The JOSAI Guide

The complete manual — the same guide that lives inside the app, kept in lockstep.

📌 Cheat Sheet 🚀 Getting started 📧 Getting job alerts into Gmail 🗂 Tabs & the board 🃏 Reading a job card 🎯 What JOSAI hunts for — your search profile 👻 Ghost jobs — the realness chip ✨ The AI tools ✅ Tasks ⚡ Scanning 🔍 Search ⚙️ Settings 👤 Your account & your data 🩹 Troubleshooting & support

📌 Cheat Sheet

The whole system on one screen — everything below is covered in depth in its own section (📖 Table of Contents, above).

Every morning: open JOSAI's email → glance at the new goods → pick one card and act on it. That's the routine (☀️ above walks it step by step).
Score (1–10): 7–10 strong match for you · 4–6 possible · 1–3 skip. The recommendation pill (GOOD OPPORTUNITY / SAVE FOR LATER / SKIP) says the same thing in words, with reasoning underneath.
No jobs showing up? You need job-alert emails flowing into Gmail — the 5-minute setup is in 📧 Getting job alerts into Gmail below.
Scan anytime: the ⚡ bolt (top right) scans everything on demand; overnight scans happen automatically either way.
Where things live: Job Sites = scored alert jobs · Recruiter = real outreach · Referrals = jobs you add · In Progress = everything you're pursuing · Tasks = your to-dos.
Every card carries the AI toolkit: Research, Resume, Interview, Ask JOSAI (✨ above explains when to reach for what).
Stuck or confused? support@josai.ai reaches a human.
Pausing? Account menu (top right) → ⏸ Pause my account. Back? Click Resume JOSAI at the top.

🚀 Getting started

JOSAI works for any line of work — nursing, teaching, accounting, sales, engineering, the executive suite. The examples in this guide are just examples: everything JOSAI actually writes for you is grounded in your resume and your search profile, so your board reflects your field, not anyone else's.

JOSAI lives at app.josai.ai — nothing to install, ever. Sign in with the Google account from your invitation, and the welcome walkthrough takes you through setup in one short sitting:

Upload your master resume (.docx or .txt). This is JOSAI's ground truth — every job is scored against your actual experience and trajectory.
Answer a few questions. A short interview about target roles, industries, locations, and deal-breakers. Your answers personalize everything: scoring, research, tailoring, interview prep. Goals change? Re-run it anytime from Settings → 🪄 Tune JOSAI's AI.
Connect Gmail. Click Authorize, sign in, and tick both permission boxes on Google's screen — JOSAI needs both to scan your mail and send your morning summary. (What JOSAI can and can't do with Gmail is spelled out in 👤 Your account & your data, below.)
Run your first scan. It reads your recent job-alert and recruiter mail history, so it's the long one — with a busy inbox it can take a while, and you don't need to watch it. Every scan after runs overnight, automatically.

Best first move: set up job-alert emails before anything else — alerts can take a day to start arriving, so doing it early means your first scans find real jobs. Next section. ↓

📧 Getting job alerts into Gmail

JOSAI finds jobs by reading the alert emails that job sites send you. No alerts = no jobs — this setup is what brings your board to life. Tell each site you use to email you jobs (choose email delivery, daily):

💼 LinkedIn Job Alerts

Create an alert:

Click the Jobs icon in the top menu
Enter a job title, location, and any filters you want
Switch the job alert toggle to On — on desktop LinkedIn shows it at the bottom of the search results; on mobile the new alert defaults to daily, by email and app
Click Manage alerts to choose email, in-app notifications, or both, and daily or weekly frequency, then Done

Manage existing alerts: Jobs → My Jobs → Job Alerts (or the direct link — sign in to LinkedIn first). Full official steps: LinkedIn Help.

Emails come from: jobalerts-noreply@linkedin.com

Limit: Up to 20 active alerts per account.

🔵 Indeed

Create an alert:

Sign in to indeed.com
Run a job search (title + location)
Scroll to the bottom of the first page of results — you'll see a field to enter your email
Click Activate

Manage alerts: Account menu → Settings → Communications settings → Email. Edit titles/locations/frequency via the pencil icon, or toggle off to pause. More help: Indeed Help Center.

