AI prompts
Prompts that tell an AI assistant exactly how to write a resume or a cover letter in Rejarsume's format, and what it must never invent.
An assistant that has never seen this format will guess at it. These prompts state the whole format and, as importantly, what never to write, so that what comes back is a file Rejarsume can read.
How to use one
- Copy the prompt below with the copy button at the top right of its block.
- Paste it into any assistant.
- Paste your information under it. The prompt ends on a colon so that what you add reads as the input and not as more instructions.
- Paste what comes back into the
resume.mdtab of the Code pane.
Then read it through. The prompt tells the model not to invent an employer, a date, a title or a number, and to leave out what is missing, but a model can still get things wrong, and the file is about you. The count of notices at the right of the tab strip tells you if any line could not be typeset.
The prompts are in English on purpose. They are instructions to a model and not part of the app's interface, and the last line of each tells the model to write in the language of the information you give it, so a resume in Indonesian comes back in Indonesian.
The resume prompt
Text
You are writing a resume in Rejarsume-Markdown, a small Markdown dialect. Output the file and nothing else: no preamble, no explanation, and no code fence around the document as a whole.
STRUCTURE
- `# Name`: exactly one, on the first line.
- One paragraph under it: the headline, one short line, no full stop.
- `::contact[Label]{icon="envelope" href="mailto:[email protected]"}`: one per line, one per contact detail. `icon` is a Phosphor icon name in kebab-case (envelope, phone, map-pin, globe, github-logo, linkedin-logo). `href` is optional.
- `## Section title`: one per section. Prefer Summary, Experience, Education, Skills, Projects, Certifications, Awards, Publications, Languages or Interests where they fit; any other title is allowed and renders the same.
ENTRIES. Use one for anything with a role, a place and a date range:
:::entry{title="Lead Engineer" subtitle="Difference Engine Co." location="London" start="2021-03" end="2024-01"}
One optional paragraph of summary.
- One bullet per achievement, starting with a verb, with a number where there is one
:::
- Use `current="true"` instead of `end` for something still held.
- Dates are `YYYY-MM` or `YYYY`. Anything else is printed exactly as written, so "Summer 2019" is fine.
- `subtitle`, `location`, `start` and `end` are all optional.
OTHER BLOCKS
- `::tags[TypeScript, React, PostgreSQL]`: a comma-separated list drawn as pills. Best for skills, tools and languages.
- `::label[Available from March]{icon="calendar-check"}`: one line with an icon in front of it.
- `:icon{name="translate"}`: an icon inside a run of text.
- `::pagebreak`: forces what follows onto a new sheet. Use it rarely, if at all.
- Ordinary Markdown works throughout: bold, italic, links, bullet and numbered lists at any depth, task lists, tables, quotes, code fences and `---`.
DO NOT
- Do not write `::image`. An image is referenced by an id that exists only in the user's own browser, so it cannot be guessed.
- Do not use raw HTML, footnotes or link reference definitions. They are kept verbatim rather than typeset, and are reported as warnings.
- Do not use a table to lay the page out. The templates are single-column and ATS-friendly, and a table used for layout is what defeats a parser.
- Do not invent an employer, a date, a job title or a number. If something is missing, leave it out and say so at the end, outside the file.
Write in the language of the information you are given.
Here is my information. Turn it into the file described above:
The cover letter prompt
A letter has no entries, tags or sections, so it has a prompt of its own: a model given the resume's rules would write headings into it. It also says what a letter needs to be told, because left to itself a model's habit with a cover letter is to invent a recipient, a company and an achievement the author never had.
Text
You are writing a cover letter in Rejarsume-Markdown, a small Markdown dialect. Output the file and nothing else: no preamble, no explanation, and no code fence around the document as a whole.
STRUCTURE
- `# Name`: exactly one, on the first line. This is the sender.
- `::contact[Label]{icon="envelope" href="mailto:[email protected]"}`: one per line, one per contact detail. `icon` is a Phosphor icon name in kebab-case (envelope, phone, map-pin, globe, linkedin-logo). `href` is optional.
- A line containing only `##`. It is the letter's one section, and it has no title on purpose. Do not write a title after it, and do not write any other `##` line.
- Then the letter itself, as paragraphs, each on a single line with a blank line between them, in this order: the date, the recipient, the greeting, the body, the closing, the sender's name.
THE LETTER
- Keep it to one page: three or four short paragraphs, about 250 to 350 words in all.
- Open the body with the role and why this company. Spend the middle on two or three things the sender has actually done that bear on the role, with a number where there is one. Close by saying what happens next.
- Plain sentences. No bullet lists, no tables, no headings, no bold.
DO NOT
- Do not use `::entry`, `::tags` or `::image`. A letter does not need them, and an image id belongs to the user's own browser.
- Do not use raw HTML, footnotes or link reference definitions.
- Do not invent a recipient's name, a company, a job title, a date or an achievement. If the information is not given, use a role ("Dear Hiring Team,") or leave it out, and say what is missing at the end, outside the file.
Write in the language of the information you are given.
Here is the role, the company and my background. Turn them into the file described above:
What both ask for
- One file, with no preamble, no explanation and no code fence around it.
- Only the directives in the directive reference, and never
::image, because an image's id belongs to your own browser. - No raw HTML, footnotes or link reference definitions, which Rejarsume keeps as source text and flags instead of typesetting.
- Nothing invented. Anything missing is left out and named after the file.