One-page trim cuts older roles before projects

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Assessment

Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Newbie friendliness
55/100
Issue type
Feature
Clarity
Clearly specified
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
next.js, typescript
Domain
backend, developer-experience

Research direction

Start with src/lib/page-limit.ts and inspect nextCut to understand the current trimming order; then read resumeUnits and tailor-resume.ts for how project selections reach the resume. Check how skills handles selected items and identify the related tests before changing behavior. Done means unlisted projects are omitted and page trimming follows the requested priority while preserving older roles as long as possible.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

What are you trying to do?

I'm early in my career: three roles on my profile (two are internships), four projects, and Resume length set to one page. I save tailored resumes from Claude with save_application, and in resume.projects I pass the one or two projects that fit the job.

When a resume runs over a page, Dossier trims it in this order (nextCut in src/lib/page-limit.ts): custom sections, volunteering, older roles until one is left, the last bullets of that role, and only then projects.

Two things together make this cut the wrong parts for me:

  1. Every project on the profile goes on the resume. resumeUnits adds a project the answer didn't list, with its profile bullets. The projects field of save_application has no description, so Claude can't know that listing one project still prints all four.
  2. Those extra projects push the resume over a page, and the trim then removes work experience to make room for them.

I've saved more than 20 resumes this way. On most of them Dossier left out one or both internships, and since 1.12 it often cut 1 to 3 bullets from my current role too, while it kept projects Claude hadn't listed. When I left out the extra projects and put the roles back, about half of those resumes fit on one page with no other change. The rest needed a bullet or a skills line cut, which is the trade I'd choose over losing a role.

What would you like Dossier to do?

Cut the parts that matter least to a recruiter first. My suggestion for the order in nextCut:

  1. Custom sections, then volunteering, as today.
  2. Projects, oldest first.
  3. The last bullets of older roles, down to one bullet each.
  4. Older roles, only once nothing else is left.

Two reasons. A recruiter reads paid roles, internships included, as proof of real work, while projects mostly fill in when there's little experience. And a recruiter skims titles, companies and dates first, so a dropped role leaves a gap in the timeline and hides the job, while a dropped third bullet costs little.

For save_application, I'd also print only the projects listed in resume.projects, the way skills already drops what it doesn't list. Then the projects Claude picks are the ones that stay, and the extra ones never push the resume over in the first place.

How do you manage without it today?

After each save I look for the "Left out to fit the page limit" banner. Then I click Leave out on the projects I don't want, Put back on the roles, and shorten bullets by hand until the page fits.

Anything else

Dossier's own tailoring asks the model for "every project from the profile" (tailor-resume.ts), so the same trim order applies to resumes Dossier writes itself. I've only seen it through the connector.

Before you send it
  • I searched the issues, and nobody has asked for this yet.
Dominant language
TypeScript
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Forks
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Avg merge
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Merged PRs (30d)
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