Generate a Custom Resume for Every Job Application Without Starting from Scratch

Elias Soykat

Posted on Jun 30

Generate a Custom Resume for Every Job Application Without Starting from Scratch

#career #productivity #showdev

If you're job hunting, you already know the struggle. You find a great job posting, spend time rewriting your resume to match what they're looking for, maybe write a cover letter, save it as a PDF, and then do it all over again for the next job. It's exhausting and time-consuming.

Tailor Resume is a free tool that makes this process much easier. You keep one master resume with all your experience, and the tool helps you create a customized version for each job you apply to — complete with a matching cover letter and professional PDF.

What This Tool Does

Think Of It This Way:

• Your master resume is like a complete list of everything you've done — all your jobs, skills, education, and achievements
• Each job application gets its own tailored version — you pick what's most relevant for that specific role
• The tool turns that tailored version into a clean, professional PDF that works with automated hiring systems (ATS)

No more manually reformatting. No more wondering which version you sent to which company.

How to Get Started

Step 1: Download the Tool

You'll Need a Few Things First:

• Node.js — Download it from nodejs.org (get the LTS version)
• Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge — You probably already have one of these
• Git — Download from git-scm.com (needed to get the tool files)

Then open a terminal (Command Prompt on Windows, Terminal on Mac) and run:

git clone https://github.com/elias-soykat/tailor-resume.git cd tailor-resume npm install

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Step 2: Create Your Master Resume

Open the master_resume.json file in any text editor (Notepad works fine). Replace the example information with your own:

{ "personal_info": { "full_name": "Your Full Name", "title": "Your Current or Target Job Title", "email": "[email protected]", "location": "City, Country", "linkedin": "your-linkedin-profile-name", "github": "your-github-username" }, "professional_summary": "A short paragraph about who you are professionally...", "skills": { "languages": ["English", "Spanish", "Other Languages"], "frontend": ["Skill 1", "Skill 2"], "backend": ["Skill 1", "Skill 2"], "tools_ops": ["Tool 1", "Tool 2"] }, "experience": [ { "company": "Company Name", "position": "Your Job Title", "start_date": "2023-06", "end_date": "Present", "location": "City, Country", "achievements": [ { "description": "What you did in this role", "impact": "The result or outcome (optional)" } ] } ], "education": [ { "degree": "Your Degree or Certification", "institution": "School or University Name", "start_year": 2014, "end_year": 2018 } ] }

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Don't worry about getting it perfect — you can always add more later. The key is to include everything you might want to use across different applications.

Step 3: Generate a Tailored Resume for a Job

This is where the magic happens. You can use an AI assistant (like Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor) to help you:

• Copy a job description from a job posting you're interested in
• Paste it into a chat with the AI assistant
• Ask it to create a tailored resume and cover letter based on your master resume

The AI will create a folder in the output/ directory with your customized files.

Step 4: Create the PDF

Once you have your tailored resume and cover letter as JSON files, run this command in the terminal:

npm run generate -- --dir output/CompanyName

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Replace CompanyName with the actual folder name. The tool will create professional PDFs you can submit with your application.

What You Get

For Each Job Application, You'll Have: output/ Company_Name/ YourName_Job_Title_resume.json ← Your tailored resume data YourName_Job_Title_resume.pdf ← Your resume as a PDF YourName_Job_Title_cover_letter.json ← Your cover letter data YourName_Job_Title_cover_letter.pdf ← Your cover letter as a PDF

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Everything is organized by company, so you'll never lose track of what you sent where.

Why This Helps

The Old Way:

• You edit your resume manually for each job
• You might forget which version you sent to which company
• Formatting takes time and can break between applications
• Cover letters are often skipped because they take too long

With This Tool:

• One master list of everything you've done
• Each application gets its own tailored version
• PDFs are generated automatically — no formatting headaches
• Cover letters are included with every application
• Everything is organized and easy to find later

Tips for Best Results

• Keep your master resume complete — Include all your experience, even if you don't use it all for every application. You can always leave things out for specific jobs.
• Be specific in your achievements — Instead of "Responsible for sales," write "Increased sales by 30% in 6 months." Numbers and results stand out.
• Update your master resume regularly — Add new skills and achievements as you go, so you're always ready for the next opportunity.
• Review the AI output — The AI does a good job, but always read through the tailored version to make sure it represents you accurately.

Quick Start Summary

• Install Node.js, Chrome/Edge, and Git
• Clone the tool: git clone https://github.com/elias-soykat/tailor-resume.git
• Install: npm install
• Edit master_resume.json with your information
• Find a job posting and use an AI assistant to create tailored versions
• Run npm run generate -- --dir output/CompanyName to get your PDFs
• Apply with confidence

Good luck with your job search! If you have questions, open an issue on the GitHub repository. The DEV Team

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If you're job hunting, you already know the struggle. You find a great job posting, spend time rewriting your resume to match what they're looking for, maybe write a cover letter, save it as a PDF, and then do it all over again for the next job. It's exhausting and time-consuming.

Tailor Resume is a free tool that makes this process much easier. You keep one master resume with all your experience, and the tool helps you create a customized version for each job you apply to — complete with a matching cover letter and professional PDF.

What This Tool Does

Think Of It This Way:

• Your master resume is like a complete list of everything you've done — all your jobs, skills, education, and achievements
• Each job application gets its own tailored version — you pick what's most relevant for that specific role
• The tool turns that tailored version into a clean, professional PDF that works with automated hiring systems (ATS)

No more manually reformatting. No more wondering which ve