JobSearchBuilder

A Windows desktop application that builds targeted Google search queries for job hunting. Instead of trawling job boards one by one, JobSearchBuilder generates a single site:-scoped Google query that searches directly inside the career portals of the most popular Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) — Greenhouse, Lever, Workable, Ashby, Workday, and more.

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How it works

Google supports the site: operator to restrict results to a specific domain. JobSearchBuilder assembles a query that combines multiple site: filters with your tech stack, role, seniority, location, visa, and remote preferences:

(
  site:boards.greenhouse.io
  OR site:jobs.lever.co
  OR site:apply.workable.com
)
("C#" OR ".NET" OR "ASP.NET Core")
(Developer OR Engineer)
(Senior)
("United Kingdom" OR UK OR London OR Manchester)
("visa sponsorship" OR "sponsor visa")
(remote OR hybrid)

Clicking Open in Google fires this query with &tbs=li:1 (past 24 hours) so only fresh postings appear.

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Features

• Search profiles — save, edit and delete named profiles so you can switch between different job searches instantly
• Five keyword categories — Tech Stack, Roles, Locations, Visa filters, Remote/Hybrid filters
• ATS source groups — pick which job board platforms to search; groups can be combined freely
• Live query preview — the query rebuilds as you type, before you save anything
• One-click Google search — opens the assembled query directly in your browser
• Copy to clipboard — paste the raw query into any search engine
• Persistent storage — profiles are saved to a local SQL Server database and survive restarts
• Describe Role (AI) — type a plain English description of the role you want (e.g. "Senior .NET developer, fully remote, UTC+1, no clearance") and the app uses an LLM to fill in all the chip categories for you; supports Anthropic, OpenAI, and Gemini

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Prerequisites

Requirement	Version
Windows	10 or 11
.NET Framework	4.8
SQL Server	Any edition (Express, Developer, LocalDB)

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Setup

1. Database

Run Scripts/CreateTables.sql against your SQL Server instance. The script creates the JobSearchBuilder database and all three tables if they don't already exist, and seeds a default UK Sponsorship .NET profile so the app isn't empty on first launch.

sqlcmd -S .\SQLEXPRESS -i Scripts\CreateTables.sql

2. Connection string

Edit appsettings.json and set ConnectionString to match your instance:

{
  "ConnectionString": "Server=.\\SQLEXPRESS;Database=JobSearchBuilder;Integrated Security=true;TrustServerCertificate=True;"
}

3. AI provider (optional)

To use the Describe Role feature, add your API key to the .env file at the repo root (created automatically if you clone fresh — it is gitignored):

ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...        # only needed if switching to OpenAI
GEMINI_API_KEY=...           # only needed if switching to Gemini

Only the key for the active provider (set in appsettings.json under Ai.Provider) needs to be populated. The Describe Role button is silently disabled if no key is found.

4. Build & run

Open JobSearchBuilder.sln in Visual Studio 2022 and press F5, or build from the command line:

msbuild JobSearchBuilder.sln /p:Configuration=Release

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Project structure

JobSearchBuilder/
├── Interfaces/
│   └── IProfileStore.cs           # Profile persistence contract
├── Models/
│   ├── AtsSourceGroup.cs          # A named set of ATS domains
│   ├── SearchProfile.cs           # All the criteria for one search
│   └── SearchQuery.cs             # Query result model
├── Services/
│   ├── AppSettingsLoader.cs       # Reads appsettings.json
│   ├── IDbConnectionFactory.cs    # Database connection abstraction
│   ├── SqlConnectionFactory.cs    # SQL Server implementation
│   ├── SqlProfileStore.cs         # Persists profiles to SQL Server
│   ├── InMemoryProfileStore.cs    # In-memory store (used in unit tests)
│   └── QueryBuilder.cs            # Assembles the Google query string
├── Scripts/
│   └── CreateTables.sql           # One-time database setup script
├── MainForm.cs                    # Main UI
└── appsettings.json               # Runtime configuration

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Database schema

SearchProfiles          ProfileKeywords             ProfileSourceGroups
─────────────────       ──────────────────────      ───────────────────────
Id   (PK, identity)     Id   (PK, identity)         ProfileId  (PK, FK)
Name                    ProfileId  (FK → cascade)   SourceGroupId  (PK)
Seniority               Category   (Stack | Role
CreatedAt                           Location | Visa
UpdatedAt                           Remote)
                        Keyword

All keyword lists are stored in a single ProfileKeywords table distinguished by Category, keeping the schema flat and easy to query.

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Adding ATS source groups

ATS groups are defined in appsettings.json under AtsSourceGroups. Add a new entry to cover additional platforms:

{
  "Id": 6,
  "Name": "ATS Set #6 – Personio / Factorial",
  "Domains": [
    "jobs.personio.com",
    "jobs.factorialhr.com"
  ]
}

No code changes required — the app reads the groups at startup.

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Running the tests

dotnet test JobSearchBuilder.Tests

The test suite uses an in-memory SQLite database so no SQL Server is needed to run tests. Tests cover SqlProfileStore (insert, update, delete, all read operations) and QueryBuilder (query assembly and Google URL generation).

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Default search profile

The setup script seeds one profile out of the box:

Field	Value
Name	UK Sponsorship .NET
Seniority	Senior
Stack	C#, .NET, ASP.NET Core
Roles	Developer, Engineer
Locations	United Kingdom, UK, London, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham
Visa	visa sponsorship, sponsor visa
Remote	remote, hybrid
ATS groups	Set #1 (Greenhouse / Lever / Workable), Set #2 (BambooHR / Rippling / Ashby)

Edit or delete it once you have the app running and want to tailor it to your own search.