The Hog Report / Announcement

Meet Shlex: Find Your Job Search Documents in Seconds on Your Mac

Shlex is a new Mac app that finds resumes, cover letters, offer letters and transcripts from a plain-language description. Apple silicon and 16 GB RAM required.

A job search leaves a trail of documents

A serious job search produces a surprising amount of paper. There is the master resume, then a tailored version for almost every posting. There are cover letters with company names in them, reference letters, an unofficial transcript, a portfolio PDF, maybe an offer letter or two, and a spreadsheet tracking where you applied. A few weeks in, those files are spread across Downloads, Desktop and Documents, with names like resume_v7_final_FINAL.pdf that made sense at 1 a.m.

The moment you need one of them is usually the moment you have the least time: a recruiter on the phone, an application form that wants a transcript upload, or a hiring manager asking for the portfolio you mentioned in the interview.

Meet Shlex

Shlex is a new Mac app, from the same maker as ResumeHog, that finds files from a plain-language description. You do not need to remember what you named a file or where you saved it. You describe it, the way you would to a friend, and Shlex shows the matching files within seconds.

• Describe it in plain language: type something like "cover letter for the product manager role" or "reference letter from my old manager" instead of guessing file names.
• It looks inside documents: Shlex searches file names, dates and the text inside PDFs, documents and spreadsheets, so a resume can be found by the company or skills it mentions.
• The model runs on your Mac: the language model that interprets your request runs locally on the Mac.
• Read-only by design: Shlex never changes, moves or deletes your files. It finds them and shows you where they are.

You can watch it work in the demo video on shlexball.com.

An illustrative scenario: Maya and the recruiter call

This is a hypothetical example written to show how Shlex could fit into a job search. Maya is not a real person or customer, and this is not a customer story.

Imagine Maya, a marketing analyst who has applied to about forty roles over two months. She tailors her resume for each one, so her Documents folder now holds more than twenty files with "resume" in the name, plus cover letters and a folder of references she has not opened since spring.

On a Tuesday afternoon a recruiter from a logistics company calls. The hiring manager wants to move quickly. Could Maya email the version of her resume she submitted three weeks ago, plus a reference letter, before they hang up?

Instead of opening file after file, Maya types "resume tailored for the logistics company, mentions supply chain dashboards" into Shlex. The version whose text mentions that company and those dashboards appears with its date, and she can check it is the one she sent. Next she types "reference letter from Priya at my last job", and the PDF shows up. She attaches both while the recruiter is still on the line.

Shlex did not write anything or send anything for her. It did the part that usually eats ten stressful minutes: finding the right files.

Job search files worth describing instead of remembering

Some descriptions you could try during your own search:

• "resume version that mentions healthcare analytics"
• "cover letter for the Denver nonprofit role"
• "offer letter PDF from this year"
• "my university transcript"
• "portfolio PDF with the dashboard case study"
• "spreadsheet where I track job applications"

Before you download: check your Mac

Price and where to get it

Your first 30 searches are free. After that, Shlex costs $9 per month or $59 per year. You can download it at shlexball.com.

Shlex is an independent product with its own website and support. ResumeHog helps you write a tailored resume for every job; Shlex helps you find the right one again when someone asks for it.