fix(latex): brace bracket-leading bullets, document escapes, pin pdftotext encoding

Three findings from the 2026-08-19 review (F9, F31, F34):

- F9: every placeholder bullet written as \item [text] let LaTeX parse
  the bracketed text as the item's optional label, rendering it clipped
  off the left page edge and absent from the PDF text layer ("Achievement"
  appeared 9 times in cv/main_example.tex and 0 times in the extraction,
  with a clean compile and green CI). Bullets are now braced as
  \item {[text]} in the example CV and in the template
  06-cover-letter-templates.md teaches, and CI's stock PDF assertions
  additionally require "Achievement" to survive pdftotext.

- F31: 05-cv-templates.md gains a "LaTeX Special Characters" section and
  06's is completed beyond \_ and \&. The load-bearing case is an
  unescaped % in a quantified achievement bullet: it starts a LaTeX
  comment and silently deletes the rest of the line from the PDF.

- F34: the documented ATS extraction commands (apply.md,
  05-cv-templates.md, CLAUDE.md) now carry -enc UTF-8. Xpdf-based
  pdftotext builds default to Latin-1 output, so a correct non-ASCII CV
  failed the replacement-character parseability check.

framework_version: 05-cv-templates.md 1.4.1 -> 1.4.2,
06-cover-letter-templates.md 1.0.1 -> 1.0.2. All three pinned by the new
tests/test_latex_guidance.py (9 tests; suite now 261).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

.claude/commands/apply.md

@@ -254,12 +254,12 @@ Do not proceed to Step 6 until both PDFs pass inspection.
 
 An ATS parser reads the PDF's embedded **text layer**, not the rendered page — a CV that passed visual inspection can still extract as garbage (icon glyphs where the contact details should be, scrambled reading order in multi-column layouts). This step verifies what a parser actually sees. It applies to the **CV only**; cover letters rarely go through keyword screening.
 
-**Availability check:** run `pdftotext -v`. `pdftotext` (poppler) is an optional dependency, not part of TeX distributions. If it is missing, print a one-line warning that the mechanical parse check is skipped, do the keyword-coverage check (item 3 below) against your visual Read of the PDF instead, and note the degraded mode in the Step 6 report. Same graceful-skip pattern as the salary lookup.
+**Availability check:** run `pdftotext -v`. `pdftotext` (poppler) is an optional dependency, not part of TeX distributions. If it is missing, print a one-line warning that the mechanical parse check is skipped, do the keyword-coverage check (item 3 below) against your visual Read of the PDF instead, and note the degraded mode in the Step 6 report. Same graceful-skip pattern as the salary lookup. Keep the `-enc UTF-8` flag: Xpdf-based builds default to Latin-1 output, and without it a correct non-ASCII CV fails the replacement-character check below.
 
 **1. Extract the text layer:**
 
 ```bash
-cd cv && pdftotext -layout main_<company>_<role>.pdf main_<company>_<role>.txt
+cd cv && pdftotext -layout -enc UTF-8 main_<company>_<role>.pdf main_<company>_<role>.txt
 ```
 
 Read the `.txt` file.

.claude/skills/job-application-assistant/05-cv-templates.md

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ---
-framework_version: 1.4.1
+framework_version: 1.4.2
 ---
 
 # CV Templates and Tailoring Guide
@@ -211,6 +211,27 @@ Wherever the CV names a verifiable artifact - a public project, a hackathon entr
 - End with: "More references are available upon request."
 - **Do not attach reference letters** - employers typically contact references directly
 
+### LaTeX Special Characters (important)
+
+Postings and profile data arrive as plain text; the CV is LaTeX. Escape these wherever they land in body text - company names, achievement bullets, skill lists:
+
+| Character | Write | Typical trigger |
+|---|---|---|
+| `&` | `\&` | company names: Bang \& Olufsen, Brüel \& Kjær, H\&M |
+| `%` | `\%` | quantified achievements: "cut latency by 40\%" |
+| `$` | `\$` | salary and cost figures |
+| `#` | `\#` | "ranked \#1", C\# |
+| `_` | `\_` | file names, code identifiers |
+| `~` | `\textasciitilde{}` | URLs, "approx. 5 years" tildes |
+| `^` | `\textasciicircum{}` | version strings, math |
+
+Two failure modes deserve special care:
+
+- **`%` fails silently.** An unescaped `%` starts a LaTeX comment: the compile succeeds with zero errors, and everything after the `%` on that line vanishes from the PDF. `Cut inference latency by 40% and saved DKK 2M annually` renders as "Cut inference latency by 40" - the bullet keeps its impressive-looking fragment and loses the actual result. Quantified achievement bullets are exactly where the guidance steers you ("use numbers where possible"), so check every `%` in every bullet before compiling.
+- **`&` fails loudly** inside `\cventry` (alignment-tab errors, `Missing } inserted`). The compile loop catches it, but escape employer names up front rather than debugging the compile.
+
+Related trap: a bullet whose text begins with a literal `[` must be braced - `\item {[text]}` - or LaTeX parses the bracketed text as `\item`'s optional label and renders it clipped off the left page edge with a clean compile. The example CV's placeholder bullets are braced for exactly this reason.
+
 ## Compile-and-Inspect Loop (MANDATORY)
 
