OffLadder

Find an OffLadder career guide

find_career_guide

Read-onlyIdempotent

Searches OffLadder's 302 written career guides and returns the closest ones, each with its direct answer, key points, primary sources and a link. Fits a how-to, advice or "what should I do" question about work and careers, e.g. 'how do I tailor my CV to a job description', 'how do I explain a career gap', 'what to do in the first 30 days after a layoff', 'how do I answer tell me about yourself', 'how to negotiate a job offer', 'is a degree worth it', 'what can I do with a psychology degree', 'apprenticeship or university', 'how to get a first job with no experience', 'what jobs will AI replace', 'how to write a cover letter for a career change', 'how to beat applicant tracking systems', 'should I follow up after an interview', 'how to read my first payslip', 'I hate my job but don't know what else to do'. Covers: not knowing what to do next, changing careers at any age, testing a career, layoffs and redundancy, AI and the future of work, jobs of the future, school leavers and students, degrees, apprenticeships, internships, graduate jobs, first jobs, first pay and payslips, CVs and resumes, cover letters, LinkedIn profiles, ATS, application forms and screening questions, interviews, job offers and pay, following up, and work that fits your life, with pages for both the UK and the US.

Tool call template

Replace each placeholder with a value matching the input schema. Only required parameters are included; add optional parameters as needed.

{
  "id": 1,
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "arguments": {
      "question": "<question>"
    },
    "name": "find_career_guide"
  }
}

Input Schema

Name	Required	Description	Default
`count`	No	How many guides to return (default 3).
`question`	Yes	The person's question, in their words.

Output Schema

Name	Required	Description
`guides`	Yes
`library_url`	Yes	The whole guide library.
`cv_extension_url`	Yes	OffLadder's free CV extension, for questions about applying; otherwise null.

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

First observedNov 14, 2026

TDQS

A3.5/5.0

Behavior3/5

Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?

Annotations already declare readOnlyHint, idempotentHint, openWorldHint=false and destructiveHint=false, so the safety profile is fully covered. The description adds corpus size (302 guides) and output shape, but the latter duplicates the output schema, and it says nothing about ranking, behavior on no match, or result limits beyond the schema's count parameter.

Agents need to know what a tool does to the world before calling it. Descriptions should go beyond structured annotations to explain consequences.

Conciseness2/5

Is the description appropriately sized, front-loaded, and free of redundancy?

The opening sentence is well front-loaded, but it is followed by roughly fifteen verbatim example questions and a long comma list of topic areas that restate the same ground twice. Much of this bulk could be compressed into a sentence or two without losing selection value.

Shorter descriptions cost fewer tokens and are easier for agents to parse. Every sentence should earn its place.

Completeness4/5

Given the tool's complexity, does the description cover enough for an agent to succeed on first attempt?

An agent knows what the tool searches, the corpus size, what each result contains, and the domain it covers, and the output schema plus annotations supply the rest. Only edge-case behavior (no good match, how ranking works) is unstated, which is a minor gap for a read-only lookup tool.

Complex tools with many parameters or behaviors need more documentation. Simple tools need less. This dimension scales expectations accordingly.

Parameters3/5

Does the description clarify parameter syntax, constraints, interactions, or defaults beyond what the schema provides?

Schema coverage is 100%, with both question and count fully documented, so the baseline is 3. The description contributes only a soft hint that question is phrased as the person's own natural-language query, which is already close to what the schema says.

Input schemas describe structure but not intent. Descriptions should explain non-obvious parameter relationships and valid value ranges.

Purpose4/5

Does the description clearly state what the tool does and how it differs from similar tools?

The first sentence gives a specific verb and resource ("Searches OffLadder's 302 written career guides") and states what comes back (direct answer, key points, sources, link). It implicitly contrasts with read_career_guide by framing itself as a search/retrieval step, but never names a sibling, so differentiation is inferred rather than stated.

Agents choose between tools based on descriptions. A clear purpose with a specific verb and resource helps agents select the right tool.

Usage Guidelines4/5

Does the description explain when to use this tool, when not to, or what alternatives exist?

"Fits a how-to, advice or 'what should I do' question about work and careers" plus the long topic list gives an agent a clear picture of when to reach for this tool. It stops short of exclusions or explicit routing to read_career_guide / browse_career_guides for follow-up, which keeps it out of 5 territory.

Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.

All OffLadder tools Inspect

Try in Browser

One endpoint for every MCP toolRayrun runs every MCP server behind one URL and holds the credentials. Each call is decided per client, tool, and argument, then recorded.ray.runAd

Glama MCP Gateway

Add one secure layer between your agents and this server.