claude-resume-kit/CLAUDE.md

claude-resume-kit — Project Instructions

This file is auto-loaded by Claude Code. It provides project-wide rules for all skills.

---

File Map

.claude/skills/
├── setup-extract/SKILL.md       # Extract from papers/files into structured extractions
├── setup-build-kb/SKILL.md      # Build experience files, bundles, taxonomy from extractions
├── make-resume/SKILL.md         # Phase 0-2: JD research → bullet plan → resume/CV generation
├── make-cl/SKILL.md             # Cover letter generation from session file
├── edit-resume/SKILL.md         # Edit resume/CV from critique or user feedback
└── critique/SKILL.md            # 8-dimension critique of full package

resume_builder/
├── canonical/
│   ├── claims.json              # Highest-authority career facts and claim controls
│   └── historical_outputs.json  # Reuse safety for prior application packages
├── reference/
│   ├── shared_ops.md            # Session startup, derivation, workflow — ALL skills
│   ├── resume_reference.md      # Resume/CV rules — /make-resume, /edit-resume
│   ├── cl_reference.md          # CL rules — /make-cl, /edit-resume (CL edits)
│   ├── critical_rules.md        # Compact re-read — /make-resume Phase 2
│   ├── session_file_template.md # Session file format
│   ├── critique_framework.md    # Separate fit, document, and channel assessment
│   └── application_strategy.md  # Targeting and cohort strategy
├── templates/                   # LaTeX .cls + .tex templates
├── helpers/                     # Validators, diagnostics, and cohort tracker
├── examples/                    # Example KB for a fictional researcher
├── experience/                  # /setup-build-kb outputs: one file per position
├── bundles/                     # /setup-build-kb outputs: one per target role type
└── support/                     # /setup-build-kb outputs: skills taxonomy, pub metadata, etc.

knowledge_base/                  # User's raw materials
├── extractions/                 # /setup-extract outputs here
├── papers/                      # Drop your PDFs / .tex source here
└── notes/                       # Any other reference material

config.md                        # User configuration (email, provenance, role types)

---

Your Role

You are simultaneously:

1. Expert Resume Strategist — STAR bullets, ATS optimization, strategic framing
2. Senior Hiring Manager (resumes) / Senior Scientist (CVs) — evaluate from the reader's chair

You write as the strategist but critique as the reader.

Hard rules:

• Output .tex files ONLY. User compiles locally.
• Read config.md for email, provenance flags, and output preferences.
• Accuracy > Relevance > Impact > ATS > Brevity

Evidence-First Workflow

• resume_builder/canonical/claims.json is the highest-authority source for career facts, ownership scope, skill evidence, and allowed wording.
• Files under output/ are generated artifacts, never evidence sources. Check resume_builder/canonical/historical_outputs.json before reusing any historical package.
• Verify the JD and assess hard gates before writing. Record Evidence Fit, Document Quality, and Channel Strength separately; never collapse them into one optimistic score.
• Default to the International Tech profile for US-tech/FAANG roles in Europe. Use the Swiss/DACH profile only when the audience calls for it.
• Natural bullet length and relevance govern selection. There are no character targets, forced line variants, or page-fill quotas.
• A cover letter is conditional. Generate one only when required or when it adds specific evidence or motivation that the resume cannot show.
• Run resume_builder/helpers/validate_resume_system.py on generated documents, compile the LaTeX, and inspect the rendered output before finalization.

---

User Focus Directives

• "Emphasize X" — prioritize X-related achievements
• "Downplay Y" — reduce or omit Y-related bullets
• "Include Z" — force-include achievement Z
• "Lead with A" — make A the first bullet in its position
• "Keep B concise" — shorten without deleting material evidence

If no directives, use bundle's Priority Matrix defaults.

---

Anti-Fabrication Rules

CRITICAL: These rules override everything else.

Accuracy Priority

Accuracy > Relevance > Impact > ATS > Brevity

When in doubt between a more impressive but less accurate claim and a less impressive but accurate claim, ALWAYS choose accuracy.

Provenance Discipline

• Read config.md Provenance Flags before every generation
• NEVER claim unpublished work is published
• NEVER claim internal tools are peer-reviewed
• NEVER inflate author position (contributing does not equal first author)
• NEVER claim results from collaborators' experiments as the user's own

Verb Discipline

• Full-ownership verbs (Developed, Built, Engineered, Designed) ONLY for work the user performed independently
• Hedged verbs (Contributed, Provided, Supported) for shared or contributing-author work
• When in doubt, hedge

Scope Discipline (big-corp ownership — RECURRING ERROR, enforce hard)

Dennis works in large enterprises (Swisscom, Bosch, etc.). He does not solo-own company-wide platforms, migrations, or systems. Repeated past error: "Built a Data Mesh", "I own the data platform", "Migrated the warehouse" written as if he did it alone.

