I Got Laid Off. So I Built the Job Search Tool I Couldn't Find.

Matthew Ruscigno — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 15:10:29 +0000

Two months ago, I joined a club that millions of people unfortunately know all too well.

I got laid off.

At first, I treated my job search the way I always had. Polish the resume. Apply to everything that looked remotely interesting. Tailor the resume a little. Write another cover letter. Repeat.

Then repeat again.

And again.

Eventually I realized something.

I wasn't spending most of my time applying for jobs.

I was spending most of my time trying to answer one question:

Am I actually a good fit for this role?

That sounds like it should be an easy question to answer.

It isn't.

AI was supposed to solve this...

Like everyone else, I started trying AI tools.

Resume builders.

Cover letter generators.

ATS optimizers.

Job match analyzers.

Interview prep assistants.

Some were impressive.

Most weren't.

But they all had one thing in common.

Every single one told me I was a fantastic candidate.

Every.

Single.

Time.

Apparently I was simultaneously qualified to be...

Senior Director of Technology
Product Manager
Engineering Manager
Data Scientist
Cybersecurity Consultant

It was ridiculous.

The AI wasn't helping me make better decisions.

It was just trying to make me feel good.

That's not what I needed.

I needed honesty.

The problem isn't writing resumes.

The internet has no shortage of AI tools that will rewrite your resume.

That's not the hard part.

The hard part is deciding...

Should I even spend the next two hours applying for this job?

If the answer is probably no...

I'd rather know that upfront.

If the answer is yes...

Great.

Now let's optimize everything.

But I wanted that first decision to be grounded in reality—not wishful thinking.

So I built my own.

Originally this wasn't a startup.

It wasn't even a side project.

It was just something I wanted for myself.

I wanted one place where I could...

Compare my resume against a job description
Get an honest assessment of my fit
Understand what a hiring manager would probably think
Tailor my resume ethically
Generate a cover letter based on my actual experience
Prepare for interviews
Track every application

Basically...

I wanted a command center for my job search.

One design decision mattered more than anything else.

I made one promise to myself.

The AI was not allowed to lie.

It couldn't invent experience.

It couldn't exaggerate my background.

It couldn't tell me I was a perfect candidate if I clearly wasn't.

In fact...

I intentionally tuned it to be a little pessimistic.

If it's wrong...

I'd rather it underestimate my chances than convince me to waste hours chasing jobs I realistically won't get.

That one decision changed everything.

Suddenly the recommendations actually felt useful.

Sometimes the tool basically tells me...

"You probably shouldn't spend your time on this one."

As strange as it sounds...

Those are often the most valuable results.

Building it changed how I think about job searching.

Before this experience, I thought job searching was mostly about volume.

Now I think it's about decision quality.

Applying to 300 jobs isn't necessarily better than applying to 30.

Not if those 30 are genuinely strong matches.

The goal isn't to apply more.

The goal is to apply smarter.

I'm launching it because I think other people might benefit too.

After using it myself for the last several weeks, I realized I probably wasn't the only person frustrated by the current tools.

So I decided to open it up.

It's called ApplyIQ.

It's still early.

I'm sure there are things that can be improved.

There are probably features I haven't even thought of yet.

That's why I'm writing this.

Not because I think I built the perfect product.

I definitely didn't.

I'm writing this because I genuinely want feedback from people who are job searching.

What's useful?

What's missing?

What feels confusing?

What would actually make your search easier?

If you're willing to try it, I'd love brutally honest feedback.

You can find it here:

ApplyIQ

If you hate something...

Tell me.

If you think something is misleading...

Tell me.

If there's a feature that would save you time...

Tell me.

The goal isn't to build another AI resume tool.

The goal is to build the job search tool I wish I'd had the day I got laid off.

DEV Community: Matthew Ruscigno

I Got Laid Off. So I Built the Job Search Tool I Couldn't Find.