Career and job search prompts

You found a job you want and your general resume does not speak its language. Use this to map your experience to their requirements and rewrite bullets with evidence, not keyword stuffing.

Act as an experienced recruiter and resume writer who tailors resumes truthfully and knows how hiring managers scan them.

The job posting: [PASTE THE JOB POSTING]
My current resume: [PASTE YOUR CURRENT RESUME]
The role I am targeting and why I am a fit, in my own words: [WHY YOU ARE A FIT]
Constraints (page limit, format rules, anything I must keep): [CONSTRAINTS]

Do this:
1. Build a table: each requirement or responsibility from the posting, the strongest evidence from my resume, and a rating of strong, partial, or missing.
2. Rewrite my bullets for the most relevant roles so they lead with the result, use the posting's own terms where they honestly describe what I did, and keep every number and claim exactly as I stated it. Do not add achievements, tools, or skills I did not list.
3. Write a three-line summary for the top of the resume aimed at this specific role.
4. Tell me which requirements have no evidence, and ask me whether I have relevant experience I left off before you assume I lack it.
5. Suggest what to cut to fit my constraints.

Flag any phrase you changed in a way that could overstate what I did.

Tip: Answer the 'no evidence' questions honestly; that is usually where your best forgotten accomplishments are. Keep a master resume with everything, then tailor from it for each application.

You know you did good work but every bullet you write sounds like a job description. Use this to talk through what you did and let the AI draw out the results.

Act as a career coach who is good at getting people to articulate results they take for granted.

My job title, company type, and team size: [JOB TITLE AND COMPANY TYPE]
What I did, in my own words, as messy as I like: [DESCRIBE WHAT YOU DID]
Numbers I can stand behind (budgets, volumes, time saved, growth, team size, error rates): [NUMBERS YOU CAN STAND BEHIND]

Start by asking me up to five questions that would turn activities into outcomes: what changed because of the work, who noticed, what it was like before, what would have happened without me, and what I am proudest of. Wait for my answers.

Then write eight bullets that:
- Start with a strong, specific verb (not 'responsible for', 'helped', or 'worked on').
- Follow the pattern: what I did, how, and the result, in one line each under 25 words.
- Use only numbers I gave you. Where a number would strengthen a bullet but I did not provide one, write '(add figure)' rather than estimating.
- Avoid confidential details such as client names or internal financials unless I said they are public.

Rank the bullets by impact and tell me which two I should lead with for a manager-level audience.

Tip: Talk your answers into the voice feature or a transcript if typing makes you stiff. The best bullets come from the stories you tell a friend about work, not the ones you write for HR.

The posting asks for a cover letter and you want one that a tired hiring manager will actually read to the end. Use this to draft something specific, short, and in your own voice.

Act as a writing coach who helps people write cover letters that sound like a specific human, not a template.

The job posting: [PASTE THE JOB POSTING]
My resume or key accomplishments: [PASTE YOUR RESUME OR KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS]
Why I actually want this job, honestly: [WHY YOU ACTUALLY WANT THIS JOB]
One specific thing I know or noticed about the company or team: [SOMETHING SPECIFIC ABOUT THE COMPANY]
How I naturally write, with a short sample if I have one (an email, a message): [YOUR NATURAL WRITING STYLE]

Write a cover letter under 250 words that:
- Opens with a specific sentence about them or the problem this role solves, never 'I am writing to express my interest'.
- Tells one short story from my experience that shows I can do the hardest part of this job, with the result.
- Says plainly why this role and this company, using the specific thing I noticed.
- Ends with a simple, confident close and no 'I look forward to the opportunity to discuss'.

Banned: passionate, dynamic, utilize, synergy, proven track record, results-driven, and any sentence that could appear in anyone's letter. Vary sentence length. No bullet points.

Then give me a five-item read-aloud checklist to make it sound even more like me.

Tip: Paste a real email you wrote as the style sample. The AI matches a sample far better than a description like 'friendly but professional'. Then edit at least three sentences by hand; that is where your voice comes through.

You have an interview and know they will ask 'tell me about a time when'. Use this to match your best stories to the questions they are likely to ask and tighten each answer to about ninety seconds.

Act as an interview coach who prepares candidates with specific, believable STAR stories (situation, task, action, result).

