About this site

What this site is

A free, browser-side collection of 32 focused utility tools for English-speaking job seekers interviewing in New York City. Each tool addresses a specific, repeatable friction point — STAR story strength scoring, NY cost-of-living salary math, cold outreach personalization, RSU tax drag, recruiter-vs-hiring-manager messaging, and the corporate-speak translators that no textbook teaches.

All tools run entirely in your browser. There is no account creation, no server-side storage of your inputs, no analytics that fingerprint individual users, and no email follow-ups.

The site is supported by display advertising (Google AdSense) — see our Privacy Policy for details.

Why we built it

Most interview-prep content online was written for a national US audience and treats "New York" as interchangeable with any other major metro. It isn't. Several concrete examples:

• A $130,000 base salary in Manhattan is not equivalent to $130,000 in Austin, Denver, or Atlanta — once you account for NY state income tax, NYC resident tax, federal tax, and rent in a 30-minute commute radius.
• The Wall Street, Silicon Alley, Madison Avenue, and NYC healthcare industries use overlapping but distinct jargon. A "pitch" means different things to a Goldman interviewer than to a Vice Media one.
• NYC's third-party recruiter ecosystem behaves differently than SF's. Many gatekeep aggressively, screen for visa status on the first call, and ghost without feedback.
• MTA commute time changes the calculus on "free lunch" perks and 9-to-6 schedules more than in any other US city.
• Salary history questions are banned in NYC (effective 2017, enforcement via the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection), but most candidates don't know how to deflect cleanly.

These tools exist to fill those gaps with concrete, scorable utilities — not motivational content.

Who this is for

• English-speaking professionals interviewing in NYC — relocators, recent grads, career switchers, international candidates on OPT/H1B, and people re-entering the workforce.
• Roles roughly $60k–$250k base (mid through senior individual contributor). Above $400k the comp math, equity structure, and negotiation tactics change materially — these tools will understate complexity at that level.
• Candidates who want a second-pass scoring, not a primary decision. Use these as a sanity check after you've drafted a story, an email, or an offer comparison — not as a replacement for a real conversation.

Who this is NOT for

• Executive-level candidates ($400k+ base or C-suite). Comp structure, equity negotiation, and search-firm dynamics are different enough that these tools will mislead you.
• Commission-only or heavy-variable sales roles. The salary calculators here assume a relatively flat comp curve; sales comp modeling is a separate discipline.
• Government, K-12 education, or academic roles. Salary scales, tenure, and benefits structures are publicly defined and not what these tools model.
• Anyone needing legal, tax, or immigration advice. The Visa Sponsorship Likelihood Assessor is a research aid, not legal counsel. Talk to an immigration attorney for actual case advice.

How the tools work technically

Every tool is a single self-contained HTML file. There is no build step. Tailwind CSS loads from a CDN; Font Awesome icons load from a CDN; all JavaScript is inlined at the bottom of each file. There is no backend, no API call, no database. Your inputs are processed in your browser and never sent anywhere.

This is a deliberate choice: it means the tools work offline once loaded, they cannot leak your draft interview answers to a third party, and the site can be hosted as static files.

Limitations & known issues

• Salary and tax calculations are estimates based on publicly available 2024-2025 NY state and NYC tax tables. They do not account for every deduction, credit, or phase-out. Verify with a CPA before making financial decisions.
• Industry jargon definitions are sourced from publicly available glossaries and recruiter-published content. They are not authoritative dictionaries — usage varies by firm.
• STAR scoring is heuristic, not a substitute for human feedback. It catches the obvious weak patterns (vague verbs, missing metrics) but cannot tell you if your story is the right story for the role.
• Visa Sponsorship Likelihood Assessor reads public signals. It cannot see whether a specific hiring manager has an open requisition slot.
• Networking email templates are designed for a 25-45 year old professional context. Adjust tone for more conservative or academic fields.

Contact

This is an independently operated utility site. We don't have a support inbox, but we read feedback through the standard browser mechanisms. If you find a bug or have a correction, please note the specific tool page in any correspondence.