6 ways to use ChatGPT to prepare for job interviews

By Amanda Kavanagh

Preparing for job interviews is a slog, especially if you have multiple options on the go.

According to jobs site Indeed, five to ten hours is the recommended time for interview preparation, though if you’re already working within the business or industry, it may be less.

Still, even at the lower end of the scale, five hours is a long time. Thankfully, generative AI is here to help, and savvy job seekers are now leveraging ChatGPT to shortcut their way to interview success. Here’s what to use it for, and how.

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1. Making an initial checklist

Sometimes starting is the hardest part. Let ChatGPT be your personal career coach, and have it generate a comprehensive to-do list to ensure you hit all bases in your preparation.

From refreshing your knowledge of the core concepts of the role, to strengthening particular programming skills, and diving into frameworks, tools and trends, ChatGPT can help you prepare for both technical and non-technical parts of the application process.

Sample prompt:

I’m applying for a job as a machine learning engineer. Create a checklist for how I can successfully prepare.

2. Writing emails

Writing well-structured, comprehensive, and warm emails are important to make a positive first impression. In email, you have an opportunity to express enthusiasm for the role, while demonstrating your excellent communication skills and attention to detail in action. If you’ve had a laugh at Gmail’s curt suggested responses, try this ChatGPT hack.

Sample prompt:

Here’s an example of my typical writing style in emails:

[insert sample emails]

Use my writing style from the sample emails above to reply to the following email:

[insert email from hiring manager]

3. Preparing interview answers

The same interview questions come up again and again, and while they might be cringe-inducing, it’s best to face the cringe head on, and prepare answers in advance.

Questions and prompts that come up in almost every interview include: Why should we hire you? What are your salary expectations? Tell me about yourself.

Don’t forget there might be a whole host of behavioral ‘Tell me about a time’-style questions to prepare for too.

Sample prompt:

I’m applying for a software engineer job. What is a good response to the question “Tell me about a time you failed”?

4. For industry research

Whether you’re asking it to summarize transcripts from podcasts, academic essays or long thought-leadership articles, ChatGPT can give you the gist of complex topics quickly. You can also prompt it to explain topics you don’t understand, and you can use a childlike persona to really simplify it.

Sample prompt:

Explain the concept of LLMs to me like I’m a 10-year-old.

5. Drafting assignments

Assignments are the biggest time suck when it comes to job applications. ChatGPT can really do some heavy lifting on a first draft.

Sample prompt:

I’m applying for a job as a Technical Trainer at a big tech company.

Design a training program tailored for a 45-minute session with new customer success managers.

Can you recommend some real-world examples to make the program as engaging as possible?

6. Don’t forget to fact check

Gen AI has obvious advantages but it isn’t foolproof. It has hallucination tendencies – meaning it can confidently state incorrect answers, it makes up reports, and has its own biases. It also has a cut-off point, unless you plump for ChatGPT4.

As a workaround, you can use iterative prompts to improve the output, such as asking it to “cite academic sources from the years 2022-2024 only”. And you can prompt the tool to avoid stereotypes and include diverse representations.

However, none of these tactics can be completely relied on. You’ll need to manually evaluate each piece of work it produces for logic, accuracy and relevance.

Inspired to leverage ChatGPT for job applications? Find out what organizations are hiring at the BGR Job Board, sign up for alerts, and schedule time for a weekly browse. New roles in leading companies are updated constantly, like these three.

Oracle

Headquartered in Austin, Oracle develops database software, cloud-engineered systems and enterprise software products. As changemakers and innovators, the organization attracts applicants who want to play a pioneering part in the future of cloud technology. Recent jobs advertised include Data Center Designer, APEX Developer, Service Operations Engineer, Senior DevOps Engineer and Principal Site Reliability Engineer. See an up-to-date list of roles here.

Fanatics

If you’re into sports, you’ll know Fanatics as the licensed sportswear retailer for the NBA, WWE and NFL, but the Florida-founded company also operates sport betting and iGaming. Currently hiring into hundreds of roles, it’s well worth taking a scroll through its latest opportunities, particularly if you’re a Senior Python Engineer, a Master Data Specialist, a Senior Data Analyst, Senior Network Engineer, or have your sights on a Senior Director of Engineering role. The salaries listed are quite generous. Check them out.

DataAnnotation

‘Work from the comfort of your home’ is DataAnnotation Tech’s headline promise. It’s deep in a recruitment drive at the moment and its contractors take advantage of its flexible work model to train AI in their preferred hours. A sample of contracts on offer include Software Developer – AI Trainer, and AI Content Writers. See available roles here.