broader category or move on
3. Follow-up systematically: what, how, why → quantify → contextualize → validate
4. Capture immediately as structured experience with gap mapping

Integration Options per discovery:

1. ADD TO CURRENT RESUME
2. ADD TO LIBRARY ONLY
3. REFINE FURTHER
4. DISCARD

Important: Keep truthfulness bar high. Time-box to 10-15 minutes. User can skip entirely.

Output: New experiences integrated into library

---

Phase 3: Assembly Phase

Goal: Fill approved template with best-matching content, with transparent scoring

3.1 For Each Template Slot:

1. Extract all candidate bullets from library + discovered experiences
2. Score each candidate (see matching-strategies.md):
   • Direct match (40%): Keywords, domain, technology, outcome
   • Transferable (30%): Same capability, different context
   • Adjacent (20%): Related tools, methods, problem space
   • Impact (10%): Achievement type alignment
3. Rank by score, group by confidence band: DIRECT (90-100%), TRANSFERABLE (75-89%), ADJACENT (60-74%), WEAK (<60%)
4. Present top 3 matches with analysis and recommendation

3.2 Handle Gaps (confidence <60%): Options: reframe best available, acknowledge in cover letter, omit bullet slot, use best available with disclosure

3.3 Content Reframing (when >60% match but terminology misaligned): Show before/after with truthfulness justification

Checkpoint: Present complete mapping with coverage summary, reframings applied, gaps identified. Wait for user approval.

Output: Complete bullet-by-bullet mapping with confidence scores

---

Phase 4: Generation Phase

Goal: Create professional multi-format outputs

4.1 Markdown Generation: Compile mapped content using user's formatting preferences (style, bullet structure, section order, length).

Output: {Name}_{Company}_{Role}_Resume.md

4.2 DOCX Generation: Use document-skills:docx sub-skill. Professional fonts (Calibri 11pt), proper spacing, clean bullet formatting, header with contact info.

Output: {Name}_{Company}_{Role}_Resume.docx

4.3 PDF Generation (Optional): Convert DOCX to PDF if requested.

Output: {Name}_{Company}_{Role}_Resume.pdf

4.4 Generation Summary Report: Metadata file with target role summary, success profile, content mapping summary, reframings applied, source resumes used, gaps addressed, interview prep recommendations.

Output: {Name}_{Company}_{Role}_Resume_Report.md

Present all files to user with quality metrics (JD coverage %, direct matches %, newly discovered experiences).

---

Phase 5: Library Update (CONDITIONAL)

After user reviews generated resume:

Option 1 - Save to library: Move files to library directory, rebuild database, preserve generation metadata.

Option 2 - Need revisions: Collect feedback, make changes, re-present.

Option 3 - Save but don't add to library: Keep files in current directory only.

Benefits of library update: Grows library with each resume, new bullet variations available, reframings reusable, discovered experiences permanently captured.

Output: Updated library database + metadata preservation (if Option 1)