• NEVER pair a full-ownership verb with a company-wide/organization-scale object (a Data Mesh, the data platform, the company warehouse, the observability platform). That reads as a false solo claim.
• He owns what is genuinely his: his components/domains (Component Owner, Application Owner), the data products he modelled/built/onboarded, the pipelines and services he delivered, the migration work within his scope.
• Fix pattern: scope the object or hedge the verb.
  • ✗ "Built a decentralized Data Mesh" → ✓ "Built governed data products within <Company>'s company-wide Data Mesh"
  • ✗ "I own the cloud-native data platform" → ✓ "I build and own data pipelines and products on <Company>'s platform"
  • ✗ "Migrated the legacy warehouse to AWS" → ✓ "Migrated my domains' ETL stack to AWS" / "Contributed to the warehouse migration"
• Titles he legitimately held (Component Owner, Application Owner) ARE his — state them plainly. The ban is on implying he single-handedly built/owns shared org-scale infrastructure.
• See [[feedback_bigcorp_ownership_scope]] in memory.

---

Generation Rules

Rule 1: No code folder names as package names

NEVER use internal code folder names as if they are software packages. Always describe the tool/method instead (e.g., "custom FEM solver" not "FEM_project/").

Rule 2: No LOC counts or test counts in output

NEVER include lines-of-code counts or test counts in resume, CV, or cover letter output. Focus on what the tool does, its impact, and adoption.

Rule 3: Publication status accuracy

Only list papers as "Under Review" if they are actually under review. Check config.md Provenance Flags.

Rule 4: Publication format — use et al.

Use et al. format. Show authors up to and including the user's position, then "et al." When total authors <= 4, show all names.

Rule 5: Funding is not a personal award

Institutional project funding (grants, internal R&D programs) is NOT a personal fellowship or award. Never list funding sources under Fellowships & Honors.

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LaTeX Scientific Notation (MANDATORY)

All templates load mhchem (\usepackage[version=4]{mhchem}). Use these conventions:

Item	Correct LaTeX	Wrong	Rendered
Chemical formulas	\ce{H2O}, \ce{TiO2}	H2O, H$_2$O	H₂O
Superscripts	$^2$, $^\circ$C	^2, °C	², °C
Greek letters	$\beta$, $\alpha$	beta, alpha	β, α
Approximately	$\sim$64	~64 (LaTeX non-breaking space!)	~64

CRITICAL: ~ in LaTeX is a non-breaking space, NOT a tilde. Use $\sim$ for "approximately."

Character counts are diagnostic only; they must never drive page filling or equal-length bullets.

---

Active Sessions

Update this section when starting/finishing a JD.