Emails come from: donotreply@indeed.com

🔍 Google Job Alerts

Create an alert (Google Alerts — the reliable route):

Go to google.com/alerts
In the box at the top, enter your search — e.g. "project manager" jobs Denver
Click Show options to pick how often (as-it-happens, daily, or weekly) and which email gets it
Click Create Alert

Bonus: if you search jobs on Google (e.g. "nurse jobs near me") and the jobs panel offers a job alert option, turn it on too — Google has been changing this UI, so don't worry if you don't see it.

Manage alerts: back at google.com/alerts — edit via the pencil icon, delete via the trash icon or the Unsubscribe link in any alert email.

Emails come from: googlealerts-noreply@google.com

Coverage: Google indexes postings from across the web — one broad alert can cover boards you'd never think to visit.

⚡ ZipRecruiter

Create an alert:

Go to ziprecruiter.com
Run a search (keyword + location)
On the results page, click the job alert option
Enter your email and confirm

Manage alerts: Account menu → Settings → notification preferences. ZipRecruiter help article.

Emails come from: alerts@ziprecruiter.com

🏛 USAJOBS — US Federal Government

Every US federal job is posted on USAJOBS.gov — agencies don't advertise anywhere else. Job alerts email you new matches, and JOSAI scans them like any other job board.

Create an alert:

Create an account at usajobs.gov (sign-in runs through login.gov, the government's shared login)
Run a search — keyword + location, then use the filters that matter to you (agency, pay, remote)
Important — Hiring path: filter to "Open to the public" unless you're a current federal employee or veteran; other paths won't accept your application
On the results page, click Turn on job alert and give it a name
Choose Daily frequency — federal postings can open and close within a week — then click Add new job alert

Manage alerts: Sign in → My jobs → Job alerts — edit, change frequency, archive (pause), renew, or delete (official guide). Limit: 10 job alerts, and each expires after one year — click Renew when USAJOBS reminds you.

Emails come from: usajobs.gov addresses (e.g. usajobs-donotreply@usajobs.gov)

📫 Gmail Filter Setup — clean inbox, full coverage

After setting up job alerts on any of the sites above, create a Gmail filter that applies a label to those emails. JOSAI scans the label — and with one extra checkbox, the alert flood skips your inbox entirely while JOSAI still sees every posting.

Create the filter:

In Gmail, click the gear icon (top right) → See all settings
Go to the Filters and Blocked Addresses tab
Click Create a new filter
In the From field, enter the sender address for your job site (see the sections above for each site's address)
Click Create filter
Check Apply the label, select (or create) a label — we recommend one label called job-search for all your job sites (it's JOSAI's default)
Recommended — check "Skip the Inbox (Archive it)": the alert emails go straight to the label instead of piling up in your inbox. JOSAI reads the label, so nothing is lost — your inbox stays clean and the jobs still reach me
Optionally check Also apply filter to matching conversations to tag existing emails
Click Create filter to save

Shortcut: open any alert email you've already received, click ⋮ More → Filter messages like these — Gmail fills in the sender for you.

Combine multiple senders in one filter: Use parentheses and OR — e.g., in the From field:

jobalerts-noreply@linkedin.com OR donotreply@indeed.com OR alerts@ziprecruiter.com

Once labeled, update JOSAI: In the Email Search Configuration card below, set the "Job site labels" field to match your Gmail label. For multiple labels: (label:linkedin-jobs OR label:indeed-jobs). Full Gmail filter docs: Google Help.

📋 Other job sites

JOSAI works with any job site that sends you email alerts. The general pattern:

Sign in to the job site and run a search for roles you're interested in
Look for a "Create alert," "Save search," "Get notified," or "Subscribe" option — usually near the top of the results or in account settings
Confirm your email and choose delivery frequency
Find the sender address of the first alert email you receive
Create a Gmail filter that labels that sender (see Gmail Filter Setup above)

Good candidates: Glassdoor, Monster, CareerBuilder, SimplyHired, the boards for your field — healthcare (Vivian, Health eCareers), education (SchoolSpring, HigherEdJobs), government (USAJOBS), nonprofits (Idealist), tech (Dice, Wellfound, Built In) — plus employer career pages with "Notify me" buttons and any aggregator that sends emails.

