Free kit · one $20 bill · about an hour on a laptop
This is the system I built to run my own job search, set up so you can run it too. Claude, the AI assistant, finds jobs that fit you, fills in the applications, sends them and keeps track of everything. You step in only where a person has to: sign-ins, "I'm not a robot" checks and signatures.
No tech skills needed. You install one app and one browser add-on, paste once, and answer questions. Claude sets up everything else and walks you through it.
Reading this on your phone? You'll need a laptop or desktop to set this up. Tap Copy link and email it to yourself, or open the same message on your computer.
My goal is the cheapest job search that works. You pay Anthropic $20 a month for Claude, plus any tax, and that's the cost. The kit is free, nothing comes to me, and there's nothing else to buy.
Claude's plans come with a usage allowance, and the less the kit uses, the further $20 goes. So I keep reworking it to use less: job-alert emails watch for new jobs, each day starts in a fresh short chat, and Claude spends your plan on checking and deciding. Whenever I find a way to make $20 go further, this page gets the new version.
The price is from when this was written. Check today's at claude.com/pricing. A larger plan is optional: it lets a second Claude run all day. You don't need it to start.
Each day it checks employers' careers sites from your list, a few at a time on the $20 plan, and reads your job-alert emails. It remembers every job it has seen, so nothing is read twice.
Every job gets four scores before anything is sent: the pay, the place, the work itself, and how well you fit. Only the ones that score high enough go through. You set how high.
It fills in each application from facts you've confirmed, attaches the right résumé and sends it. Three checks stop it applying to the same job twice.
Sign-ins, codes and signatures wait in one list, quickest first, with the minutes each takes. You clear them in one sitting.
It spots people you know at each company, lines up the best open job there and the right résumé, and drafts the note. You send it.
Once you connect Gmail, it reads your inbox and tells you who wrote back. It flags scams, and applications that failed to send.
Tick each step when it's done. Your ticks are saved only in this browser. Keep this page open, and switch between it and the Claude app.
It worked if the Claude app opens and asks you to sign in.
It worked if Code opens without asking you to upgrade.
job-search and press Enter.It worked if a folder called job-search is sitting on your desktop.
It worked if you can see job-search next to the message box.
Would you rather not have anything fetched? Copy the whole kit as text instead. It does the same job, and takes a few minutes longer.
It worked if Claude lists the files and tells you what happens next.
You can type any of these at any point:
It worked if you're looking at a list of real jobs with scores.
Claude tells you when setup is finished. From then on:
run today's search. To start a new chat, use the new-chat button at the top of the list on the left, and pick the folder the same way as in step 4.It worked if Claude starts searching and tells you what it's doing.
These help $20 go further. None needs a new account. You do the signing in, and Claude does the reading and the matching. It never types or asks for a password.
Finds jobs
Job sites email you when a new job matches. Reading one email costs far less than searching a site.
Finds people
LinkedIn lets every member download their own list of connections. With it, spotting someone you know at a company is one quick look.
Saves usage
Every step Claude takes re-reads the whole conversation, so long chats cost more. The kit keeps everything in files, which lets each day start fresh.
I measure before I claim a saving, and the numbers will go on this page. Tools I've tested and left out are covered under Questions.
Starting it takes a minute. Open Claude, click Code, start a new chat in your job-search folder, and type one of these:
Tell it what you want in plain words: "no jobs under $50k", "Chicago first", "skip that company". It writes each one down and follows it from then on. "Check my inbox" works once you've connected Gmail.
It runs on its own. At setup it asks how hands-on you want to be. Say "send them on your own" and it applies to every job that scores high enough, then tells you what it sent. Say "show me each one first" and it waits for your yes on each. You can switch whenever you like.
A few steps always need a person. It saves these up and tells you exactly what to click:
Many large employers make you sign in before you can apply, so expect a short sitting like that most days.
If you're stuck, the fastest fix is usually to tell Claude what you see on your screen and ask: "what do I do next?"
Check that you're in the Claude app you installed, not the Claude website in your browser. Code needs a paid plan. If it still isn't there, update the app. On a Mac, click Claude at the very top of the screen, then Check for Updates. On Windows, click Help, then Check for Updates.
Apps change. Type this to Claude in any chat: "I want to start a Code session in my job-search folder on my Desktop. Tell me exactly what to click." Then carry on from step 5.
Click inside Claude's message box first, so the cursor is blinking in it. Then paste, and press Enter. If the yellow button couldn't copy, use the box that appeared under it.
Out of the box, Claude asks before it creates or changes files and before it opens a website. Say yes to saving files in your job-search folder and to opening employers' websites. If it asks about anything outside that folder, or anything about payment, stop and ask it why.
You can turn the asking down. Click the button under the message box that says Manual:
Type "explain that in plain words". Or type "skip for now" and come back to it later.
Nothing is lost. Everything is saved in your job-search folder. Open Claude, click Code, open the folder again as in step 4, and type "continue".
