AI prompts and skills for your job search
For ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or whichever assistant you use. Copy one, fill in the highlighted parts, and paste it in.
Every prompt ends the same way. Ground rules: use only what I've given you. If a detail is missing, ask me or leave a [blank]. Never invent experience, numbers, names or results. Keep my words where you can. Don't add keywords just because they appear in a posting.
Interviewing
Run a mock interview with follow-upsYou have an interview coming and want to practice being pushed.
Interview me for this role, one question at a time. Wait for my answer before going on. When an answer is vague or has no result, ask one follow-up, the way a real interviewer would. After five questions, tell me plainly which answer was weakest and the one thing to change in it. Role: [role] Posting: [paste the posting] Round: [recruiter screen, hiring manager, or panel] Ground rules: use only what I've given you. If a detail is missing, ask me or leave a [blank]. Never invent experience, numbers, names or results. Keep my words where you can. Don't add keywords just because they appear in a posting.
It opens with the prompt in the box, unsent, so fill in the marked parts there.
Before you use it: Answer out loud, not by typing. Whether a story holds together shows up when you say it.
Draft "Tell me about yourself"You ramble on the opener, or recite your resume.
Help me answer "Tell me about yourself" in about 60 seconds, for this role. Structure: where I am now, the one or two things that led here, and why this role makes sense next. Write it to be spoken, in short sentences. Role: [role] My background, in my own rough words: [notes] Ground rules: use only what I've given you. If a detail is missing, ask me or leave a [blank]. Never invent experience, numbers, names or results. Keep my words where you can. Don't add keywords just because they appear in a posting.
It opens with the prompt in the box, unsent, so fill in the marked parts there.
Before you use it: Read it aloud with a timer. If it isn't something you'd say, change it until it is.
Turn rough notes into a storyYou know something happened and can't make it sound like an answer.
Turn my notes into a spoken interview answer: the situation in one sentence, what I did, and how it ended. Put the result near the start. If my notes don't say how it ended, don't guess: ask me. Question: [the question] My notes: [what happened] Ground rules: use only what I've given you. If a detail is missing, ask me or leave a [blank]. Never invent experience, numbers, names or results. Keep my words where you can. Don't add keywords just because they appear in a posting.
It opens with the prompt in the box, unsent, so fill in the marked parts there.
Before you use it: Every fact in it should be something you could explain if they asked a follow-up.
Predict the likely questionsYou have a posting and want to know where to spend your time.
From this posting, list the eight questions I'm most likely to be asked in a [round] for this role, most likely first. For each, say in one line what the interviewer is checking, and which of my experiences below could answer it. Say so where I have nothing that fits. Posting: [paste the posting] My experience: [paste your resume or notes] Ground rules: use only what I've given you. If a detail is missing, ask me or leave a [blank]. Never invent experience, numbers, names or results. Keep my words where you can. Don't add keywords just because they appear in a posting.
It opens with the prompt in the box, unsent, so fill in the marked parts there.
Before you use it: The gaps it names are the useful part. Prepare those first.
Questions to ask themThey'll ask "What questions do you have for me?"
Suggest five questions I could ask in this interview. Each should help me decide whether I want this job, and none should be answerable from the posting or the website. Say which person each suits best. Role and company: [role, company] Posting: [paste the posting] What I care about most: [notes] Ground rules: use only what I've given you. If a detail is missing, ask me or leave a [blank]. Never invent experience, numbers, names or results. Keep my words where you can. Don't add keywords just because they appear in a posting.
It opens with the prompt in the box, unsent, so fill in the marked parts there.
Before you use it: Keep the two you actually want answered, and drop the rest.
Applying
Read a posting for what really mattersA long posting, and you can't tell what they'd reject you over.
Read this posting and split it into three lists: what they'd likely reject someone for missing, what they'd like but would work around, and boilerplate. Quote the line behind each. Then tell me which of the first list my background doesn't show. Posting: [paste the posting] My background: [paste your resume or notes] Ground rules: use only what I've given you. If a detail is missing, ask me or leave a [blank]. Never invent experience, numbers, names or results. Keep my words where you can. Don't add keywords just because they appear in a posting.
It opens with the prompt in the box, unsent, so fill in the marked parts there.
Before you use it: It's a read of the wording, not of the company. Check the deal-breakers against what you know.
Tailor your resume bulletsYou're applying and your resume reads as written for a different job.
For this posting, pick the five bullets on my resume that matter most and reorder them. Suggest a tighter version of each, using only what the bullet already says. Where a stronger bullet needs a number or result I haven't given, put a [blank] there and tell me what to find out. Posting: [paste the posting] Resume: [paste your resume] Ground rules: use only what I've given you. If a detail is missing, ask me or leave a [blank]. Never invent experience, numbers, names or results. Keep my words where you can. Don't add keywords just because they appear in a posting.
It opens with the prompt in the box, unsent, so fill in the marked parts there.
Before you use it: Compare each one to the original. You should be able to defend every word in an interview.
Draft a short cover letterThey ask for one, and you want it under a page.