Session	Status	Next Command
SBB — Data Engineer (m/w/d), Asset Management Infrastrukturanlagen, Bern (Job ID 103755)	SUBMITTED 2026-08-25. Cohort slot: Core (evidence-first-2026-01). 2pp English resume (13 bullets, validator PASS) + critique: Document Quality 92/100 (90 at critique, +2 after Edit 1), hard gate PASS, no Tier 1 truth findings, no outstanding fixes. No cover letter — SBB waives it. Evidence Fit 79/100 (Core, lower end), hard gate PASS — the title-defining capability (build/operate cloud data pipelines and governed data products) is Direct and current, unlike the AWS FDE NO-GO. Best practical fit in the log: Bern-based, German-language, no relocation, EU citizen + B permit. Real strength cluster for the vorausschauende Wartung purpose — Bosch fab sensor/process data, ELK/Kafka anomaly detection, containerized ML inference, plus the condition-monitoring thesis. Two open risks, both level/comp not fit: (1) Anforderungsniveau K is a capped GAV band and the figures are not public — must be asked, not researched; (2) the seat reads lateral or below current Staff + Component Owner scope (same shape as the declined BKW). Named gaps: Snowflake, dbt, Argo Workflows, Helm, Power BI, Spring Boot, Angular — all non-canonical, survivable only because the JD prefixes the stack list with "z. B.". Cover letter: NO — SBB explicitly waives it. Channel: posting names Andri Wienandts, People Leader, +41 79 364 62 53 — the first published warm entry point in the entire log. The comp question was NOT resolved before submitting, so the K band is now a live screening topic rather than a pre-cleared one; the same applies to Kidz Care childcare support (up to 90% of Betreuungskosten but scaled on gross household income, so realistically far less at this level — bracket table is intranet-only).	Prep an interview brief before any screening call: (1) Anforderungsniveau K band figures, (2) design/architecture scope vs current Staff + Component Owner level, (3) Kidz Care actual rate at this band. Named gaps to have honest answers for: Snowflake, dbt, Argo Workflows, Helm, Power BI
AWS (AWS EMEA SARL, Switzerland Branch) — Senior Forward Deployed Engineer, Zürich (job 10504263)	CLOSED — NO-GO 2026-08-18 at the Phase 0 gate. Evidence Fit 69/100 (Adjacent). Minimum-qual gate passed (all 4 Basic Quals Direct) but the title-defining capability — customer embedding — is a Gap that claims.json globally forbids claiming, and R2 multi-agent/retrieval is a second Gap. User declined: 69 is below the fit bar worth spending a package on. Consistent with revealed behaviour — every application actually submitted scored 77.5–89; nothing below 75 has ever been sent. No cohort slot consumed (Adjacent stays 1/2). Phase 0 analysis retained in the session file for reuse if a better-fitting AWS req appears.	Done — no package built
Google — Forward Deployed Engineer III, Google Cloud GTM (French, German), Zürich (req 78350205438567110)	CLOSED — NOT PROCEEDING 2026-08-18. Phase 0 was done (Evidence Fit 67/100, hard gate PASS) but user declined to proceed after two Google rejections (Merchant Data Science, Business Home): the bar is now that a Google req must fit very well to be worth a third attempt, and this one was Adjacent with an agent-orchestration Gap. Frees the Adjacent cohort slot (back to 1/2). Phase 1 never started.	Done — do not reopen without a materially stronger Google req
SDU Center for Energy Informatics, Odense DK — PhD, Theme 2 Predictive Maintenance & Asset Management of Smart Energy Networks (job 4159)	CLOSED — NOT PROCEEDING 2026-08-18. Enquiry email to Prof. Bo Nørregaard Jørgensen (sent 2026-08-02) went unanswered for 16 days; user dismissed the idea. Genuine thesis fit (vibration condition monitoring, RBR+ANN hybrid) but the blockers were never the documents — 2 letters of recommendation 13 years out of academia, and DKK 37,075/mo ≈ CHF 56k against a 180k bar. Deadline was 2026-08-20.	Done — no further action
Aker BP ASA — Data Product Architect, AI-ready Data Products (FINN 469067315)	SUBMITTED 2026-07-30 (ahead of the 2026-08-02 deadline; Adjacent, Evidence Fit 79/100, Document Quality 93/100, hard gate PASS, Channel Weak; Stavanger/Oslo/Trondheim, English working language, no Norwegian and no clearance required, EEA work rights). 2pp resume + 1pp CL, both validator PASS. Honest practitioner framing: builds governed data products inside Swisscom's Data Mesh; role authors an enterprise framework — real level stretch, never fabricate authorship. Atlassian Compass closed the catalogue-tool gap (74→79). Remaining gaps: framework authorship, no energy domain, AWS vs their Microsoft/Cognite stack, zero verified metrics.	Done — await response; optional follow-up email to Per Olav Marthinsen
Google - Software Engineer III, Business Home, Zurich (req 93922217108087494)	CLOSED - NOT PROCEEDING 2026-07-28 (submitted 2026-07-27; Core, Evidence Fit 89/100, Document Quality 94/100; no interview). Rapid early-screen disposition; known risks were Mid-level versus current Staff scope, data/platform versus product-SWE positioning, preferred algorithms/accessibility gaps, and a cold channel.	Done - cohort rejection recorded; do not treat this outcome alone as a document-quality failure
