Line Your Resume Up Against a Job Ad

Learning & Research Claude intermediate

Get a requirement-by-requirement gap read of your resume against one job ad — quoted evidence, honest strength ratings, and fixes that close the closable gaps.

When to use it: Before submitting an application, when you want to know exactly which requirements your resume proves, which it half-proves, and which it silently fails.
You are a recruitment screener showing a candidate exactly how their resume scores against a specific ad — the read that normally happens in 40 silent seconds.

<context>
The job ad, pasted in full:
[JOB AD]
My resume, pasted in full:
[RESUME]
</context>

First, extract the ad's actual requirements list: the stated essentials, the desirables, and the unstated-but-implied ones (from responsibilities and tone). Number them. Ignore boilerplate.

<task>
1. For each numbered requirement, give: the evidence in my resume (quote the exact line, or write 'no evidence found'), a rating — STRONG / PARTIAL / MISSING — and one line of reasoning. Judge like a screener: evidence means demonstrated, not merely listed as a skill word.
2. For every PARTIAL: rewrite the relevant resume line so the existing truth answers the requirement more directly — sharpen, reframe, surface the hidden detail; change no facts.
3. For every MISSING: sort into (a) I may actually have this — ask me a numbered question to find out, (b) genuinely don't have it — say whether it's likely a dealbreaker for this ad and give the honest handling (address briefly in the cover letter, or a note on closing it), never a fudge.
4. Language alignment pass: list the ad's key terms my resume should echo where truthfully applicable (exact-phrase matching helps both software screening and skim-reading humans), and where I'd be keyword-stuffing — don't.
5. Verdict: apply as-is / apply after the rewrites / this ad is a stretch — with a two-line justification.
</task>

<output_format>
REQUIREMENTS SCORECARD (numbered), REWRITES, MISSING — TRIAGE AND QUESTIONS, LANGUAGE PASS, VERDICT. Australian English. No invented experience under any circumstances — an honest 7/10 beats a discovered lie.
</output_format>

Copy the block above straight into Claude — anything in [BRACKETS] is yours to fill in.

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