This post was originally published on this site.
Although the tech job market appears to be stabilizing after a period of turbulence, surveys show that job seekers are still struggling to find opportunities that match their qualifications, land interviews, and respond effectively to interview questions that probe both technical and soft skills.
The good news is that ChatGPT can help you get past these common obstacles and improve your chances of landing the right job with the right employer.
A chatbot powered by a Large Language Model (LLM) is incredibly useful for a wide range of job search tasks, noted Keith Spencer, career expert and certified resume writer for Resume Now. However, the input or questions you enter into a generative AI tool determines the quality and usefulness of the output you receive.
To optimize your interactions with an AI chatbot, we’ve handpicked a list of detailed prompts for ChatGPT that address the most challenging aspects of a job search.
Prompts for Finding Suitable Opportunities
Instead of focusing on jobs with low demand in industries facing declines or slow growth, use a series of prompts to identify in-demand roles within your field (such as cybersecurity, data science, full stack web development, etc.) in industries seeing significant hiring.
There’s no point in applying to jobs you’re not qualified for. Once you’ve compiled a list of potential roles and industries, use the following prompt to compare your current skills with the key requirements and uncover major gaps, advised Dave Birss, educator, author and founder of The Gen AI Academy.
Imagine you are an expert in recruitment for [role]. I want you to search for job descriptions from industry sites and current recruitment ads to compile a list of the most important skills.
When you have a good understanding of this, I want you to deliver:
- A table with the following columns: skill, further sub-skills, rate the importance to role [1 – 5]
- A list of the most important skills followed by a short description of what they entail
- A list of additional skills that could help me get an advantage in my career
Another tip: Use the information to create a base resume for each role you want to pursue, which can significantly expedite the customization process, Spencer added.
Prompts for Landing Interviews
Researching a company before you apply not only helps you find organizations that match your values and interests, but creates an opportunity to demonstrate your alignment with the company culture, technical environment, mission and business priorities in your resume. To help with that, Jan Tegze, director of technical recruiting and author of “How To Talk To AI,” supplied the following prompt:
I am researching [company] in preparation for a potential job application. I need a comprehensive overview that goes beyond basic information that would be relevant to a job applicant.
Please provide information on the following:
- Company history and founding story
- Core mission, vision, and values
- Key products, services, and market position
- Any significant news, product launches, acquisitions, partnerships, or leadership changes in the past 6-12 months.
- Recent developments, innovations, and strategic initiatives
- Corporate culture and work environment
- Notable achievements and industry recognition
- Market presence and competitive advantages
- Leadership team background
- Describe the company culture based on employee reviews (Glassdoor, Indeed), social media presence, and any available information about their values and work environment.
- If publicly traded, provide a summary of recent financial performance (revenue, profitability). If private, look for any available information on funding rounds or growth metrics.
- Company size, locations and global reach
Customizing your resume for a specific job description helps it survive an applicant tracking system (ATS) and shows that you have put effort into matching your skills, experience and knowledge with the employer’s needs. While you still need to review and edit the document to ensure it reflects your voice, brand and messaging, the following prompt can get you started:
Act as a resume reviewer. Your task is to make changes to the given resume to fit [role] at [company].
- Begin by analyzing the job description in detail and identifying the essential skills and qualifications required for the role.
- Then, edit the resume to prominently highlight the candidate’s relevant experience, skills, and achievements that match the job description.
- You may also recommend rephrasing and restructuring certain areas, as well as adding or removing any information that may not be pertinent to the position.
- Be sure to provide a clear and concise summary at the top of the resume that effectively conveys the candidate’s suitability for the particular role.
- Resume: [Your resume summary here] Job Description: [Job description summary here]
Prompts for Answering Technical and Soft Skill Interview Questions
Acing a technical interview requires proper preparation. Use this prompt from Tegze to research, structure and practice your answers to technical questions for the most highly ranked technologies in a job description.
You are a technical interview expert specializing in programming languages and frameworks. Generate [number] technical interview questions for [technology], ranging from easy to challenging. Include question details, expected output, key concepts tested, hints, and solution approach.
For each question you generate, you will:
1. Present a clear, unambiguous problem statement with any necessary constraints
2. Define the expected outputs or behaviors with specific examples
3. Identify the key technical concepts being evaluated
4. Provide subtle hints that guide without revealing solutions
5. Include a working solution approach
Structure each question consistently using the following format:
– Question [with context]
– Expected output/behavior [with examples]
– Key concepts tested [bullet points]
– Optional hints [1-2 subtle suggestions]
– Solution approach [working code]
Ensure questions:
– Progress from easy to challenging
– Cover a range of relevant technical concepts
– Are practical and industry-relevant
– Test both theoretical knowledge and practical implementation
– Include edge cases in expected behaviors
– Provide clear, implementable solutions
Surveys show that companies are placing an emphasis on soft skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving and adaptability during the hiring process for tech pros. This prompt can help you practice responding to situational questions that assess specific soft skills:
You are an expert interview coach specializing in behavioral and scenario-based questions. Your role is to create detailed, realistic interview scenarios that effectively test specific soft skills.
Generate [number] scenario-based interview questions targeting the following soft skills: [list of skills]. For each scenario, provide the question, identify the skill being tested, outline key elements of a strong response and list potential red flags. For each scenario you create, you will:
1. Design a challenging but realistic workplace situation that clearly targets a specific soft skill
2. Explicitly identify which soft skill is being evaluated
3. Provide 3-4 key elements that would constitute a strong response, focusing on practical application of the skill
4. Include 1-2 potential red flags that would indicate weakness in that skill
Your scenarios should be:
- Detailed enough to give context but concise enough to be easily understood
- Relevant across different industries and experience levels
- Open-ended to allow candidates to demonstrate their thought process
- Based on common workplace challenges
- Structured to reveal both technical competency and emotional intelligence
Format each scenario consistently with clear headers and bullet points. Ensure your responses help interviewers evaluate candidates’ real-world application of soft skills rather than just theoretical knowledge.