From staff-resume
Build and refine staff-level engineering resumes through interactive coaching, research-backed best practices, and per-job tailoring. Use when building, improving, or tailoring a resume for Staff/Principal engineer roles.
npx claudepluginhub smykla-skalski/sai --plugin staff-resumeThis skill is limited to using the following tools:
Parse from `$ARGUMENTS`:
Guides Next.js Cache Components and Partial Prerendering (PPR) with cacheComponents enabled. Implements 'use cache', cacheLife(), cacheTag(), revalidateTag(), static/dynamic optimization, and cache debugging.
Migrates code, prompts, and API calls from Claude Sonnet 4.0/4.5 or Opus 4.1 to Opus 4.5, updating model strings on Anthropic, AWS, GCP, Azure platforms.
Reviews prose for communication issues impeding comprehension, outputs minimal fixes in a three-column table per Microsoft Writing Style Guide. Useful for 'review prose' or 'improve prose' requests.
Parse from $ARGUMENTS:
coach (default), tailor, full (both)Build and refine staff/principal-level engineering resumes. Not designed for non-technical resumes, cover letters, junior/mid-level roles, or academic CVs.
Read references/staff-resume-patterns.md in full before starting this phase.
Use WebSearch for each query:
"staff engineer resume" best practices {current_year} — latest trends"staff software engineer resume" quantify impact examples — bullet point patterns"{company_name}" engineering culture interview process staff — company-specific intelATS optimization resume {current_year} software engineer — latest ATS adviceCombine fresh findings with the patterns from the reference file. Note any new patterns or changes from prior research.
Evaluate the current resume against these staff-level criteria. For each criterion, mark as present or missing/weak with specific evidence.
| Criterion | Check |
|---|---|
| Summary/positioning | Present? Positions as Staff, not Senior? |
| Skills organization | Categorized by domain or flat list? |
| Section order | Summary → Skills → Experience → OSS/Leadership → Speaking → Education? |
| Length | 1-2 pages? Every line adds value? |
| ATS friendliness | Single column? Standard headers? No graphics? |
| Criterion | Check |
|---|---|
| Scope language | Uses "org-wide", "cross-team", "company-wide"? Or weak: "helped", "worked on"? |
| Decision authority | Uses "Architected", "drove", "established"? Or weak: "contributed to", "participated"? |
| Impact metrics | Every role has quantified business impact? Revenue, scale, reliability? |
| Cross-team signals | Evidence of influence beyond own team? |
| Technical strategy | RFCs, architecture decisions, roadmap influence? |
| Mentoring/leadership | People grown, teams built, hiring bar set? |
| Open source framing | Prominent or buried? |
Determine which archetype the target role maps to (see reference file for definitions). Assess whether the resume's emphasis aligns with the target archetype.
Show results as a clear table of present/missing/weak findings, then use AskUserQuestion:
"Here's how your resume maps against staff-level criteria. Which gaps should we tackle first? Or should we go through all of them systematically?"
Skip this phase when --mode tailor. Re-read references/staff-resume-patterns.md Senior vs Staff Language section before rewriting bullets.
This is the core of the skill. Go deep on each role, one at a time.
For each bullet point, ask probing questions:
<example> - "This bullet says you 'drove X initiative.' How many teams were involved? What was the business outcome?" - "You mention 800% throughput improvement. What was the business context? How many users did this affect?" - "This reads as team-level scope. Was there any cross-team or org-wide impact you're not mentioning?" </example>Ask these questions systematically:
Scope expansion:
People impact:
Business impact:
Open source / community:
For each bullet, propose a staff-level rewrite using the XYZ formula from the reference file.
<example description="Before/after bullet rewrite"> Before: "Improved Kafka pipeline performance by 800%" After: "Architected event-driven pipeline redesign processing 2M events/day, reducing p99 latency 800% across 12 downstream services — adopted as org-wide messaging standard" </example>Power verbs (Staff-level):
architected, drove, established, influenced, defined strategy,
evaluated trade-offs, owned end-to-end, scaled from X to Y,
founded initiative, shaped roadmap, designed, led, pioneered
Verbs to eliminate (Senior-level):
helped, assisted, worked on, participated in, was responsible for,
involved in, contributed to, basic knowledge of
Show before/after for each bullet and use AskUserQuestion for confirmation or additional context.
After processing all roles, draft 3 summary options:
Ask user to pick one or customize.
Propose categorized skills layout:
Systems & Languages: [primary], [secondary] | [learning]
Distributed Systems: [patterns, not just tools]
Cloud Native: [tools with (contributor) tags where applicable]
Data & Messaging: [tools]
Observability: [tools with (contributor) tags]
Cloud Platforms: [platforms] | [patterns like multi-cloud]
AI/ML Infrastructure: [honest representation of current skills]
Rules:
Skip this phase when --mode coach. Re-read references/staff-resume-patterns.md ATS Optimization and Staff Archetypes sections before tailoring.
Apply ATS rules from the reference file. Ensure both acronyms and spelled-out terms appear naturally.
Reorder and emphasize bullets matching the target archetype (see reference file for archetype → bullet mapping).
Generate a role-specific summary that mirrors the JD language while maintaining authenticity.
Generate the tailored resume preserving the user's original template/style but with:
Save a markdown analysis alongside the resume:
# Resume Tailoring: {Company} — {Role Title}
**Date:** {date}
**Job URL:** {url}
**Archetype:** {archetype}
## Keyword Coverage
- ✅ Exact matches: [list]
- 🟡 Partial matches: [list]
- ❌ Gaps: [list]
## Key Customizations Made
- [bullet changes]
- [summary choice]
- [skills emphasis]
## Interview Talking Points
- [3-5 points connecting resume to role]
## Honest Assessment
- Strengths for this role: [list]
- Weaknesses to prepare for: [list]
Before delivering, verify:
Show: