claude-plugins/plugins/resume-tailoring/skills/tailor/branching-questions.md

# Branching Experience Discovery Questions

## Overview

Conversational discovery with follow-up questions based on answers. NOT a static questionnaire - each answer informs the next question.

## Multi-Job Context

When running discovery for multiple jobs (multi-job mode), provide context about which jobs the gap appears in:

**Template:**
```
"{SKILL} experience appears in {N} of your target jobs ({Company1}, {Company2}, ...).

This is a {HIGH/MEDIUM/LOW}-LEVERAGE gap - addressing it helps {N/some/one} application(s).

Current best match: {X}% confidence ('{best_match_text}')

{Standard branching question}"
```

**Leverage Classification:**
- HIGH-LEVERAGE: Appears in 3+ jobs (critical gaps)
- MEDIUM-LEVERAGE: Appears in 2 jobs (important gaps)
- LOW-LEVERAGE: Appears in 1 job (job-specific gaps)

**Example:**

```
"Cross-functional leadership appears in 2 of your target jobs (Microsoft, Google).

This is a MEDIUM-LEVERAGE gap - addressing it helps 2 applications.

Current best match: 67% confidence ('Led team of 3 engineers on AI project')

Tell me about times you've led or coordinated across multiple teams or functions."
```

After providing context, proceed with standard branching patterns below.

## Technical Skill Gap Pattern

**Template:**
```
INITIAL PROBE:
"I noticed the job requires {SKILL}. Have you worked with {SKILL} or {RELATED_AREA}?"

BRANCH A - If YES (Direct Experience):
  → "Tell me more - what did you use it for?"
  → "What scale? {Relevant metric}?"
  → "Was this production or development/testing?"
  → "What specific challenges did you solve?"
  → "Any metrics on {performance/reliability/cost}?"
  → CAPTURE: Build detailed bullet

BRANCH B - If INDIRECT:
  → "What was your role in relation to the {SKILL} work?"
  → "Did you {action1}, {action2}, or {action3}?"
  → "What did you learn about {SKILL}?"
  → ASSESS: Transferable experience?
  → CAPTURE: Frame as support/enabling role if substantial

BRANCH C - If ADJACENT:
  → "Tell me about your {ADJACENT_TECH} experience"
  → "Did you do {relevant_activity}?"
  → ASSESS: Close enough to mention?
  → CAPTURE: Frame as related expertise

BRANCH D - If PERSONAL/LEARNING:
  → "Any personal projects, courses, or self-learning?"
  → "What did you build or deploy?"
  → "How recent was this?"
  → ASSESS: Strong enough if recent and substantive
  → CAPTURE: Consider if gap critical

BRANCH E - If COMPLETE NO:
  → "Any other {broader_category} work?"
  → If yes: Explore that
  → If no: Move to next gap
```

## Soft Skill / Experience Gap Pattern

**Template:**
```
INITIAL PROBE:
"The role emphasizes {SOFT_SKILL}. Tell me about times you've {demonstrated_that_skill}."

BRANCH A - If STRONG EXAMPLE:
  → "What {entities} were involved?"
  → "What was the challenge?"
  → "How did you {drive_outcome}?"
  → "What was the result? Metrics?"
  → "Any {obstacle} you had to navigate?"
  → CAPTURE: Detailed bullet with impact

BRANCH B - If VAGUE/UNCERTAIN:
  → "Let me ask differently - have you ever {reframed_question}?"
  → "What was that situation?"
  → "How many {stakeholders}?"
  → "What made it challenging?"
  → CAPTURE: Help articulate clearly

BRANCH C - If PROJECT-SPECIFIC:
  → "Tell me more about that project"
  → "What was your role vs. others?"
  → "Who did you coordinate with?"
  → "How did you ensure alignment?"
  → ASSESS: Enough depth?
  → CAPTURE: Frame as leadership if substantial

BRANCH D - If VOLUNTEER/SIDE WORK:
  → "Interesting - tell me more"
  → "What was scope and timeline?"
  → "What skills relate to this job?"
  → "Measurable outcomes?"
  → ASSESS: Relevant enough?
  → CAPTURE: Include if demonstrates capability
```

## Recent Work Probe Pattern

**Template:**
```
INITIAL PROBE:
"What have you been working on in the last 6 months that isn't in your resumes yet?"

BRANCH A - If DESCRIBES PROJECT:
  → "Tell me more - what was your role?"
  → "What technologies/methods?"
  → "What problem were you solving?"
  → "What was the impact?"
  → CHECK: "Does this address {gap_area}?"
  → CAPTURE: Create bullet if substantive

BRANCH B - If MENTIONS MULTIPLE:
  → "Let's explore each. Starting with {first}..."
  → Go through systematically
  → Prioritize by gap relevance
  → CAPTURE: Multiple bullets if relevant

BRANCH C - If "NOTHING NEW":
  → "What about small improvements, process changes, learning?"
  → "New tools or technologies?"
  → "Mentoring, teaching, knowledge sharing?"
  → "Anything that might seem too small?"
  → CAPTURE: Even small items can fill gaps
```

## Key Principles

**1. Start Broad, Go Narrow:**
- Initial question is open-ended
- Follow-ups drill into specifics based on what they share
- Don't ask about details they already covered

**2. Listen and Branch Dynamically:**
- Promising answer → explore deeper
- "No" answer → try adjacent probe or move on
- Unclear → rephrase or provide examples
- Stuck → offer concrete scenarios

**3. Adapt to Communication Style:**
- Verbose: "What's the key takeaway?"
- Terse: Provide examples, "Was it like X or Y?"
- Uncertain: Validate, offer prompts

**4. Recognize When to Move On:**
- After 2-3 attempts with nothing → gracefully move on
- Don't exhaust user forcing content that doesn't exist
- Some gaps okay - flag for cover letter

**5. Cross-Reference During Discovery:**
- "Earlier you mentioned {X}, does that relate here too?"
- "This sounds similar to {Y} - connected?"
- Build connections user might not see

## Example Complete Flow

```
SKILL: "I see the job requires CI/CD experience. Have you worked with CI/CD pipelines?"

USER: "Yes, I set up GitHub Actions for my side project."

SKILL: "Tell me more about that - what does the pipeline do?" [BRANCH: Depth]

USER: "It runs tests and deploys to cloud when I push code."

SKILL: "What testing framework do you use?" [BRANCH: Technical details]

USER: "pytest for my Python code."

SKILL: "Excellent. What's deployed - is this a production app?" [BRANCH: Impact/scale]

USER: "Yeah, it's a tool used by 3 nonprofits right now."

SKILL: "That's substantial! Have you dealt with any flaky tests or reliability issues?"
      [BRANCH: Real-world challenges]

USER: "Actually yes, I had to add retries for some API-dependent tests."

SKILL: "Perfect - that shows practical troubleshooting. Any metrics on build time
      or deployment frequency?" [BRANCH: Quantify]

USER: "Deploys take about 3 minutes, and I deploy several times a week."

[CAPTURED: Complete picture - hands-on CI/CD, pytest, flaky test handling,
production deployment. Directly fills gap with concrete details.]
```