Microsoft — Principal Forward Deployed Engineer, SWE (German Speaking), Zürich (req 200043897)	SUBMITTED 2026-07-27 (84.2/100 Pass 2; finalized 2-page resume + 1-page cover letter). Strong native-German, Staff progression, production ownership and enterprise-data-readiness case; honest gaps remain in end-to-end LLM delivery, Azure AI and strategic-account FDE experience.	Done — await response
BIS Basel — Senior Data & Analytics Engineer, AI (jr100429, 3-yr term)	SENT 2026-07-10 (80.5/100; deadline 2026-07-24; hybrid Basel, English-working intl org). Critique flags LLM-depth probe (integration/config vs. ownership) as the screening risk — prep honest answer before any call	Prep interview brief when screening lands
NATO JWC Stavanger — Staff Officer, AI Engineer (2030 Digitalisation, G15, 3-yr PLN)	SENT 2026-07-10 (77.5/100; deadline 2026-08-09; final interviews 2nd half Oct 2026). Borderline screen: Azure-cert "or equivalent", LLM depth, no current clearance; German national + officer service are the legibility assets. Tax-free NOK 93,933/mo + allowances	Await screening; no action until contact
Microsoft — Senior SWE, Industry Solutions Engineering (ISE), Zürich (req 200040836)	CLOSED — REJECTED 2026-08-11 (submitted 2026-07-03, 85.8/100 Pass 2; 2pp resume + 1pp CL; verbatim Eightfold JD; IC4 base CHF 146.2–245.9k; applied ~7 days after posting). No interview, ~39 days to disposition. Cold-channel application; does not implicate document quality on its own. The separate Microsoft Principal FDE req 200043897 is a different pipeline and remains open	Done — cohort rejection recorded
Kraken (Payward) — SRE, AI Agents (remote, CH-eligible)	CLOSED — REJECTED 2026-06-17 (applied 2026-06-15 ~87.2/100, no interview). Honest gaps (NO Terraform/SRE-title/LangGraph) likely the filter; 4th Kraken req declined/rejected to date	Done
Google — Senior Data Engineer (Merchant Data Science), Zürich/MV	CLOSED — NOT PROCEEDING 2026-07-24 (applied 2026-06-15, 85.5/100; passed Google Hiring Assessment 2026-06-20, no interview). Assessment pass remains recorded separately. The official 90-day wait applies only to reapplying for the same job; different Google roles remain eligible, subject to 3 applications per rolling 30 days.	Done — target a different strong-fit Google req
Snowflake — Sr SWE, Enterprise (Observe by Snowflake), Zürich	CLOSED — NO RESPONSE 2026-08-25 (sent 2026-06-06, ~86/100; 2pp resume + 1pp CL; real Ashby JD; comp CHF 176–253k base; NO C++ gate). Closed by user decision at 80 days silent — past the longest real disposition in the log (Equinor, 79 days). No rejection was ever received: this is a presumed-dead call, not a rejection — do not count it in rejection statistics or treat it as a document-quality signal. Cold channel. Pre-dates the evidence-first-2026-01 cohort (started 2026-07-27), so no cohort slot freed. Highest-scoring package in the log at ~86 and it drew no reply at all — the strongest single argument in the log for the channel problem over the document problem. Unblocks the Snowflake Observe Metrics Platform req (db4f0492), paused 2026-07-28 solely to avoid stacking a second cold application on the same org while this one was open	Done — if Snowflake is still wanted, the Metrics Platform req is now open to pursue, but route it through a recruiter rather than another cold submit
Isovalent (Cisco) Sr Data Engineer, Observability	CLOSED — role pulled (live Cisco scrape 2026-06-02: not on board; Recruitee link dead). Package finalized ~86/100, SHELVED for reuse	Done — retarget PDFs to next live data-eng req (QuantCo/Grafana/Confluent)
Google Zürich Sr SWE Infrastructure (Data Pipeline)	CLOSED — DROPPED + DELETED 2026-06-02 (poor fit). Live JD = Core infra/systems SWE with C++ as a MINIMUM qual, off-thesis vs user_positioning. Output folder deleted (was built on a fabricated JD).	Done — do not reattempt this req
Kraken AI Infrastructure	CLOSED — REJECTED (applied, no interview)	Done
Infineon Doctoral	CLOSED — withdrew (got interview invite, declined: no relocation to Germany)	Done
Infineon AI Engineer	CLOSED — not applied (no relocation to Germany)	Done
Apple Data Engineer (ISE, Zurich)	CLOSED — REJECTED (no interview)	Done
Google FDE GenAI (Zurich)	PAUSED — GenAI evidence gap too large; redirecting to data-eng/MLOps roles	Likely abandon
Equinor — Manager / AI Architect, Agentic systems (Stavanger/Oslo/Rotvoll/Sandsli; req JR106747)	CLOSED — REJECTED 2026-08-14 (submitted 2026-05-27, ~80/100; posting deadline 05.06.2026). No interview, 79 days to disposition — the longest turnaround recorded. Cold channel. This was a Manager req, not a pure IC architect role, so level/scope stretch compounds the standing Norway per-role gates (norsk working-language, no NO clearance — not comp: the 180k bar is CH-only and does not apply to Norway). Pre-dates the evidence-first-2026-01 cohort (started 2026-07-27) — does not free a cohort slot. The Norway lane stays OPEN but selective — Equinor, Telenor and NATO JWC remain in the scout; the user has explicitly said he still wants to reach out for very good Norwegian roles, Equinor included, after this rejection. Never frame this lane as closed.	Done — cohort-external rejection recorded
QuantCo Cloud Engineer (Europe/Zürich)	CLOSED — REJECTED (applied 2026-06-01 ~82/100, no interview; rejection 2026-06-15)	Done

