Build a remote-job shortlist with ChatGPT or Claude

A good job search eventually becomes a short list: a few roles worth reading properly, with a reason to consider each one and a question to follow up.

You can build that list in ChatGPT or Claude using the RemoteJobs MCP server. Connect it once, describe what you want, and ask your assistant to turn current listings into a brief you can return to.

We’ll work toward five possibilities, with advertised pay, location requirements, listing links, and room for your own judgment. The prompts below are starting points you can adapt to your profession and circumstances.

What the connection does

MCP, short for Model Context Protocol, gives an assistant a way to discover and use external tools. RemoteJobs provides two: search_jobs searches the catalog, and list_categories returns its available fields.

The server supplies listing data. Your assistant uses that data to organize a comparison and explain what deserves a closer look. You can check the assistant’s interpretation against the original listing.

RemoteJobs access is free and read-only, with no RemoteJobs account or API key required. You need a ChatGPT or Claude account with custom MCP connections available. Your assistant’s plan and workspace settings still apply.

Connect RemoteJobs to your assistant

The server URL is https://remotejobs.org/mcp. Use RemoteJobs as its name and choose no authentication when asked. Pick either route below.

In ChatGPT

OpenAI’s current MCP quickstart uses a personal plugin in ChatGPT Work:

1. Open ChatGPT Plugins, select the plus button, and choose Add custom MCP server.
2. Name it RemoteJobs, paste the server URL, and select No authentication.
3. Review the connection notice and choose Create as a plugin. Open the resulting personal plugin and install it with its plus button.
4. Start a new Work chat. Type @ in the prompt box and select your RemoteJobs plugin.

In Claude

Follow Claude’s custom connector guide:

1. Open Customize → Connectors, select + Add, then Add custom connector.
2. Name it RemoteJobs, enter the server URL, and continue.
3. Review the detected authentication settings, select No sign in, and finish adding it.
4. In a new conversation, open the + menu, choose Connectors, and enable RemoteJobs.

On a managed workspace, an administrator may need to add or allow the connection. If these controls are missing, check the linked product guide for your account’s setup path.

Adding a URL to a message does not establish an MCP connection. Before searching, ask:

Use the connected RemoteJobs tools to list the available job categories. Tell me which tool you called. If RemoteJobs is not connected or the call fails, say so.

Look for an actual tool call in the conversation. A plausible list written from memory does not confirm that the connection worked. Search criteria you send through the tools reach RemoteJobs; your assistant provider handles the conversation and your personal notes.

Start with a search you can explain

Give the assistant enough context to make a useful first pass. Include where you can work, the kind of role you want, and a couple of priorities.

Use RemoteJobs to find up to five remote software engineering roles with supported location evidence for someone living in the United States. I work with TypeScript and Node.js. Explain which search criteria you used. For each role, include the title, company, advertised pay with its currency and period, original location wording, and the RemoteJobs listing link. Separate evidence from the posting from your interpretation of fit. If fewer than five match, show fewer. If the search fails, report the failure.

Replace the profession, country, and skills with your own. A location match still needs a closer reading for work authorization, team hours, and any conditions in the posting.

Pay needs its units. USD 70 per hour and USD 150,000 per year describe different offers. Ask the assistant to keep the advertised wording and show missing pay as Unavailable. If you add a pay minimum, specify the currency and period too.

The catalog’s keyword search can match descriptions and company names as well as titles. A result mentioning TypeScript is a reason to inspect the posting; it does not establish that TypeScript is required.

Refine one thing at a time

Read the first results before making the request more elaborate. Perhaps a role is management-heavy, the geographic wording is uncertain, or the advertised pay uses a different period.

A follow-up can make your preferences clearer:

Revisit these results. I prefer individual-contributor work and want to investigate on-call expectations. Point to the wording supporting each recommendation. Keep unanswered questions visible. Tell me if you need another search and explain any filters you change.

This gives you something you can assess. “Interesting because the posting describes hands-on platform work; on-call expectations need checking” is more useful than an unexplained match score.

If the results are sparse, choose which condition to relax. Ask the assistant to explain that change before it searches again.

Turn the results into a shortlist

Once you have a few possibilities, give them a consistent shape:

Make a shortlist table from the roles we have reviewed. Use columns for role and company, advertised pay, location requirements, why it is worth a closer look, one question to investigate, and the listing link. Mark missing facts as Unavailable. Label your judgments as suggestions. Add the date the listings were retrieved and summarize the search criteria above the table.

Keep your own observations alongside it: “Ask about team hours,” “Read the product documentation,” or “Check whether the location wording covers my state.” Those notes explain why you saved a role.

You can copy the table into your notes. For a more readable page, try:

Turn this shortlist into a one-page job-search brief, with a short section for each role and space for my notes. Use only the facts we already checked, keep the listing links and retrieval date, and make it easy to copy into a document.

The useful thing you have built is a small decision aid shaped around your search.

Come back with a fresh search

A saved shortlist records what you saw at a particular time. A new conversation or an old brief does not imply that the listings have been checked again.

When you return, ask:

Run the same RemoteJobs search again. Compare the new results with this shortlist, keeping my notes separate. Label newly found roles and changed facts. If a saved role is absent from the new results, do not assume it has closed; leave its listing link for me to check.

Open each listing before applying. The MCP tools search jobs and categories; they do not submit applications or save your shortlist in a RemoteJobs account. Your assistant or the document you keep holds the brief.

For more detail about the connection and its tools, see the RemoteJobs MCP reference. For the questions behind a location label, read Remote doesn’t mean work from anywhere.