AI Guides › Workbench
By Nigel Guy · 7 min read
Most people ask an AI to "improve my CV", get back smoother sentences and the same gaps, and send it off feeling better. Smoother is not stronger. A recruiter skimming a pile does not grade your prose; they check whether you match the advert, whether the claims have evidence behind them, and whether anything looks like a risk. A polish request tests none of that.
The rule: make Claude read the job first, then the CV, then argue against you, and only rewrite what the evidence can support.
| Prompt | What it does | Cost at time of writing | Best for | Catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Job Reader | Pulls out what the advert really screens for | Free plan works | Before touching the CV | Reads the advert only; it cannot know the employer's hidden preferences |
| 2. Six-Second Skim | Shows what a recruiter would notice first | Free plan works | A reality check on layout and headline claims | Simulates a skim; it is not a real recruiter's view |
| 3. Gap Map | Matches each requirement to proof in your CV | Free plan works | Finding missing evidence | Only as good as the facts you give it |
| 4. Evidence Rewrite | Rewrites bullets using your real facts | Free plan works | Weak, vague bullets | Will not invent results; asks you instead |
| 5. Devil's Advocate | Argues why you should be rejected | Free plan works | Spotting objections before they are raised | Can over-criticise; you judge which points are fair |
| 6. Final Check | Confirms the rewrite is honest and matches the advert | Free plan works | Last pass before sending | Not a guarantee of a shortlist |
Cost: Claude's free plan was listed at $0, Pro at $20 a month (about £15 at time of writing; check the £ price at checkout), on Anthropic's pricing page. Everything below fits in free-plan chats, though paid plans give more usage before you hit limits. Projects, which let you keep your CV in one place, are available on free accounts too (up to five at time of writing) per Anthropic's help centre.
Use one chat for the whole sequence, so Claude keeps the advert and your CV in view. Claude accepts PDF and DOCX uploads (up to 20 files per chat, per its help centre), or you can paste text. Pasting plain text is safest: it avoids a PDF's layout hiding or mangling content. Keep a note of your real facts (numbers, dates, tools, outcomes) to hand, because prompts 3 and 4 will ask for them.
Fill in the full advert text and the role title. Do this before Claude sees your CV, so it cannot bend the reading to flatter you.
You are an experienced UK in-house recruiter who screens applications for [ROLE_TITLE].
Context: below is a job advert. I have not shown you my CV yet and I do not want you to ask for it yet.
Goal: tell me what this advert is really screening for, so I can tailor to it honestly.
Steps:
1. List the essential requirements (things that would get an application rejected if missing).
2. List the desirable requirements.
3. Pick out the words or phrases repeated or emphasised; these likely signal priorities.
4. Say what problem the employer seems to be trying to solve with this hire.
5. List any ambiguities you cannot resolve from the text alone, as questions I could research.
Format: a table for steps 1 and 2 (requirement, exact wording from the advert, how likely it is a screening point: high/medium/low), then short bullets for the rest.
Rules: use only the advert text. If something is a guess, mark it "inference". Do not invent details about the company.
Self-check: before answering, confirm every row quotes the advert.
Advert:
[JOB_ADVERT_TEXT]
Fill in your CV text. The six-second figure is a framing device, not a measured statistic.
Act as a recruiter with 80 applications to get through today. You are skimming, not studying.
Here is my CV and the requirements you extracted above. Role: [ROLE_TITLE].
Tell me, in this order:
1. What you would notice in the first few lines.
2. Your one-sentence impression of who I am and what I do.
3. Whether that impression matches the role's top requirements.
4. The two things most likely to make you stop reading.
Constraints: be blunt, no praise padding, no rewriting yet. If anything in the CV is unclear to you, say so rather than assuming.
CV:
[CV_TEXT]
Using the advert requirements above and my CV, build a gap map.
For each essential and desirable requirement, give: the requirement; the strongest evidence in my CV (quote it); a rating: proven (specific, checkable), asserted (claimed but vague), or missing.
Then list the "asserted" and "missing" rows and, for each, ask me one question that would surface real evidence, such as a number, a project or a tool. Do not answer these for me.
Rules: never treat a claim as proven unless the CV gives a specific. If you are unsure of a rating, pick the weaker one and say why.
Notes about my background that are not in the CV: [EXTRA_FACTS_OR_NONE]
Answer the questions in plain sentences. These answers are your raw material.
Rewrite only the bullets I name, using only the facts I have given you in this chat.
Bullets to rewrite: [BULLETS_TO_REWRITE]
For each bullet: lead with the action, state the outcome if I gave one, and use the advert's own terminology where it truly describes what I did.
Output: a before/after table with a third column, "evidence used", citing which of my answers supports each claim.
Rules: do not add numbers, tools, employers, titles or outcomes I have not stated. Where a bullet would be stronger with a figure I have not supplied, leave a [FIGURE_NEEDED] marker and tell me what to find. Keep British spelling and UK date formats.
Self-check: scan each rewrite and delete any claim without an entry in "evidence used".
Switch sides. You are the recruiter's sceptical hiring manager and your job is to find reasons not to shortlist me for [ROLE_TITLE].
Using the advert and my revised CV, give me:
1. The five strongest objections, ranked.
2. For each, whether it is a fair objection or a misreading, and why.
3. A one-line honest answer I could give at interview.
4. Which objections can be fixed on the page, and which cannot.
Rules: stay grounded in the text; do not invent flaws. If an objection depends on information you lack, say what you would need.
Compare my revised CV to the original and the advert.
Check: (a) every claim in the new version can be traced to something I told you; (b) no requirement is claimed that I marked as missing; (c) the top three requirements are visible without scrolling; (d) tone and spelling are consistent British English.
Return a short pass/fail list and any lines I should change back. Do not rewrite anything.