Regenerate Button and Source Picker
Regenerate lets you ask the AI to create a fresh version of any generated content, while Sources shows you exactly what data the AI referenced to produce it.
These two features appear throughout Callings.ai wherever AI-generated content exists: custom resumes, cover letters, campaign cards, personal branding, and more. Understanding how they work together helps you get the most from the AI.
The Regenerate Button
The Regenerate button (🔄) appears in the toolbar of every AI-generated item. Clicking it starts a fresh generation run using your current data.
Tip: Regenerate replaces your current content. If you have made manual edits you want to keep, copy or download the content before regenerating.
When to Regenerate
- Your resume has been updated with new experience or skills
- Your career goals or target role have shifted
- You want a different angle or tone without manually rewriting everything
- The first version did not quite capture what you wanted
- You have answered more questionnaire questions and want the AI to incorporate them
The Source Picker
When you click Regenerate (and sometimes when generating for the first time), a Source Picker dialog opens before the AI starts working. This lets you control what information the AI draws from.
Default Sources
Each feature has a recommended default configuration that gives the AI the richest possible context for that specific type of content. You can proceed with defaults by clicking Generate without changing anything. The defaults cover most situations well.
Resume Selection
For features that use your resume as a source, the Source Picker includes a Resume section:
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Auto-select base resume | The system picks the single active resume that best matches what you are generating. For a custom resume, it compares each of your active resumes against the job and tailors the best fit (when two are close, it makes a quick judgment call to choose between them). |
| Choose a specific resume | You select one of your active resumes from the list |
When to use "Auto-select base resume": This is the default and the simplest choice. If you have a single resume, it is used. If you have several, the best match for the job is chosen for you, so you do not have to think about it.
When to choose a specific resume: If you have resumes targeting different career paths or industries and want to be certain which one is used, select it manually. For example, a technical resume versus a leadership resume will produce meaningfully different results, and a manual pick guarantees the direction.
Note: Only active resumes appear in the list. If a resume you want does not appear, go to My Resumes and activate it first.
Custom Instructions (This Generation Only)
For features that support it, the Source Picker shows a Custom Instructions entry with an inline text box when you switch to Select sources (advanced) mode. Anything you type here is sent to the AI as ad-hoc guidance for this single generation only.
Note: Not every AI feature exposes Custom Instructions. It is enabled gradually across features such as custom resumes, cover letters, and post generation. If you do not see the text box in Advanced mode, the current feature has not opted in yet.
Key behaviors:
- Session-only. The text is never saved. As soon as the modal closes, the instructions are gone. The next time you open the Source Picker, the box is empty again.
- Highest priority. These instructions are treated as your most current guidance and override conflicting defaults from your other sources (including your saved My AI Prompts).
- Up to 1000 characters. Enough room for a few sentences of focused steering.
- Optional. Leave it blank to fall back to your normal defaults.
Good uses:
- "Keep it under 200 words."
- "Emphasize my leadership experience over my technical skills."
- "Mention that I am open to remote work."
- "Use a more formal tone for this one."
- "Skip the closing pitch, this is for a referral request."
When to use Custom Instructions vs. My AI Prompts:
| Use Custom Instructions when... | Use My AI Prompts when... |
|---|---|
| The tweak only matters for this one piece of content | You want the same instruction applied to every future generation |
| You want to experiment without changing your saved preferences | You have a stable preference (voice, tone, recurring constraints) |
| You are tailoring output for a specific job, contact, or audience | You want a baseline that travels across resumes, cover letters, and outreach |
Tip: Custom Instructions and My AI Prompts can be used together. Your saved prompts continue to apply, and the Custom Instructions layer adds extra steering on top of (or overrides, where they conflict with) those defaults.
Other Sources
Depending on the feature, additional source toggles appear alongside the resume selection. Sources are organized into four groups:
Resume and Job Context
| Source | What it adds |
|---|---|
| Resume | One or more of your active resumes from My Resumes |
| Job Listing | The specific job posting you are currently working on |
Profile and Insights
These are AI-generated or AI-enriched reports built from your resume and questionnaire data. They power the richer outputs across resumes, cover letters, campaign content, and more. The more complete your profile, the more useful these become.