 After writing the CV and before presenting to the user, always compile and visually inspect the PDF. Iterate until the layout is clean. Workflow:
@@ -246,10 +267,10 @@ Restore the highest-relevance item that was previously cut — a CV that ends mi
 Most employers run CVs through an ATS before a human sees them, and the ATS reads the PDF's embedded **text layer**, not the rendered page. A CV can pass visual inspection and still extract as garbage. After the layout passes the compile-and-inspect loop, verify the text layer:
 
 ```bash
-cd cv && pdftotext -layout main_<company>_<role>.pdf main_<company>_<role>.txt
+cd cv && pdftotext -layout -enc UTF-8 main_<company>_<role>.pdf main_<company>_<role>.txt
 ```
 
-`pdftotext` comes from [poppler](https://poppler.freedesktop.org/), not the TeX distribution - it is an **optional** dependency. If it is not installed, skip the mechanical check with a warning and rely on the visual PDF read for keyword coverage.
+`pdftotext` comes from [poppler](https://poppler.freedesktop.org/), not the TeX distribution - it is an **optional** dependency. The `-enc UTF-8` flag is not optional: Xpdf-based `pdftotext` builds default to Latin-1 output, which makes every non-ASCII character in a perfectly good CV read back as a replacement character and fail the parseability check below for no real reason. If it is not installed, skip the mechanical check with a warning and rely on the visual PDF read for keyword coverage.
 
 What to check in the extraction:
 

.claude/skills/job-application-assistant/06-cover-letter-templates.md

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ---
-framework_version: 1.0.1
+framework_version: 1.0.2
 ---
 
 # Cover Letter Templates and Tailoring Guide
@@ -92,9 +92,9 @@ The font wrapper is mandatory — if you just move `\begin{itemize}` outside `\l
 
 {\raggedright\fontspec[Path = OpenFonts/fonts/raleway/]{Raleway-Medium}\fontsize{11pt}{13pt}\selectfont
 \begin{itemize}
-    \item [Concrete achievement/skill 1]
-    \item [Concrete achievement/skill 2]
-    \item [Concrete achievement/skill 3]
+    \item {[Concrete achievement/skill 1]}
+    \item {[Concrete achievement/skill 2]}
+    \item {[Concrete achievement/skill 3]}
 \end{itemize}\par}
 
 \lettercontent{[Connection to company - why this role, why this company specifically]}
@@ -146,10 +146,14 @@ The font wrapper is mandatory — if you just move `\begin{itemize}` outside `\l
 - 3-5 bullets is ideal
 - Start each bullet with bold label or action verb
 - Use `\textbf{Label:}` for category-style bullets
+- A bullet whose text begins with a literal `[` must be braced: `\item {[text]}`. Unbraced, LaTeX parses `[text]` as `\item`'s optional label and renders it off the left page edge, missing from the PDF text layer entirely
 
 ### LaTeX Special Characters
-- Underscore: `\_`
-- Ampersand: `\&`
+Escape these wherever they appear in body text:
+- Ampersand: `\&` (company names: Brüel \& Kjær, H\&M) - unescaped, the compile fails loudly
+- Percent: `\%` ("grew revenue 30\%") - unescaped, it does **not** fail: everything after the `%` on that line is silently eaten as a LaTeX comment
+- Dollar: `\$`, hash: `\#`, underscore: `\_`
+- Tilde: `\textasciitilde{}`, caret: `\textasciicircum{}`, backslash: `\textbackslash{}`
 
 ### Non-English Cover Letters
 - Same template structure, just write content in the posting's language