How it works
You bring what you have. We go ahead and find the way.
Six steps from the documents on your laptop to applications submitted and followed up. You drop in, confirm and tap; we do everything in between, and we tell you plainly where we stop.
- 01Step 1
Drop in what you have
A résumé, a deck, a portfolio, a paper or a few links. No forms: we read them and tell you what we found.
What you do
Drag in the files you already have, or paste links to your site, GitHub or ORCID. LinkedIn can't be read automatically, so export your profile as a PDF and drop that in.
What we do
We extract the text, recognise what each file is and pull out roles, education, projects, results, publications and skills. You can start before signing in; your draft is saved when you sign in with your email.
- 02Step 2
Confirm your profile
Who you are, your field, stage and location as tags you can tap to change. Every fact links to the line it came from.
What you do
Glance at the tags and tap to fix anything we read wrong. If something important is missing, we ask with options to pick — never more than three questions at once.
What we do
We keep a source for every fact: which document and which words. Anything we couldn't trace to your documents is flagged for you to confirm, never quietly added.
- 03Step 3
Choose goals and define success
A role, a round, a grant, a publication — and what success means by when. We break it into milestones.
What you do
Pick one or more goals (they are pre-selected from your profile) and choose a success definition, such as “a senior design role, remote, within four months”.
What we do
We turn the definition into three to six milestones you can check, and a weekly plan: which kinds of opportunity first, how many per week, when to follow up and when to change tack.
- 04Step 4
Tap the openings you want
Real opportunities ranked by fit, each with the reasons, the deadline, what it asks for and what it needs from you.
What you do
For each pick: Apply for me, Later, or Not for me (with a reason, so the next picks get better).
What we do
We filter out what you aren't eligible for, rank the rest by fit, chance and effort, and show why each one made the list. Unknown details are shown as “check the official page”, never guessed.
- 05Step 5
We prepare, you confirm
We read the requirements, ask only for what's missing, draft the materials from your facts and fill the form or the email.
What you do
Review the prepared application — every answer shows the facts it used — and tap Submit. If the site needs your login, a CAPTCHA or a payment, you get a short handoff with everything ready.
What we do
We pick the channel the opportunity allows (a hosted job form, a web form, an email from your Gmail or a handoff), submit after your tap and keep proof: the confirmation page, a reference or the sent message.
- 06Step 6
We follow up and keep going
Follow-ups scheduled, replies sorted, new picks every week — until you reach the success you defined or change course.
What you do
Look at your board when something needs you. Forward replies to your personal drop-box address, or tap “they replied”.
What we do
We schedule polite follow-ups, sort replies (interested, meeting, needs more information, rejected), move milestones forward and bring new picks each week. If something isn't working, we suggest a different route.
Seven channels
How an application leaves.
The channel depends on where the opportunity lives. We use the most direct route that’s allowed, and fall back to a handoff when automation isn’t.
- CH1
ATS-aware
Prepared · you submit for nowJob postings hosted on Greenhouse, Lever or Ashby publish their exact questions. We read them from the public posting and prepare every answer before anything is opened. Employers' private submission APIs need their key, so we never claim to use them.
What you do: Review the prepared application and tap Submit. If the form has a CAPTCHA or a login (or browser filling is off), you paste the prepared answers into the official form yourself — a few minutes.
- CH2
Form adapter
LiveGoogle Forms and simple web forms without CAPTCHAs: we fill each field, show you the filled form, submit when you tap and keep the confirmation page as proof.
What you do: Review the filled form and tap Submit.
- CH3
Browser agent
Prepared · you submit for nowAny other web form: a browser opens the official page, fills it from your profile and saves a screenshot of every step. It only goes to the opportunity's own site, treats page text as information rather than instructions, and stops at CAPTCHAs, logins and payments.
What you do: Nothing until it meets a CAPTCHA, a login or a payment; then it hands over to you with everything ready.