The job posting: [PASTE THE JOB POSTING]
My resume: [PASTE YOUR RESUME]
Three to five work situations I am proud of or learned a lot from, in rough notes: [YOUR STORIES IN ROUGH NOTES]
Interview format and who I am meeting, if known: [INTERVIEW FORMAT]

Do this:
1. List the eight behavioral questions this role is most likely to include, based on the posting's responsibilities and the competencies it implies.
2. Map each question to the best of my stories. If a question has no good story, say so and ask me a question to find one, rather than inventing an example.
3. Draft each answer in STAR form, spoken length about 90 seconds, with the Action section as the longest part and written in first person about what I did, not what the team did.
4. Flag any story where the Result is vague and suggest what number, outcome, or reaction I should try to remember.
5. For each answer, add the most likely follow-up probe and a one-line response.

Use only what I told you. Keep the language conversational so it sounds spoken, not read.

Tip: Do not memorize the drafts word for word. Learn the four beats of each story and practice saying them aloud three times; the goal is a story you can tell naturally, not recite.

You want to practice out loud before the real thing and there is nobody around to ask you questions. Use this the night before or the morning of an interview.

Act as an interviewer for the role below. Run a realistic mock interview: ask one question at a time, wait for my answer, then give brief feedback before the next question.

Role: [JOB TITLE]
Company or type of company: [COMPANY OR COMPANY TYPE]
Job posting: [PASTE THE JOB POSTING]
Interview format and stage (phone screen, hiring manager, panel, final): [INTERVIEW FORMAT AND STAGE]
What I am nervous about: [AREAS YOU ARE NERVOUS ABOUT]

Rules:
- Ask ten questions in total: a mix of behavioral, role-specific, and two that probe the areas I am nervous about. Include at least one curveball.
- After each answer, give feedback in three parts: what worked, what to tighten (rambling, vague result, missing 'I'), and a stronger version of my answer in two or three sentences using my content.
- Stay in character as the interviewer otherwise. Be professional, a little brisk, and do not praise everything.
- If my answer is under 20 words or dodges the question, push once with a follow-up before giving feedback.

At the end, summarize: my three strongest moments, the three habits to fix, and the one question I should prepare better before the real interview.

Tip: Use voice mode if your tool has it and answer out loud. Typing answers hides the rambling and the filler words that show up when you actually speak.

You have an interview in two days and know the company only from the posting. Use this to build a briefing with questions to ask and facts to verify, ideally in a tool with live web search.

Act as a research analyst preparing a candidate for an interview. Be clear about what you know for certain, what you are inferring, and what I need to verify myself.

Company: [COMPANY NAME]
Role I am interviewing for: [ROLE]
What I already know: [WHAT YOU ALREADY KNOW]
Who I am meeting, by name and title only: [INTERVIEWER NAMES AND TITLES]
Anything I am unsure about, such as their financial health, culture, or recent news: [OPEN QUESTIONS]

Build a one-page briefing with:
1. What they do, who their customers are, and how they make money, in plain language.
2. Recent developments that might affect this role (launches, layoffs, funding, leadership changes), with the date and source for each. If you cannot cite a source, mark the item as unverified.
3. The likely priorities and pain points of the team hiring for this role, and how my background maps to them.
4. Six questions I can ask that show I did my homework, none of which can be answered from the careers page.
5. Two risks or red flags I should probe politely.

If your information may be out of date, say so and tell me what to search for to confirm it.

Tip: Run this in a tool with live web search (Perplexity, or ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini with search turned on) and click through to the sources. A model without search will confidently describe the company as it was at its training cutoff.

You have an offer and want to ask for more without souring the relationship or losing it. Use this to plan what to ask for, in what order, and what to say when they push back.

Act as a negotiation coach who helps candidates negotiate offers professionally and knows how recruiters respond. This is help with the conversation, not financial advice.

The offer (base, bonus, equity, benefits, title, start date): [THE OFFER DETAILS]
My target and the point where I would decline: [YOUR TARGET AND WALK-AWAY]
Market data I have and its source: [MARKET DATA YOU HAVE]
My alternatives (other offers, current job, timing): [YOUR ALTERNATIVES]
What matters to me besides salary (flexibility, title, learning, team): [WHAT MATTERS BESIDES SALARY]
How the offer was delivered and what they said about flexibility: [HOW THE OFFER WAS DELIVERED]

Give me:
1. An honest read on my position: strengths and weaknesses.
2. What to ask for, in priority order, each with a rationale based on my value to them and the market, not my personal needs.
3. A phone script and an email version, each under 200 words, warm and collaborative, asking for everything in one round rather than piecemeal.
4. Responses to the four most common pushbacks, including 'this is our best offer' and 'we need an answer today'.
5. What not to say, including bluffing about offers I do not have.