Draft a cover letter under 180 words. Open with why this role, not with who I am. Use one specific thing I've done that matches what they need most. No claims about passion, and no restating my resume. Role and company: [role, company] Posting: [paste the posting] The thing I want to point to: [what you did and how it ended] Why this company: [your real reason] Ground rules: use only what I've given you. If a detail is missing, ask me or leave a [blank]. Never invent experience, numbers, names or results. Keep my words where you can. Don't add keywords just because they appear in a posting.
It opens with the prompt in the box, unsent, so fill in the marked parts there.
Before you use it: If the reason for this company could fit any company, it needs a real one.
Get an honest read on your resumeYou're sending applications and hearing nothing.
Read my resume the way a recruiter with thirty seconds would, for this kind of role. Tell me what you'd conclude about me, the one change that would most improve that, and which lines say nothing. Don't rewrite it, and don't soften the read. Target role: [role] Resume: [paste your resume] Ground rules: use only what I've given you. If a detail is missing, ask me or leave a [blank]. Never invent experience, numbers, names or results. Keep my words where you can. Don't add keywords just because they appear in a posting.
It opens with the prompt in the box, unsent, so fill in the marked parts there.
Before you use it: One read isn't a verdict. Weigh it against whether you're getting replies.
Finding roles
Find titles you might be missingYou keep searching the same two job titles.
From my experience, list eight job titles worth searching, including ones I may not have thought of. For each, say why it fits, what would be a stretch, and what people with that title are usually asked to do. Rank them by how directly my background applies. My experience: [paste your resume or notes] What I want more or less of: [notes] Ground rules: use only what I've given you. If a detail is missing, ask me or leave a [blank]. Never invent experience, numbers, names or results. Keep my words where you can. Don't add keywords just because they appear in a posting.
It opens with the prompt in the box, unsent, so fill in the marked parts there.
Before you use it: Search each title and read three real postings before you trust the list.
Work out where your search is stuckYou've been at this a while and don't know what to change.
Here are my job search numbers. Tell me which stage is the problem, what that usually means, and the one thing to try for the next two weeks. If the numbers are too small to say, tell me that instead. Applications in the last month: [number] Replies: [number] First interviews: [number] Later rounds: [number] Offers: [number] Roles I'm applying to: [notes] Ground rules: use only what I've given you. If a detail is missing, ask me or leave a [blank]. Never invent experience, numbers, names or results. Keep my words where you can. Don't add keywords just because they appear in a posting.
It opens with the prompt in the box, unsent, so fill in the marked parts there.
Before you use it: Small numbers can mislead. Treat it as something to try, not a diagnosis.
Write a message to someone who works thereYou want to reach a real person at a company.
Write a message under 70 words to this person. Say why I picked them specifically, and ask one small thing that's easy to say yes to. Don't ask for a job or a referral in this first message. Who they are: [name, role, anything real you know about them] How I found them: [notes] What I'd like to know: [one question] Ground rules: use only what I've given you. If a detail is missing, ask me or leave a [blank]. Never invent experience, numbers, names or results. Keep my words where you can. Don't add keywords just because they appear in a posting.
It opens with the prompt in the box, unsent, so fill in the marked parts there.
Before you use it: If the reason you picked them would fit anyone at the company, find a real one or don't send it.
After
Debrief an interview while you remember itYou just finished, and you're replaying it.
Interview me about the interview I just had, one question at a time: what they asked, what I said, where they leaned in, where I got stuck. Then give me a summary I can use for the next round: what they care about, what I should say differently, and what to ask next time. Role and round: [role, round] Ground rules: use only what I've given you. If a detail is missing, ask me or leave a [blank]. Never invent experience, numbers, names or results. Keep my words where you can. Don't add keywords just because they appear in a posting.
It opens with the prompt in the box, unsent, so fill in the marked parts there.
Before you use it: Nobody knows how it went from this. It's a record for the next round, not a prediction.
Think through an offerYou have an offer and want to think before replying.
Help me think through this offer. List what's clear, what's missing that I should ask about, and which parts are usually open to negotiation for a role like this. Then give me three questions to ask them. Tell me which of your claims I should verify myself. The offer: [paste the terms] What matters most to me: [notes] Ground rules: use only what I've given you. If a detail is missing, ask me or leave a [blank]. Never invent experience, numbers, names or results. Keep my words where you can. Don't add keywords just because they appear in a posting.
It opens with the prompt in the box, unsent, so fill in the marked parts there.
Before you use it: Assistants can be wrong about pay and local rules. Verify anything you'd rely on.
An assistant starts from what you paste in. A Hey Vitae account keeps your jobs, resume and interview dates together, so the prep is about the one you have. Create a free account.
Using these prompts
- Which assistants do these work with?
- Any of them: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or whichever one you use. Paste a prompt in, replace the highlighted parts, and send it. Nothing here connects to your assistant.
- Why does each one end with ground rules?
- Assistants fill gaps with confident guesses, and a number you can't explain in an interview does more harm than having no number. The rules tell it to leave a blank or ask you instead.
- Is it safe to paste my resume into an assistant?
- That depends on the assistant and your settings, so check how yours handles what you send it. Hey Vitae never sees any of this: the prompts are copied from this page and used somewhere else.