Applying to a Job

Applying in Rolester is a three-step sequence enforced by the system: evaluate → tailor → apply. No step can skip the one before it.

Step 1 — Gate the posting (evaluate-job)

Every application begins with a body-read gate. Paste a job posting or URL and say "evaluate this" or "should I apply":

evaluate this — [paste JD text or URL]

The evaluate-job skill fetches the full posting body, saves it locally, checks it against your config, and emits:

GATE: KEEP|CUT|REVIEW — reason
FIT: high|med|stretch <score> — why | caveats: ... | priority: ...
COMP: clear|review|below-floor — reason
COMP ANCHOR: <expected salary> — rationale
ACTION: apply-now|hold|manual|cut

A GATE: CUT stops the flow. A GATE: REVIEW surfaces for your judgment. Only GATE: KEEP (or a user-approved REVIEW) unlocks tailoring. The gate also flags likely ghost jobs, evergreen reqs, and staffing-farm reposts as LEGITIMACY: suspect — a flag for your judgment, never an automatic cut.

Step 2 — Tailor artifacts (tailor-application)

After a KEEP verdict, say "tailor this" or "write a resume and cover letter":

tailor this / write a resume and cover letter for this role

The tailor-application skill reads your evidence bank (candidate/evidence.yml), the saved JD body, your writing-style calibration, and any learning-memory files for the role family. It produces:

A role-specific résumé (built only from evidence you supplied)
A cover letter (in your voice, grounded in the same evidence)
Short-answer responses for any supplemental questions

A placeholder-lint step runs before any artifact is marked build-ready. Any unresolved token ([Company], [Name], etc.) blocks the build. The agent does not invent facts.

Artifacts land in workspace/tailored/ and are also exported to ~/Downloads/rolester/<Company>/ for easy access.

Step 3 — Apply (apply-job)

To start the application, say "apply" or "submit this":

apply to this

The apply-job skill:

Confirms the gate has passed (runs or verifies evaluate-job as step zero).
Opens the ATS form in your session browser.
Fills fields from candidate/form-defaults.yml and the tailored artifacts.
Halts before final submission and waits for your explicit confirmation (the default; auto_submit is an opt-in in form-defaults.yml).
Halts on CAPTCHAs and unsupported auth prompts.
Writes the application row to workspace/tracker.json and re-renders the dashboard.

LinkedIn Easy Apply

For LinkedIn postings, apply-job supports an opt-in one-click path via the session browser. This requires the one_click_apply capability to be enabled in rolester automation status. It follows the same submit-safety gate.

Application limits

candidate/application-limits.yml governs per-company caps and cooldowns. Before starting an apply flow, the agent checks whether you are within limit for that company. A cap breach surfaces as ACTION: hold in the gate output.

What "manual" means

If the posting needs authentication the session browser cannot handle, or if the form is too complex for the recipe, apply-job surfaces it as manual apply needed rather than failing silently. It logs the role and links to the ATS page so you can apply by hand.