End with how to accept gracefully if they cannot move, and how to decline if I must.

Tip: Ask for everything in one conversation. Coming back three times for one more thing each is the fastest way to turn a friendly recruiter into an adversary. Get the final version in writing before you resign anywhere.

You know the role you want next and can see the gap between it and where you are. Use this to turn several postings into a prioritized plan that produces proof you can show, rather than a list of courses to watch.

Act as a career strategist who builds learning plans that produce evidence a hiring manager can see.

My current role, experience, and strongest skills: [YOUR CURRENT ROLE AND EXPERIENCE]
The role I want next: [TARGET ROLE]
Two or three postings for that role: [PASTE 2 TO 3 JOB POSTINGS]
Hours per week I can commit: [HOURS PER WEEK]
Budget for learning: [LEARNING BUDGET]
What I can practice on at my current job: [OPPORTUNITIES AT YOUR CURRENT JOB]

Do this:
1. List the skills, tools, and experiences the postings ask for, and rate my level on each: have it, partial, missing.
2. Pick the five gaps that matter most, based on how often they appear and how hard they are to fake in an interview.
3. Build a six-month, month-by-month plan. For each skill: how I will learn it (types of resources, not specific course names unless you are certain they exist), how I will practice it, and the artifact I will produce (a project, an analysis, a writing sample, a small tool) that I could show in an interview.
4. Show how each artifact becomes a resume bullet.
5. Give me a weekly time budget and a monthly checkpoint question.

Flag which gaps I could close fastest at my current job.

Tip: Verify any course or certification the AI names before paying for it; models sometimes invent plausible-sounding programs. The artifacts are the point: a real project you built beats a certificate every time.

There is something on your resume you are dreading being asked about. Use this to write a short, honest explanation for your resume, your cover letter, and out loud in an interview.

Act as a career coach who helps people talk about the awkward parts of their history with honesty and confidence.

The situation (gap, layoff, career change, demotion, short stint): [THE SITUATION]
What I actually did during that time or why I made the change: [WHAT YOU DID OR WHY]
The role I am applying for: [THE ROLE YOU ARE APPLYING FOR]
What I am afraid they will think: [WHAT YOU ARE WORRIED THEY WILL THINK]

Give me:
1. A one- or two-sentence version for a resume or LinkedIn, if it belongs there at all, and your advice on whether it does.
2. A two-sentence version for a cover letter that turns the page quickly to what I bring.
3. A spoken answer under 30 seconds for when an interviewer asks directly: honest, no apology, no oversharing, ending on what I learned or what I am ready for now.
4. What I should volunteer versus what I should only answer if asked.
5. The follow-up question they might ask and a short response.

Rules: do not invent activities, freelance work, or reasons. Do not disclose health, family, or other private details unless I chose to include them, and if I did, suggest a version that keeps them private too.

Tip: Practice the spoken version until it is boring to you. Interviewers take their cue from your tone: if you sound settled about it, they move on.

You want to reach a hiring manager, an alum, or someone in the role you want, and your draft either sounds like a template or asks for too much. Use this to write something short with an easy yes.

Act as a networking coach who writes outreach messages that busy people answer.

Who I am contacting and how I found them: [WHO YOU ARE CONTACTING AND HOW YOU FOUND THEM]
What we have in common, if anything (school, employer, mutual contact, a post I read): [WHAT YOU HAVE IN COMMON]
What I am asking for (a 15-minute call, advice on one question, an introduction): [YOUR ASK]
My background in two sentences: [YOUR BACKGROUND IN TWO SENTENCES]
Channel (LinkedIn message, email, connection request note): [CHANNEL]

Write a message that:
- Opens with the specific connection or the specific thing of theirs I read, in one sentence.
- Says who I am in one sentence, with one concrete detail rather than a job title.
- Makes one clear, small ask with an easy way to say yes (a specific question they can answer in writing, or two time windows for a short call).
- Gives them a graceful out.
- Stays under 100 words for email and under 200 characters for a connection request note.

No 'I hope this finds you well', no flattery, no asking for a job directly. Then write a short follow-up for one week later if they do not respond, and tell me when I should stop.

Tip: Ask for advice, not a job. People say yes to a specific question about their experience far more often than to 'can we chat about opportunities', and a good conversation leads to the referral on its own.