Tip: Create a broad Gmail filter matching multiple senders with OR logic — one label, many sources, one JOSAI scan.

These same guides live in the app: Settings → 📧 Job Site Email Setup.

No Gmail label or folder needed — JOSAI recognizes mail from the major job sites automatically, wherever it lands. A job-search label with a skip-inbox filter is nice housekeeping (and catches alerts from sites JOSAI doesn't know); the guide above covers it.
Cast a wide-ish net. JOSAI reads everything and filters for you — that's her job. An alert that brings in some so-so listings costs you nothing.
These same guides live in Settings → 📧 Job Site Email Setup.

🗂 Tabs & the board

Job Sites — jobs from your LinkedIn / Indeed / other job-board alert emails, scored and sorted.
Recruiter — real recruiter outreach found in your inbox. JOSAI filters out the newsletters, promos, and spam first.
Referrals — jobs you add yourself: click + Add Job, then paste a URL (JOSAI auto-fills the details), paste the job text, or type it in.
In Progress — everything you're actively pursuing, from any tab. Statuses: Researching → Resume Submitted → Interviewing → Negotiations → Accepted 🎉 (or Rejected — it happens). Board View turns it into a kanban with a column per stage; drag cards between columns.
Tasks — your to-dos, list or calendar view; card "Next" steps land here automatically.
📦 Archived (header button) — everything you've archived. Nothing is ever deleted; restore any card with one click.

🃏 Reading a job card

Score (1–10) — how well this job fits your resume and profile. 7+ is strong.
Recommendation pill — GOOD OPPORTUNITY / SAVE FOR LATER / SKIP, JOSAI's call with the reasoning in italics below the job details.
Job title is a link — click it to open the original posting (or the recruiter's email).
📄 Spec — a saved job description improves scoring, research, and resume tailoring. Red "Add job spec" means none is saved; click it to paste one — or let JOSAI hunt it down (🔎 in the spec dialog).
Notes and Next — click either line and type; it saves when you click away. Next syncs automatically to your Tasks tab.
📨 / 📅 / ❌ response chip — the employer wrote back and JOSAI noticed: application received, interview request, or not moving forward. The dated history sits just below your notes (JOSAI writes it — your notes stay yours). Your status stays yours too: JOSAI never moves a card between stages for you.
⟳ Re-scored badge (gold) — JOSAI re-evaluated this card (usually after your profile or prompts improved) and the score changed. The badge fades out after a couple of weeks.
Status (top-right) — where this job is in your pipeline. "In Progress" statuses move the card to the In Progress tab; "Not Interested" archives it.
Sorting — every list has a sort box: Highest score (default), Newest, or Oldest. Your choice is remembered.

🎯 What JOSAI hunts for — your search profile

JOSAI keeps a short, structured profile of what you're looking for: target roles, seniority, industries, locations, and your deal-breakers. She distills it from your own words in the interview — never guessed from your resume, because where you've been isn't always where you're going.

A gold banner asks you to review it the first time. Please do edit it — every field is yours to correct before you confirm. The banner stays until you actively say it's right.
Once confirmed, the profile helps JOSAI wave matching jobs through the overnight screen. It is only ever used in your favor — it never rejects a job.
See or correct it any time: Settings → 🎯 What JOSAI hunts for → ✎ Review & edit. Chasing two directions at once? That's fine — JOSAI keeps parallel targets separate instead of averaging them into mush.

👻 Ghost jobs — the realness chip

Roughly 1 in 5 job postings is a "ghost" — posted with no active intent to hire (resume collecting, stale listings, aggregator leftovers). JOSAI checks every job-site card against public evidence and shows a second verdict next to the fit score:

🟢 Actively Hiring — verified on the employer's own job board, recently posted.
🟡 Can't Verify — not enough evidence either way (most cards start here; evidence builds with each nightly scan).
🟠 Likely Ghost Job — multiple independent warning signs (not on the employer's board, reposted repeatedly, "talent community" language). JOSAI skips auto-research on these and asks before you spend time tailoring — but never hides them, and your override always wins.

