Strategy — Job search aggressiveness configuration

SkillSearch

Configure and adjust the job search strategy level. The agent interrogates the user, proposes a level, and saves it to DB. All flows respect it.

Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.

Connect ahel once, and every AI you use reads what you have installed.

Then ask your AI: use the Strategy — Job search aggressiveness configuration skill

What this skill tells your AI

The instructions your AI receives, as published by galiprandi/job-seeker in .agents/skills/strategy/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.

Trigger

Keyword: strategy

The user says strategy (or variants: "cambiar estrategia", "change strategy", "more aggressive", "less aggressive", "urgency", "how active") and the strategy configuration flow is triggered.

Purpose

The job search has configurable aggressiveness. Different situations (employed vs unemployed, urgent vs relaxed) require different levels of effort. This flow lets the user define and adjust their strategy, which all other flows respect.

Pre-flight

  • Load current strategy:
    node scripts/db.js "SELECT value FROM preferences WHERE user_id = 1 AND category = 'workflow' AND key = 'strategy_level' AND status = 'active'"
    node scripts/db.js "SELECT data->'strategy' AS strategy FROM users WHERE id = 1"
    
  • If no strategy exists, note that onboarding step 4b was skipped. Default to selective.

Flow

1. Show current strategy

If a strategy exists, show the user:

Current strategy: selective
- Apply batch: 5 jobs per session
- Targets batch: 5 companies per session
- Daily frequency: 1x/day
- Match threshold: Must only
- Follow-up: 5 days
- Relax Must-haves: none
- Cold outreach: no
- Active sources: radar, apply, targets, referrals, news

2. Ask about current situation

Present the 4 levels (see AGENTS.md "Strategy levels") and ask:

  1. ¿Estás empleado actualmente?
  2. ¿Qué tan urgente es tu búsqueda?
    • Sin urgencia, solo mirando → passive
    • En los próximos meses, buscando algo mejor → selective
    • Necesito algo pronto → active
    • Necesito algo ya, desesperado → aggressive
  3. Pregunta adaptativa según career stage (leer users.data.profile.career_stage y users.data.profile.has_management):
    • Si career_stage es junior/mid: "¿Estás abierto a roles de un nivel más alto al tuyo, o solo a roles de tu mismo nivel?"
    • Si career_stage es senior+ y has_management = true: "¿Aceptarías roles IC o solo Manager?"
    • Si career_stage es senior+ y has_management = false: "¿Te interesa dar el salto a management o prefieres seguir como IC?"
  4. ¿Aceptarías hybrid si el proyecto es muy bueno?
  5. ¿Quieres que aplique automáticamente o solo te muestre opciones?

Nunca preguntes "IC o Manager?" a un usuario junior/mid. La pregunta 3 se adapta al perfil inferido del CV.

Based on answers, propose a level. Explain what changes:

Based on your answers, I propose: active

This means:
- I'll apply to 10 jobs per session (Must + Strong matches)
- Register on 10 target companies per session
- Run daily 2x/day
- Follow up after 3 days instead of 5
- Relax your top 2 Must-haves (the agent resolves which ones from your profile)
- Send cold outreach to recruiters at target companies

Does this work? You can adjust any parameter individually.

3. Allow customization

After proposing a level, let the user customize individual parameters:

  • "Quiero que apliques a 15 pero solo Must-matches" → override apply_batch_size = 15, keep match_threshold = must_only
  • "No quiero cold outreach" → override cold_outreach = false
  • "Relajar remote pero no mentorship" → override relax_must_haves with specific keys from the user's Must-haves (the agent reads users.data.job_preferences to resolve which keys to relax)

4. Save to DB

# Save level
node scripts/db.js "INSERT INTO preferences (user_id, category, key, value, confidence, source) VALUES (1, 'workflow', 'strategy_level', '<level>', 1.0, 'explicit_statement') ON CONFLICT (user_id, category, key) DO UPDATE SET value = EXCLUDED.value, source = EXCLUDED.source, updated_at = NOW()" --write

# Save detailed parameters
node scripts/db.js "UPDATE users SET data = jsonb_set(data, '{strategy}', '<json>'::jsonb) WHERE id = 1" --write

The strategy JSON contains all parameters (see AGENTS.md "Strategy levels"). Example for active with customizations:

{
  "level": "active",
  "apply_batch_size": 15,
  "targets_batch_size": 10,
  "daily_frequency": "2x/day",
  "match_threshold": "must_strong",
  "follow_up_days": 3,
  "relax_must_haves": "top_2_must_haves",
  "relaxed_keys": ["remote", "salary"],
  "cold_outreach": false,
  "sources_active": ["radar", "apply", "targets", "referrals", "news"]
}

relax_must_haves stores the strategy level (top_2_must_haves, top_3_must_haves, none). relaxed_keys is the resolved list of actual Must-have keys from users.data.job_preferences that the agent will relax. The agent populates relaxed_keys at runtime by reading the user's Must-weighted preferences and picking the top N by priority.

5. Confirm

Show the final strategy and confirm:

Strategy saved: active (customized)

- Apply: 15 jobs/session, Must+Strong matches
- Targets: 10 companies/session
- Daily: 2x/day
- Follow-up: 3 days
- Relaxed: top 2 Must-haves (remote, salary)
- Cold outreach: disabled
- Sources: radar, apply, targets, referrals, news

All flows will respect this. Say "strategy" again to change it.

Level defaults

See AGENTS.md "Strategy levels" for the full table. Summary:

Levelapply_batchtargets_batchdailymatchfollow_uprelaxcold
passive00on-demandmust_only7nonefalse
selective551x/daymust_only5nonefalse
active10102x/daymust_strong3top_2_must_havestrue
aggressive15all2x/daymust_strong_nice2top_3_must_havestrue

Rules

  • Always show current strategy first before proposing changes
  • Explain what changes when proposing a new level. The user needs to understand the impact
  • Allow customization of any parameter after choosing a level. Don't force all defaults
  • Save both the level name (preferences) and detailed params (users.data.strategy). The level is the quick reference, the params are what flows actually read
  • Report what was saved (Gold Rule 3). One line: "Estrategia actualizada: active"
  • Never change strategy without asking. Even if memory detects a situation change, propose the change and wait for confirmation
  • Single user (repo owner)

Dependencies

  • Depends on onboarding (DB must exist)
  • Read by all flows at pre-flight
  • Memory skill can trigger this flow when situation changes are detected

Timing and batch sizes

Practical limits per session (validated empirically):

  • An apply session can process 7-10 Easy Apply jobs in ~30 min
  • Connection requests: 8-10 per session (avoid LinkedIn limits)
  • Direct emails: 4-5 per session (each takes ~2 min with attachment)
  • Effective total per session: 15-20 application/contact actions
  • Some companies have very long forms that take ~10 min each. The rest take 2-5 min each

These limits interact with strategy levels:

  • passive: 0 applications, 0 targets (on-demand only)
  • selective: 5 applications, 5 targets per session
  • active: 10 applications, 10 targets per session
  • aggressive: 15 applications, all targets per session

LinkedIn limits: custom notes on connection requests have a weekly cap. When exhausted, send invites without a note. Don't retry with a note.

Signals

GitHub stars
26
Forks
1
Last commit
Sep 2026
Hacker News mentions
20
Advanced
Catalog kind
skill
Gateway key
strategy-galiprandi
Source
github.com/galiprandi/job-seeker