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What is Hunter? A Friendly Explanation

Hey friend! Let me tell you about this awesome app I built to help with my job search. It's called Hunter, and honestly, it's been a game-changer.

What Problem Does It Solve?

You know how job hunting can be absolutely exhausting? You're applying to dozens of jobs, each one wants a customized resume and cover letter, you're trying to track which companies you've applied to, what stage you're at, and you're constantly wondering: "Do I even have a shot at this job?"

Well, Hunter solves all of that. And the best part? It's 100% private - everything runs on my computer, so my resume and job info never goes to the cloud.

What Does It Do?

Hunter is like having a personal AI assistant for your entire job search. Here's what it does:

1. Smart Job Matching

When I find a job posting I like, I just paste the job description into Hunter. The app uses AI to:

  • Extract all the requirements from the job (skills, experience, certifications)
  • Compare them against my resume
  • Give me a match score (0-100%) showing how good a fit I am

So instead of wasting time on jobs where I'm clearly underqualified, I can focus on the ones where I have a real shot!

2. Automatic Document Generation

Here's where it gets really cool. For each job, Hunter automatically creates:

  • A customized cover letter that highlights the skills they're looking for
  • A tailored resume where my experience bullets are rewritten to match what the job wants
  • A qualification analysis showing exactly what I have vs. what they want
  • A beautiful summary page with everything organized in tabs

This saves me hours per application. No more manually tweaking my resume for each job!

3. Application Tracking Dashboard

Hunter creates a gorgeous visual dashboard where I can see:

  • All my applications in one place
  • Status of each (Pending, Applied, Interviewed, Offered, etc.)
  • My match score for each job
  • When I applied and last updated

I can click on any application to see the full summary with all my generated documents.

4. Technology Skills Matching

One of my favorite features! Hunter shows me a visual breakdown of technologies:

  • Green pills 🟢 = I have this skill and they want it (perfect match!)
  • Yellow pills 🟡 = Partially matched or inferred
  • Red pills 🔴 = They want this but I don't have it (need to address this)

This instantly shows me where I'm strong and where I might need to emphasize related experience.

5. Hiring Team Intelligence

When job postings include hiring team info (like from LinkedIn), Hunter extracts:

  • Names and titles of the hiring team
  • My connection degree to them (1st, 2nd, 3rd on LinkedIn)
  • Their role (Job poster, Hiring manager, Interviewer, etc.)

This helps me figure out who to reach out to and if I have mutual connections!

6. Status Updates & Notes

I can update the status of any application right from the summary page:

  • "Applied" when I submit
  • "Contacted Someone" when I reach out to the hiring manager
  • "Interviewed" after phone screens
  • Add notes about how things went

Everything is tracked with timestamps so I can see my entire application journey.

How Does It Work?

The magic behind Hunter is surprisingly simple:

  1. I paste a job description into the web interface
  2. Local AI (Ollama) analyzes both the job and my resume
    • It extracts all the requirements, skills, and qualifications
    • Compares them to what I have in my resume
    • Calculates a match score
  3. Generates all the documents automatically
    • Custom cover letter
    • Tailored resume
    • Qualification analysis
    • Summary HTML page
  4. Everything saves locally in organized folders
  5. Dashboard updates to show the new application

The whole process takes about 30-60 seconds, and then I have everything I need to apply!

How Will This Help My Job Search?

Time Savings

Before Hunter, I spent 1-2 hours per application:

  • 30 min customizing my resume
  • 30 min writing a cover letter
  • 15 min tracking in a spreadsheet
  • 15 min researching the company

With Hunter: 5 minutes of my time (paste job description, review generated docs), and the rest happens automatically!

Better Applications

The AI helps me:

  • Speak their language: Uses keywords from the job description
  • Highlight relevant experience: Rewrites my bullets to match what they want
  • Address gaps: Shows me what skills I'm missing so I can address them in my cover letter
  • Focus on the right jobs: Match scores help me prioritize where I have the best chance

Organized & Professional

Instead of a messy spreadsheet, I have:

  • A professional dashboard I can even show recruiters
  • All documents for each job in one place
  • Complete history of status updates and notes
  • Easy tracking of my entire pipeline

Confidence Boost

Seeing a 85% match score and having AI-generated documents that perfectly align with the job description? That's a huge confidence boost before clicking "Apply"!

Strategic Networking

The hiring team extraction helps me:

  • Know who posted the job
  • See if I have mutual connections
  • Reach out strategically to the right people
  • Build relationships before or after applying

Why Local AI Matters

I use Ollama (a free, local AI) instead of ChatGPT or other cloud services. This means:

  • ✅ My resume stays 100% private on my computer
  • ✅ No API costs (it's completely free!)
  • ✅ No internet required after setup
  • ✅ Unlimited usage - no rate limits
  • ✅ Full control over my data

Real Results

Since building Hunter, I've:

  • Cut application time from 1-2 hours to 5 minutes
  • Applied to 10 jobs in the same time it used to take for 1
  • Increased my response rate (better targeted applications!)
  • Never lost track of where I am in any process
  • Reduced stress by having everything organized
Hunter is like having a personal assistant, resume writer, and job search organizer all in one.

It doesn't just save me time - it helps me apply smarter, stay organized, and actually enjoy the job search process (as much as anyone can enjoy job searching! 😅).

And since it's all mine and runs locally, I have complete control and privacy. No subscriptions, no cloud services, just a powerful tool running on my computer.

Tech Details (For the Curious)

If you're wondering about the tech:

  • Language: Python 3.11+
  • AI: Ollama (local LLM) running Llama 3
  • Web Framework: Flask
  • Frontend: Vanilla HTML/CSS/JavaScript (keeping it simple!)
  • Storage: File-based (YAML, Markdown, HTML)
  • Requirements: 8GB+ RAM, macOS/Linux/Windows

No database, no complicated infrastructure - just clean, simple code that works!

That's Hunter in a nutshell!

Questions? Want to see a demo? Just let me know!