Getting Started with SearchSteward: From Signup to First Scored Matches
By Eric DiPietro, Founder ·
Setup takes about two minutes, and your first scored matches arrive about a minute after that. Every screenshot below is a real run, start to finish, on a brand-new account. The one thing to internalize before you start: your inputs drive everything. Every match score, every filter, every morning's feed is computed from what you enter in these screens — so this guide explains not just what to click, but why each input matters.
Step 1 — Point the radar
After you create an account, the setup wizard opens. SearchSteward sweeps thousands of employer career pages every morning and scores every new posting against your profile — setup is how you tell it what "good" looks like.
Step 2 — Share your background
Paste your resume, LinkedIn profile, or a career summary — formatting doesn't matter, and 30+ words is enough, though a full resume gives scoring much more to work with. Prefer not to paste? Upload a file or enter titles and keywords by hand. Your resume is encrypted and never shared.
Extraction pulls out two things: the titles you'd plausibly hold next, and weighted keywords from your skills and experience. These are the raw material for every match score.
Step 3 — Review what you'll be scored against
This screen is worth 30 seconds of real attention. Remove keywords that don't represent what you want next (extraction reflects your past, not necessarily your future), add disqualifiers for anything you never want to see, and watch the advisor review at the bottom: it counts how many roles in the live index match your profile before you commit. A "well calibrated" verdict with a healthy pool means scoring has enough to rank; "too vague" or "too strict" tells you to adjust now, before your first scan disappoints you.
Step 4 — Set your boundaries
Three inputs here do the heavy lifting, and two of them cause almost every "my feed is empty" report we see:
- Salary floor is annual. Type 95,000 — not 950,000. An accidental extra digit filters out virtually every job on the market. Roles that don't list a salary are kept, since most postings don't publish one.
- Location and commute radius only apply to hybrid and on-site roles — remote roles always show. Remote-only? Leave location blank.
- Seniority is a multi-select; empty means all levels. Picking the one or two levels you'd actually accept sharpens ranking noticeably.
Step 5 — Your first scan
Hit "Find my matches" and the radar scans the index against your profile with a live progress readout. This usually takes about a minute — and from tomorrow, it happens automatically every morning.
Reading your Matches
Matches is your ranked feed. Two numbers to calibrate on: 80+ is rare and worth your attention first; 60–79 is solid. Every card says why it's ranked where it is — title match, seniority alignment, keyword hits — and Dismiss teaches the radar what you don't want.
Open any job and SearchSteward shows its work: the full score breakdown, the posting itself, an Apply link straight to the employer's page, and a Tailor resume button that adapts your resume to this posting's language — without fabricating anything.
Tracking applications
Click Considering (or any stage) on a job and it lands in Applications — your pipeline as a table, Kanban board, or detail view, with stages, next actions and interview notes in one place. The habit that makes SearchSteward compound: track everything you pursue, the moment you pursue it.
Your daily loop
From here, the daily rhythm is simple: Today shows the newest matches worth a look plus your next actions across applications. Check it each morning after the sweep, review anything 80+, and keep your pipeline stages honest. Everything you set in onboarding is editable under Settings — and any change re-scores your feed automatically.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my feed empty or still generating?
Your first scan usually finishes in about a minute and shows live progress. If your feed comes back thin or empty, the most common cause is inputs, not inventory: a salary floor with an extra digit (type your ANNUAL floor — 95,000, not 950,000), titles so specific that almost nothing matches, or a commute radius that filters out everything near you. Loosen one input at a time in Settings; every change re-scores your feed automatically.
What does the advisor's verdict mean on the review screen?
Before scanning, SearchSteward counts how many roles in its index match your profile. 'Well calibrated' means a healthy pool. 'Too vague' means your titles match tens of thousands of roles — add a seniority word or a specialty so scoring has something to rank against. 'Too strict' means almost nothing matches — remove a niche title or a hard exclusion. Fixing this before the scan is the single highest-leverage moment in setup.
Is the salary field monthly or annual?
Annual. Enter the lowest yearly salary you'd consider (for example 95,000). Roles that list a lower salary are filtered out; roles that don't list salary at all are kept, because most postings don't publish one.
What do the match scores mean?
Every posting is scored 0–100 against your titles, weighted keywords, seniority, salary and location rules. 80+ is rare and worth your attention first; 60–79 is solid. Open any job and SearchSteward shows its work — which title matched, which keywords hit, and what moved the score.
Can I change my answers later?
Yes — everything from onboarding lives in Settings, and you can also re-run setup from scratch without losing your saved jobs or applications. Any change to your criteria automatically re-scores your feed.
Start your own radar
The whole flow above took under five minutes on a fresh account. Create a free account and your first scored matches are about two minutes away.