Claude plans have usage limits: one that resets every five hours on most plans, and one that resets every week. You don't need to buy more. The message says when yours resets. Come back then and type "continue". Nothing is lost.
Ask it: "Why do you need that, and is there a simpler way?" You can always say no. Claude should never ask you to type a password, a Social Security number or bank details into the chat. If anything does, stop.
That's the goal the kit is built around: one short chat a day, with job-alert emails bringing new jobs to it. On that plan it does one pass a day and checks a few employers each time, so it sends fewer applications than a setup running all day.
I ran my own search on a larger plan, so I'm still measuring what a normal week costs on $20, and I'll post the numbers here. If you reach the limit, nothing breaks: you wait for it to reset and type "continue". I keep cutting how much the kit uses, and this page always has the newest version.
Yes, on a larger Claude plan ($100 or $200 a month). A second chat, called the worker, keeps finding jobs and applying while your main chat stays free to talk to. Everything it needs is already in the kit: tell your Claude "I've upgraded". You never have to do this.
Yes. That's what it's built for. At setup it asks how hands-on you want to be. Say "send them on your own" and it applies to every job that scores high enough, then tells you what it sent. Say "show me each one first" and it lists the jobs it found and sends only the ones you say yes to.
About an hour to set up, and you can split that over a few sittings. After that you start it once a day and it works while you're away from the keyboard, as long as the computer stays on and awake. It needs you for a short sitting most days, to sign in to the company sites it couldn't get into, and for the interviews.
You can, but it isn't part of the kit. I tested Simplify, a free Chrome add-on that types your details into application forms, and left it out of the setup for three reasons.
If you already use one, press its button yourself and then ask Claude to check the form. Claude checks every answer on the employer's form, whoever typed it.
You tell it. If you use LinkedIn, you download your own list of connections from LinkedIn's settings, which LinkedIn offers every member, and put the file in your job-search folder. Claude never signs in to LinkedIn and never looks anyone up there.
It matches the companies on your list with the companies that are hiring, checks each match with you, and builds your shelf: the person, the best open job at their company, the résumé to use, and a short note. You send every message yourself.
No. It fills in forms only from answers you've confirmed. If a form asks something new, it saves that application for you and moves on. It answers a form's yes/no questions truthfully, even when the truth rules you out.
It works for any field where employers post jobs on their own websites: journalism, marketing, nursing, teaching, engineering, sales. It's weaker for jobs that are mostly found through job-listing sites or word of mouth.
On employers' own careers pages, starting with the employers you name, and in your job-alert emails if you connect Gmail. It doesn't use job-listing sites such as LinkedIn and Indeed, because their rules don't allow software to use them for you. Use those yourself and turn on their job alerts.
The kit tells Claude to work in your job-search folder. With Claude's normal settings, it asks before it does anything else on your computer. Through the Chrome add-on it works in your own Chrome, in its own tabs, so it could open any site you're signed in to. The kit tells it to open employers' sites only, and Claude asks you before it visits a new website. It sees your email only if you connect Gmail.
Your answers are saved as files on your own computer. Claude reads them to do the work, so they pass through Anthropic's service like anything else you type to Claude. I collect nothing from you. Never put passwords, government ID numbers or bank details in those files.
Type "stop" in any chat that's working. To undo everything:
Not on its own. The numbers from the search it came from are further down this page. What it does is keep a search moving, organised and honest, and point it at jobs you actually fit.
I built this piece by piece over seven weeks and 1,341 applications. The kit sets up every part below. Every file is in the kit on every plan. A bigger plan only lets it run for longer.
These are written into the instructions your Claude reads every time. If you ask it to break one, it's told to say no and explain why.
It also scores every job before applying, and holds back the ones that don't fit. You can still point it at a specific job yourself.
This kit won't get you hired on its own, and everything it submits goes out under your name. Here is what my own search looked like after seven weeks.
All of that went out while I was posting content every day, training for an Ironman, lifting, playing tennis a couple of times a week, travelling to see friends in other cities, and otherwise goofing off the way you'd expect from an unemployed 23-year-old. Some of it went out while I was driving. The system did the applying.
About 2 in every 100 applications got a reply asking to talk, and some of those went several rounds. What raised the number was applying to fewer, closer-matched jobs: during the busiest stretch 1.6% of applications led to a request to talk, and after I got pickier 3.5% did. The numbers are small, so read that as a strong hint.
My search ran two chats all day on a large plan, and it reached further than this kit does. So expect fewer applications than my count, and judge it by the conversations you get.
I'm documenting my own search until I'm hired, one piece of the system at a time. The next parts are on Instagram at @ankit_lulla. If the kit gets you an interview, tell me.
You don't copy these one by one. The yellow button in step 5 handles all of them. This list is here so you can see what's inside first: the plain text files written for your Claude, with nothing hidden. Open any one to read it.
Download the zip, unzip it, open that folder in Claude as in step 4, and type the line below.
Read 00-START-HERE.md and CLAUDE.md, then run the onboarding interview.