- CH4
Email outreach (your Gmail)
LiveEmail from your own Gmail, for investors, recruiters, professors, editors, brands and clients: one personal message per person, never a blast, with daily and weekly limits and no repeat email to the same person within 30 days. Without Gmail, you get the text ready to send yourself.
What you do: Connect Gmail once, then approve each email (or allow automatic follow-ups in Settings).
- CH5
Documents
LiveDocuments: cover letters, one-pagers, statements, bios and answers drafted from your sourced facts, downloadable as PDF or Word, with each sentence linked to the facts it used.
What you do: Check the draft against its sources and download it.
- CH6
Handoff (you submit)
LiveHandoff: when a site needs your own login or forbids automation, every field, file and step is prepared in the form's order with the exact link, and you paste it in.
What you do: Copy each prepared field into the official site in order, then tap “I submitted it” — about five minutes.
- CH7
Partner API
Not yetDirect connections with organisations that accept applications from Onward Scout. Not live yet: no organisation is connected today.
What you do: Nothing — partner organisations will receive your application directly.
The handoff
The handoff, explained.
Some places can't or shouldn't be automated: LinkedIn, Indeed and Glassdoor forbid it, Chinese job apps and most government, university and journal systems need your own account, and CAPTCHAs, payments and two-factor codes exist precisely so that a person is present. We don't pretend otherwise. We prepare everything and hand you the last step.
When only one quick action is left, such as sending a ready email from your own mail app, it takes seconds: open it, press send, come back.
When a site needs your login or a CAPTCHA, or forbids automation, you paste the prepared fields in order and submit. It usually takes a few minutes, and there is nothing to write.
What a handoff contains
- The exact link to the official form or portal
- Every field in the order the form asks for it, each with a one-tap copy button
- Your files — tailored résumé, cover letter, statement — ready to download
- Step-by-step notes that fit on a phone screen
- An “I submitted it” button, with an optional confirmation link or screenshot as proof
Where you’ll meet one
- LinkedIn Easy Apply, Indeed and Glassdoor
- Chinese job apps and campus-recruiting systems
- Government, grant and public-sector portals
- Conference and journal submission systems such as OpenReview or EasyChair
- Common App and university application portals
- Any form behind a login, a CAPTCHA or a payment
Labels you’ll see
We tell you how every draft was made.
Assembled by our own engine from your sourced facts, sentence by sentence. Nothing leaves our servers to write it. Where an answer needs your own reasons — why this role, why this program — we ask you for a sentence or two instead of inventing them.
When AI drafting is switched on, a language model polishes the draft using only your facts, and the result is labelled so you always know. The same rule applies: claims without a source are flagged, not sent.
Safety and honesty
The rules the engine runs on.
Facts come with sources
Each fact in your profile records the document and the words it came from. Generated documents cite the facts behind each sentence; anything unsourced is highlighted for you instead of being sent.
Your tap, or your rule
Every submission and every email waits for your confirmation. The only exception is a standing authorization you switch on yourself in Settings, for a category you choose, and you can switch it off at any time.
A record of what you approved
Each application keeps a step log: what was prepared, what you confirmed and when, what was submitted and the proof that came back.
Outreach that respects people
Emails are written for one recipient at a time and sent from your own Gmail, with daily and weekly limits. We never start a new conversation with the same person within 30 days, a thread gets at most 2 polite follow-ups, and they stop once a reply is recorded. Anyone whose reply asks not to be contacted is never emailed again by any Onward Scout user.
Only the official site
Automated form filling only visits the opportunity's own website. Text on those pages is treated as information, never as instructions to follow.
Real opportunities only
Opportunities come from public postings and official program pages, with their real links. When a deadline, amount or rule is unknown, we say “check the official page” rather than guess.
Extra care for under-18s
High-school students add a parent or guardian's email to their profile before their first submission, and outreach email is switched off for them.
Practice without consequences
A free practice application runs the whole flow against our own test form, so you can see exactly what happens before anything reaches a real organisation.
See it with your own documents.
Start with a free practice application: the whole flow, end to end, against our own test form.