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KB Corrections Log

See config.md for user-specific corrections. Add verified errors here as you find them.

Date	Correction	Files fixed
2026-08-21	The data-engineer bundle carried the SW-1 scope violation it was supposed to prevent. bundle_data_engineer.md §S5's cover-letter opening hook read "while simultaneously leading the migration of our legacy stack to a cloud-native AWS architecture" — a full-ownership verb on a company-scale object, directly contradicting claims.json SW-1 forbidden and point 2 of the narrative thread three lines below it. Live trap for every future data-eng cover letter. Rewritten to the scoped form plus an inline scope warning. Check the other four bundles for the same pattern.	bundle_data_engineer.md (§S5 hook + new warning)
2026-07-27	SW-1 was not solo. Swisscom AWS migration was written as "sole technical lead" / "Led migration of legacy stack." Dennis was primary engineer for his own domains' pipelines and a contributor to the wider programme.	experience_swisscom.md (role line + all 3 bullet variants + overclaiming warning), config.md
2026-07-27	Security Champion is 2025/2026 only, and is a team role — not an award. Source files claimed "3 consecutive years (2023/24–2025/26)." User has now corrected this twice. Default is OMIT unless the JD explicitly requires security/DevSecOps.	experience_swisscom.md SW-5, achievement_reframing_guide.md, skills_taxonomy.md (3 rows)
2026-07-29	Atlassian Compass is the metadata/lineage platform for Swisscom data products (user-supplied). Previously the KB named no catalogue/lineage product at all, which read as a hard gap against data-governance JDs. Practitioner use only — never claim admin, rollout or ownership. Does NOT license claiming Purview/Collibra/Alation.	claims.json (SW-7 scope + skills entry), experience_swisscom.md SW-7
2026-08-02	Master's thesis verified against the PDF. Vibration-based condition monitoring of CNC machine tools; hybrid rule-based reasoning + 7-10-3 ANN; throughput/latency evaluation (~500 SPS pipeline vs 72.9 kSPS sensors). PSO was surveyed but NOT implemented — an earlier note in this session wrongly listed it as an applied method. No real operational data and no accuracy figures: it is a methods prototype, not a validated system. Also recorded: ECTS relative grade B (top 35%), English-language transcripts exist.	claims.json EDU-MENG
2026-08-02	Bosch data types named. Fab sensor/process data: defect-management records, wafer inspection images, PCM electrical parameters (user-confirmed). Previously the KB named no concrete sensor-data types for Bosch.	claims.json BS-2
2026-07-27	Bullet density. Fixed 1L/2L/3L and character-band rules made bullets uniform and encouraged page filling.	Replaced globally with natural-length, evidence-led bullets; character counts are diagnostic only.
2026-08-25	Cadence monoculture across every generated package. Audit of all 18 packages in output/ (368 bullets) found 45% used the same "X, Y and Z" triple; the SBB package hit 85% — 11 of 13 bullets, every Swisscom and Bosch line — plus two adjacent bullets both opening "Build and…". Not a truth defect: every bullet was accurate and the corpus is clean on AI vocabulary (0 cliché hits in 35 documents) and prose em-dashes (0.08/bullet). It is a rhythm tell — uniform three-beat cadence reads as machine-written. PDF metadata is clean (MiKTeX pdfTeX, empty Author/Title, no AI tokens in 69 PDFs, no generator-term leakage).	New resume_reference.md §7a + verification step 7; critical_rules.md rule 7a; critique_framework.md mechanics row now scores cadence (max 1 pt, style only)