| Source | What it adds |
|---|---|
| Career Questionnaire | Your answers from the Goals Questionnaire. Covers career goals, work style, culture preferences, and deal-breakers |
| Market Fit Report | Your Market Fit analysis with strengths, positioning, and recommendations |
| Identity Traits | Top identity traits extracted from your uploaded documents: purpose, values, expertise, leadership, and more |
| Skills and Expertise | Hard and soft skills ranked by how often they appear across your uploaded documents |
| Professional Story | A narrative-ready summary of what drives you, how you communicate, and what you have accomplished |
| Career Highlights | Your most significant professional milestones and roles |
My AI Prompts
Standing instructions you have configured in Settings > My AI Prompts. When set, they are applied automatically to the relevant content type. These appear as source toggles so you can override them for a single generation if needed.
| Source | What it adds |
|---|---|
| My Writing Style Prompt | Your global voice and tone preference, applied across all AI-generated content |
| My Custom Cover Letter Prompt | Specific instructions for cover letter generation |
| My Custom Resume Prompt | Specific instructions for custom resume generation |
| My Networking Prompt | Specific instructions for outreach emails and connection requests |
Contact and Profile Details
Lightweight profile fields that let the AI personalize and address documents correctly.
| Source | What it adds |
|---|---|
| Contact Information | Your name, email, phone, and LinkedIn URL |
| Your Name | Your first and last name |
| Your Location | Your city and country |
| Profile Photo | Your profile photo (used by visual features like Cover Image styles) |
| Scheduling Link | Your meeting link (used in networking and outreach messages) |
Toggling off a source tells the AI to ignore that data for this generation. This is useful when you want a more focused output or when you want to test how different source combinations affect the result.
The Sources Panel
After content has been generated, a Sources button appears in the card toolbar (or via an info icon in some editors). Clicking it opens the Sources panel, which shows exactly what data the AI used to produce the current version.
The Sources panel displays each piece of data that was active during generation, organized by the same groups as the Source Picker:
| Entry | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Resume | Which resume was used, including its title or label |
| Job Listing | The specific posting the AI analyzed |
| Career Questionnaire | Whether questionnaire answers contributed |
| Market Fit Report | Whether the Market Fit report was included |
| Identity Traits / Skills / Story / Highlights | Which enriched profile data was used |
| My AI Prompts | Which writing prompts from Settings were active |
| Contact / Profile fields | Which lightweight profile details were included |
This transparency helps you understand why the output looks the way it does. If the tone or focus feels off, checking Sources often reveals the cause. For example, the AI may have used an older resume, or a source you expected to be included may have been toggled off.
Tips and Best Practices
- Check Sources before regenerating - If you are unhappy with an output, look at Sources first. You may only need to add a missing source rather than regenerating from scratch.
- Update your profile before regenerating - If your resume or questionnaire answers have changed recently, regenerate to pick up those updates.
- Use specific resumes for specialized applications - When applying to a role that is a different direction from your usual target, manually select the resume most relevant to that path.
- Sources are version-specific - Each generated version records the sources used at the time it was created. Regenerating may use newer data and will record a new set of sources.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Will regenerating erase my manual edits?
A: Yes. Regenerating creates an entirely new version from scratch and does not carry forward any manual edits. If you want to keep specific phrasing or sections, copy or download the content before clicking Regenerate.
Q: Can I regenerate with the same sources to get a different result?
A: Yes. The AI introduces natural variation between runs, so regenerating with identical sources can still produce meaningfully different output. This is intentional and useful when you want to explore different approaches to the same content.
Q: Why does "Let AI pick" sometimes choose a different resume than I expected?
A: The AI evaluates which of your active resumes best matches the current context, such as the job description or the type of document being generated. If the selection consistently surprises you, you can always override it by choosing a specific resume from the list.
Q: A source I want does not appear as an option. Why?
A: Sources only appear when the related data exists in your profile. For example, questionnaire answers only show as an option if you have completed the Goals Questionnaire. Enriched profile sources (Identity Traits, Skills, Career Highlights, etc.) are generated automatically over time as your profile grows. AI Prompt sources only appear if you have saved a value in Settings > My AI Prompts. Filling in the missing sections unlocks more source options.
Q: Can I see what sources were used for older generated content?
A: Yes. The Sources panel reflects what was used to generate the version currently displayed. If you regenerate, the Sources panel updates to reflect the new run.
Q: Where did the Custom Instructions box go after I closed the modal?
A: Custom Instructions are session-only by design. The text is sent with that single generation and then discarded so it does not silently affect future runs. If you find yourself typing the same instruction repeatedly, that is a strong signal to save it as one of your My AI Prompts instead.
Q: I do not see the Custom Instructions box. Where is it?
A: First, switch the Source Picker to Select sources (advanced). The Custom Instructions text area is hidden in the default mode to keep the picker simple. If you still do not see it after switching, the feature you are using has not opted in to Custom Instructions yet. Support is being rolled out feature by feature.