Tap the chip to see the evidence in plain English, re-check the employer's board on demand, ask JOSAI what to do (🤔), or overrule it (✓ Mark as Real / Looks Fake). Referral and recruiter cards only show the chip when a real job description is saved — roles you hear about through your network are often not advertised yet, which is normal, not suspicious.

After you apply: the panel asks if you've heard back. If two weeks pass in silence, a gentle task reminds you — and your answer sharpens future verdicts.

✨ The AI tools

On every card (the ☀️/✨ guides above walk these with screenshots):

Research — a full report on any employer: what they do, size and stability, leadership, reputation, culture signals, red flags. It adapts to the kind of employer — a hospital system, a school district, and a startup each get researched the way that employer deserves (staffing and ratings signals for one, funding rounds for another) — and every report ends with a fit assessment written against your resume. Your best matches get one automatically overnight.
Resume — analyzes the posting against your resume, asks what to emphasize, then generates a tailored resume and matching cover letter (.docx / .txt export).
Interview — an interview-prep dossier with fresh web research: likely questions, your strongest stories mapped to their needs, questions to ask, people to know (PDF / text export). A very long dossier can run out of room; if the saved document ends with a note saying so, open Interview again and choose Generate — your approved section list is kept and the new run replaces the document.
Ask JOSAI — free-form chat about this job; she knows your resume, the spec, and the research. Replies render tables and lists, the suggested questions follow the card's stage, and you can download the conversation as a PDF or a Word document from the panel. Sharpest right before you talk to anyone at the company.
Rolling out: JOSAI's tools are learning to read each other's work — Ask JOSAI, the dossier and the Resume Tailor will each know the dossier, the tailored documents, the gap analysis, the ghost check, where the application stands, your open tasks and the card's history, and say which of those they are drawing on.

A tool showing green twin sparkles {{SPARK_DONE}} is done — click it to view the result. A single gray sparkle {{SPARK_PENDING}} means it hasn't run yet.

And while you sleep, some tools run themselves:

Spec Rescue — job-alert links often go dead before the description is captured. JOSAI searches the company's own careers site overnight and saves the real posting text — or saves nothing and says so honestly.
News Refresh — when an interview is coming up (a task due within the week), JOSAI refreshes that company's research report with the latest developments, in a dated "Latest Developments" section on top. Also on demand: 🗞 News on any report.
Weekly Search Coach — every Sunday, a short coach's note on your week: what moved, what stalled, what to do next. In that morning's email and behind 📋 in the header (green dot = unread). Every observation cites your real numbers; react 👍/👎 to teach it, add its suggestions to Tasks with one click. Quiet week? The coach stays quiet too.

✅ Tasks

List view — all tasks, sorted by Due date (default), Highest priority, or Newest.
Calendar view — tasks laid out on a calendar for deadline planning; overdue items are highlighted.
Type dates naturally — "call Sarah next Tuesday" sets the due date by itself.
Card links — tasks born from a card link back to it; click through to jump. A card's Next line and its task stay in sync automatically.

⚡ Scanning

JOSAI scans overnight, every night, automatically — nothing to leave running and nothing to remember. She reads your new job-alert and recruiter mail, scores everything against your resume and profile, researches the strongest matches, and emails you one summary so results are ready with your morning coffee. The ⚡ button (top right) scans everything on demand — job-site alerts, then recruiter mail, then a check for employer responses — no matter which tab you're on. While any scan runs, the bolt pulses green; click it to watch live progress, and use ■ Stop Scan if you need to — anything already scored is kept, and the next scan picks up where it stopped. The very first scan reads your recent alert history and can take a while on a busy inbox — that's normal, and you don't have to watch it. Every scan after that only looks at new mail.

