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Sort your job applications by deadline after updates

Practice: Keeping the AI to your sources. About 5 minutes.

About this exercise

You're applying to several jobs and want one list of what's due. You want exactly 4 numbered lines sorted by deadline, each as deadline - company - what to submit, under 55 words, plain text. Drop the posting that closed early and use the extended deadline from the other update. Write a prompt that gets you exactly that.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Keeping the closed posting. Riverside is first in your tracker. Try: Add: "Drop Riverside, it closed."
  • Missing the extension. Jan 23 is in the tracker. Try: Add: "Brightmoor extended to Feb 3."
  • Not re-sorting. The AI keeps the tracker order after changing Brightmoor's date. Try: Add: "Sort by deadline after applying the updates."
  • Letting the AI pick the layout. The AI makes a table. Try: Be exact: "Exactly 4 numbered lines, plain text."
  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for "under 55 words" and it often lands well over. Try: Cap each part instead: "each line under 9 words."

What a strong prompt includes

  • Says how many lines
  • Drops the closed job
  • Uses the extension
  • Sorts by deadline
  • Sets a word limit

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