# Tailor your resume to a job ad without inventing experience

> Rewrites your resume for one job description using only facts you already have, then lists the honest gaps and the ATS keywords it changed.

- **Author:** [Abhay Pratap Mishra (@abhay)](https://promptabide.com/abhay)
- **Tested on:** Claude · Opus 5.5
- **You fill in:** `job_description`, `resume`, `roles_to_rewrite`
- **Published:** 2026-09-08
- **Updated:** 2026-09-24
- **Tags:** `resume`, `job-search`, `career`, `writing`
- **Keywords:** tailor resume to job description, resume rewrite without lying, chatgpt resume prompt job description, ai resume ats keywords prompt, resume gap analysis prompt
- **Views:** 2437
- **Likes:** 39

**Best for:** Job seekers applying to a specific role who want a sharper resume without the AI padding it with skills or numbers they can't defend in an interview.

## Prompt

```
You are editing my resume for one specific job. Your rule: you may reword, reorder and cut, but you may not add any skill, tool, number, title or responsibility that is not already in my resume. If a stronger bullet would need a fact I haven't given you, write the bullet with a [NEED: ...] marker instead of guessing.

Job description:
{{job_description}}

My current resume:
{{resume}}

Do this in order:
1. Extract the 6-8 requirements this employer actually screens for (hard skills, domain, scope, level). Mark each MUST or NICE based on the wording.
2. Match table: requirement | my strongest evidence (quote it) | strength (strong / partial / none).
3. Rewrite my summary (max 3 lines) and the bullets from my most recent {{roles_to_rewrite}} role(s). Lead each bullet with the outcome, use the employer's vocabulary where it truthfully applies, keep every bullet under 25 words.
4. Gap list: every MUST rated partial or none, with one honest way to address it (a real project I could mention, a cover-letter line, or "don't claim this").
5. List the words you changed that an ATS keyword filter would care about.

Finish by checking, line by line, that no rewritten line contains a fact absent from my original, and flag any wording that is your interpretation rather than my fact.
```

## Variables

- `{{job_description}}` — The full job posting, or at least the requirements and responsibilities sections. (e.g. Senior Customer Success Manager, Mid-Market... Must have: 4+ years in B2B SaaS customer success...)
- `{{resume}}` — Your current resume as plain text. (e.g. Customer Success Manager, Brightline HR (B2B SaaS), 2022-present: Managed 55 SMB and mid-market accounts...)
- `{{roles_to_rewrite}}` — How many of your most recent roles to rewrite (1-2 keeps the output focused). (e.g. 1)

## Example input

```
job_description: Senior Customer Success Manager, Mid-Market (Remote, US). You'll own a book of ~40 accounts ($3-5M ARR). Must have: 4+ years in B2B SaaS customer success; proven ownership of gross/net revenue retention; experience running QBRs with director-level stakeholders; comfort with Salesforce or HubSpot; data-driven churn risk analysis. Nice to have: fintech or payments experience; Gainsight; SQL.

resume: Maya R.
Customer Success Manager, Brightline HR (B2B SaaS), 2022-present
- Managed 55 SMB and mid-market accounts
- Ran quarterly business reviews for top 15 accounts
- Reduced churn in my book from 14% to 9% in 2024
- Built a health-score spreadsheet in Google Sheets using product usage exports
- Trained 3 new CSMs
- Worked in HubSpot daily
Account Coordinator, Parcelwise (logistics), 2019-2022
- Handled onboarding for new shipping customers
- Answered support tickets
- Created onboarding checklist that cut setup time from 10 days to 6

roles_to_rewrite: 1
```

## Output

*Produced by Claude · Opus 5.5.*

```
**1. What they screen for**
1. 4+ years in B2B SaaS customer success: MUST
2. Owning gross/net revenue retention across a $3-5M ARR book: MUST
3. QBRs with director-level stakeholders: MUST
4. Salesforce or HubSpot: MUST
5. Data-driven churn-risk analysis: MUST
6. Fintech or payments: NICE
7. Gainsight: NICE
8. SQL: NICE

**2. Match table**

| Requirement | Your strongest evidence | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| 4+ yrs B2B SaaS CS | "Customer Success Manager... 2022-present" | partial: 4 years only if you started by Sept 2022 |
| Retention ownership | "Reduced churn in my book from 14% to 9% in 2024" | partial: churn, not GRR/NRR, no ARR figure |
| Director-level QBRs | "Ran quarterly business reviews for top 15 accounts" | partial: attendee level not stated |
| HubSpot | "Worked in HubSpot daily" | strong |
| Churn-risk analysis | "Built a health-score spreadsheet" | strong |
| Fintech, Gainsight, SQL | none | none |

**3. Rewrites**

*Summary:* Customer success manager in B2B SaaS since 2022, running a 55-account SMB and mid-market book. Cut book churn from 14% to 9% in 2024. Built a usage-based health score, runs QBRs for top accounts, works in HubSpot daily.

*Brightline HR:*
- Cut churn across a 55-account SMB and mid-market book from 14% to 9% in 2024.
- Built a customer health score in Google Sheets from product usage exports to flag churn risk [NEED: what you did with flagged accounts].
- Ran quarterly business reviews (QBRs) for the top 15 accounts with [NEED: attendee titles, e.g. HR directors].
- Trained 3 new CSMs on [NEED: what you trained them on].

**4. Gap list**
- **Revenue retention (MUST, partial):** if you can pull your book's ARR and GRR/NRR, add them; this hiring manager will look for them first. If you can't, keep "churn" and don't relabel it as NRR.
- **Director-level QBRs (MUST, partial):** if directors or VPs attended, fill in the [NEED]. Cheapest upgrade on the page.
- **4+ years (MUST, partial):** add your start month. If it's under four years, don't stretch dates; point to the Parcelwise onboarding work in your cover letter.
- **Fintech, Gainsight, SQL (NICE):** don't claim them.

**5. ATS keyword changes**
"B2B SaaS" and "mid-market" moved into the summary; "QBRs" added; "health score" and "churn risk" named explicitly.

**Fact check**
- Summary and bullets 1, 3, 4: every fact is from your original. I deliberately did not say the health score *caused* the churn drop, because you didn't; add that link only if it's true.
- Bullet 2: "to flag churn risk" is my interpretation of what a health score is for. Delete it if yours was used for something else.
```

## Why it works

The first line is a hard rule, not a style note: **reword, reorder, cut, but never add**. The `[NEED: ...]` marker gives the model a legal way to write a stronger bullet without fabricating, which is where most AI resume rewrites go wrong.

The **match table with quoted evidence** forces it to point at your actual words before rewriting, so "strong" has to be earned. The **gap list** turns missing requirements into decisions (mention a project, address in the letter, or don't claim) instead of silent padding. The closing **line-by-line fact check** catches subtler invention, like implying one achievement caused another.

## When not to use it

If you're changing careers, a tailored bullet list won't bridge the gap; start with a skills-gap plan instead. It also can't tell you whether your numbers are impressive for the market. And it only works on text: paste your resume, not a screenshot of a designed PDF, or the model will misread the layout.

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