No Gmail label or folder required — JOSAI finds mail from the major job sites automatically, wherever it lives. A job-search label + skip-inbox filter is recommended housekeeping (catches alerts from other sites and keeps your inbox tidy): the 2-minute guide is in 📧 Getting job alerts into Gmail, above. Nested labels work the way you'd expect: if you file mail under sub-labels (like job-search/linkedin), JOSAI automatically includes them when your configured label is the parent.

🔍 Search

The header search box looks across all cards — titles, companies, notes, and JOSAI's reasoning. Use the toggles to include skipped or archived cards, and the filter panel for status, date, and more.

⚙️ Settings

Master Resume — upload or replace your resume; it re-grounds all scoring and tools.
📧 Job Site Email Setup — the per-site alert guides (same as the Help section above).
Email Search Configuration — which Gmail labels to scan and how far back to look.
✉️ Notifications & Email — the morning summary on/off, and whether email links open in Gmail on the web or your mail app.
👤 Account — appearance (auto/dark/light), Export My Data, and Delete My Account. Details below. ↓
Email Exclusions — block specific senders or domains from ever being scanned.
📬 Gmail — connection status, reconnect, disconnect.
🎯 What JOSAI hunts for — your search profile (see its section above).
🪄 Tune JOSAI's AI — when scores or research feel off: refine just the piece that's wrong in a short chat, re-run the full interview, or (advanced) edit the prompts directly — every edit is versioned and restorable, so it's safe to experiment.

👤 Your account & your data

What JOSAI does with Gmail: reads mail to find job alerts, recruiter outreach, and employer replies — never modifies or deletes anything — and sends email to you (your morning summary). Job-ad and email content is analyzed by JOSAI's AI (Anthropic's Claude) to do the scoring; it's never sold or used to advertise to you. The full promises live in the privacy policy.
Export My Data (Settings → 👤 Account) — downloads one JSON file with everything JOSAI holds about you: cards, notes, research, resume, chats, tasks, settings. Yours to keep, anytime.
Delete My Account (same card) — permanently erases your account and every piece of your data from JOSAI's servers. It asks you to type a confirmation phrase, because it cannot be undone. Export first if in doubt.
Pause my account (account menu, top right → ⏸ Pause my account) — for when you've landed a job or just need a break. Nothing is deleted: you can still sign in and read every card, note, report and chat, download your tailored documents, and export a backup. What stops: the nightly scans and summary emails, the AI tools, and reminders. If you got the job, I'll ask whether it came through JOSAI and which card — so I can mark it Accepted and celebrate properly. Resume any time with the Resume JOSAI button at the top (or the same menu).
Coming back after a while: if you've been paused a month or more (or you paused because you got a job), I'll ask one question when you resume: keep the resume I'm using and your job-search targets as they were, or refresh them first? Scans wait until you choose. Refresh first walks you through three quick steps — upload your latest resume, a short interview about what you're after now, and (optionally) archiving the cards from your last search. Keep as before means I scan again tonight.
Updates: JOSAI updates herself — new features and fixes simply appear, usually overnight. Nothing to download, nothing to install.

🩹 Troubleshooting & support

No jobs are coming in? Nine times out of ten it's missing job-alert emails — see 📧 Getting job alerts into Gmail above. (Recruiter cards without job-site cards is the classic sign.)
Gmail stopped working? Gmail stays connected on its own. If the connection ever breaks, JOSAI shows a banner — reconnecting is two clicks (tick both boxes on Google's screen). If a scan fails with a Gmail error, that's usually why.
Scores feel off? Check Settings → 🎯 What JOSAI hunts for first (is the profile right?), then Settings → 🪄 Tune JOSAI's AI — describe what's wrong and JOSAI re-tunes, or re-run the full interview.
Research grabbed the wrong company? Open the card's Details panel and set the correct company URL — research anchors to it.
Anything else — or anything confusing, broken, or just odd: support@josai.ai reaches a human. Screenshots welcome.
"Why hasn't JOSAI scanned since I came back?" — you resumed after a long pause and the keep-or-refresh question at the top is still waiting for an answer (or the refresh steps aren't finished). Scans start the night after you answer.